Frank v. Canada (Attorney General)
Posted February 23, 2018Lerners acted for the intervener, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, in this appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada and before the Court of Appeal for Ontario. The matter concerned the Canada Elections Act, which prohibits voting for non-resident Canadian citizens who have lived abroad for more than five years. The Court of Appeal held that this prohibition was demonstrably justified because non-resident Canadians had withdrawn from the social contract within the Canadian political system. The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal, holding that citizenship, not residency, underpins the right to vote, and that the prohibition on non-resident voting was not demonstrably justified.