The CCP’s mandate is to fund “test cases of national importance”. But what does that mean? “Test cases” are cases that can be expected to give courts an opportunity to interpret and clarify the scope and meaning of the rights in question. This usually means that there is something new about the case, which in turn will allow the courts to say something new about the right in question. Thus, if a case is about section 7 of the Charter, which protects life, liberty and security of the person, a test case would allow a court to explain how that right does (or does not) apply in a particular context, or what section 7 rights mean in that context.
That a test case is of “national importance” means that the interpretation or decision that the court gives in the particular case would be of interest to people other than the people directly involved in the case. “National importance” is about impact: cases that the CCP funds are supposed to have a broad impact on the development of law and on our collective understandings of rights.