The applicant sought a declaratory judgment that certain provisions of the Act of Settlement 1701 violate the equality-rights section of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
As a sovereign nation, Canada is free to alter its own laws, but its constitution includes the 1931 Statute of Westminster, which set out the convention that all of the Commonwealth realms must have symmetrical lines of succession to the throne, to maintain the unity of the Crown.
Pursuant to the order of Mr. Justice Spiegel dated May 29, 2002. only the issues of standing and justiciability are to be dealt with at this point.
Should I grant the applicant standing and find justiciability the matter will proceed to be heard on the merits; if not, the application will be struck.On June 26, 2003 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled in favour of the respondents—who were named as Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, Her Majesty the Queen in right of Ontario.
It read as follows: [36] "The impugned positions of the Act of Settlement are an integral part of the rules of succession that govern the selection of the monarch of Great Britain.