This note examines the issue of the treatment of chronic pain under Canadian workers compensation law in the context of the right to equality set out in s. 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights. In the Martin case the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the exclusion compensation for chronic pain from the general Nova Scotia worker’s compensation scheme was in breach of s. 15 of the Charter. Following this decision, Nova Scotia enacted new legislation which brought chronic pain within the general scheme but subject to a limit of the amount of compensation payable. These provisions were challenged in the Downey case but have been upheld by the workers compensation appeals tribunal (WCAT) and the Nova Scotia court of appeal. Although the case itself directly concerns only the treatment of chronic pain-related impairment, it potentially has implications for the general scheme of compensation based on impairment.