Health Care Services Act, S.B.C. 1992, c. 76 (now the Medicare Protection Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 286), ss. 1, 4(1)(c), (j), 6, 8. Medical care in British Columbia is delivered through two primary mechanisms. Hospital services are funded under the Hospital Insurance Act by the government which reimburses them for the medically required services provided to the public. Funding for medically required services delivered by doctors and other health care practitioners is provided by the province's Medical Services Plan (established and regulated by the Medical and Health Care Services Act). Neither program pays for sign language interpretation for the deaf. Each of the appellants was born deaf and their preferred means of communication is sign language. They contend that the absence of interpreters impairs their ability to communicate with their doctors and other health care providers, and thus increases the risk of misdiagnosis and ineffective treatment. The appellants unsuccessfully sought a declaration in the Supreme Court of British Columbia that the failure to provide sign language interpreters as an insured benefit under the Medical Services Plan violates the s. 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A majority of the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal from this judgment. The constitutional questions before this Court queried: (1) whether the definition of "benefits" in s. 1 of the Medicare Protection Act infringed s. 15(1) of the Charter by failing to include medical interpreter services for the deaf, (2) if so, whether the impugned provision was saved under s. 1 of the Charter, (3) whether ss. 3, 5 and 9 of the Hospital Insurance Act and the Regulations infringed s. 15(1) by failing to require that hospitals provide medical interpreter services for the deaf, and (4) if the answer to 3 is yes, whether the impugned provisions were saved under s. 1. Also at issue were whether, and in what manner, the Charter applies to the decision not to provide sign language interpreters for the deaf as part of the publicly funded scheme for the provision of medical care and, if a Charter violation were found, what the appropriate remedy would be. Held: The appeal should be allowed. The first and third constitutional questions were answered in the negative. It was not necessary to answer the second and fourth constitutional questions. The Charter applies to provincial legislation in two ways. Firstly, legislation may be found to be unconstitutional on its face because it violates a Charter right and is not saved by s. 1. Secondly, the Charter may be infringed, not by the legislation itself, but by the actions of a delegated decision-maker in applying it. The legislation remains valid but a remedy for the unconstitutional action may be sought pursuant to s. 24(1) of the Charter. In the present case the question whether the alleged breach of s. 15(1) arises from the impugned legislation itself or from the action of entities exercising decision-making authority pursuant to that legislation must be explored. The failure of the Medical and Health Care Services Act to provide expressly for sign language interpretation as a medically required service does not violate s. 15(1) of the Charter. The legislation simply does not, either expressly or by necessary implication, prohibit the Medical Services Commission from determining that sign language