Case information

Civil procedure — Class action — Authorization to institute class action — Usefulness of class action — Application for declaratory judgment combined with claim for damages in context of proposed class action — Applicants seeking to represent recipients under Quebec’s Social Solidarity Program for infringements of certain fundamental rights resulting from implementation of program — Award of damages found to be precluded in absence of allegation of fault marked by bad faith, such that declaratory conclusion was only conclusion sought — Whether class action can be regarded as useful procedural vehicle in case of purely declaratory claim — Code of Civil Procedure, CQLR, c. C 25.01, art. 575(3).

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The applicants are persons born with disabilities who have never had any source of income other than the financial assistance granted under the province of Quebec’s Social Solidarity Program. They would like to institute a class action in which they would represent some 200,000 recipients under that program, which grants last resort allowances to persons whose capacity for employment is severely limited and who are unable to meet their basic needs due to their financial situation. Recipients under the program are subject to certain constraints and restrictions. The applicants submit that these prohibitions infringe certain fundamental rights protected by the Canadian and Quebec Charters. Through their proposed class action, they are therefore seeking a declaration that certain provisions of the enabling statute and the regulation made thereunder are unconstitutional, as well as an award of damages. The Quebec Superior Court determined that the recourse proposed by the applicants could not take the form of a class action. The Quebec Court of Appeal agreed with most of the Superior Court’s conclusions and dismissed the applicants’ appeal. In its view, a class action cannot be useful for the purposes of art. 575(3) of the Code of Civil Procedure if another application leads to the same result. There must be some advantage to proceeding collectively.