Home / Vol.13, n°2 / L'arrêt Health Services and Support de la Cour suprême du Canada : La constitutionnalisation du régime québécois des relations industrielles ?

The 2007 Health Services and Support ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada recognizes the right to collective bargaining as an essential component of the constitutional freedom of association guaranteed by s. 2d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This is a complete departure from the previous case-law of the Court denying, as early as 1987, that freedom of association grants any specific right to workers and their organizations: it meant no more than, say, the right to associate in a book club! This paper intends to provide an in-depth analysis of the Supreme Court’s reasoning when putting aside its previous formalistic approach of s. 2d) of the Canadian Charter, as well as considering its new adherence to both instrumental and value Jurisprudence in this field. The critics voiced against the Court’s ruling, especially in the English-speaking labour law community, are also discussed in this paper. Finally, particularly on the basis of international law (ILO conventions pertaining to freedom of association), the authors consider extensively the broad implications of the Health Services and Support ruling in Quebec, as regards s. 3 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, including the right to strike.