In 1982 Canada achieved three major constitutional changes:
The Charter is paramount over other legislation because it is "entrenched"
in the Constitution and is the supreme law of Canada. This means that when
an individual who believes that Parliament or a legislature has violated
guaranteed rights asks the courts for help, the courts may declare the
law in question to be invalid insofar as it conflicts with the Charter.
In addition, courts may provide other appropriate remedies to individuals
whose rights have been infringed.
However, the Charter also recognizes that, in a democracy, rights and freedoms are not absolute.
For instance, freedom of expression is guaranteed, but no one is free to yell "fire" in a crowded theater, to slander someone or to spread hate propaganda.
In Canada, Parliament or a provincial legislature can limit fundamental rights, but only if that government can establish that the limit is reasonable, is prescribed by law, and can be justified in a free and democratic society. This allows for the balancing of the interests of society against the interests of individuals to determine if limits on individual rights can be justified.
It guarantees to all Canadians rights to liberty, equality under the law, and freedom of religion, expression, association and peaceful assembly among other things.
It is the supreme law of the land.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to all laws of Canadian, provinces, and those of the federal government.
The Charter is the most important law in Canada.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.
Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees
the rights and
freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable
limits prescribed by
law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and
democratic society.
Fundamental Freedoms
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression,
including freedom
of the press and other
media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Democratic Rights
3. Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in
an election of members
of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly
and to be qualified
for membership therein.
4.(1) No House of Commons and no legislative assembly
shall continue for
longer than five years from the date fixed for the
return of the writs at a
general election of its members.
(2) In time of real or apprehended war, invasion or
insurrection, a House
of Commons may be continued by Parliament and a legislative
assembly may be
continued by the legislature beyond five years if
such continuation is not
opposed by the votes of more than one-third of the
members of the House of
Commons or the legislative assembly, as the case may
be.
5. There shall be a sitting of Parliament and of each
legislature at least
once every twelve months.
Mobility Rights
6.(1) Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter,
remain in and leave
Canada.
(2) Every citizen of Canada and every person who has
the status of a
permanent resident of Canada has the right
(a) to move to and take up residence in any province;
and
(b) to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province.
(3) The rights specified in subsection (2) are subject
to
(a) any laws or practices of general application in
force in a province
other than those that discriminate among persons primarily
on the basis of
province of present or previous residence; and
(b) any laws providing for reasonable residency requirements
as a
qualification for the receipt of publicly provided
social services.
(4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not preclude any law,
program or activity
that has as its object the amelioration in a province
of conditions of
individuals in that province who were socially or
economically
disadvantaged if the rate of employment in that province
is below the rate
of employment in Canada.
Legal Rights
7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security
of the person and
the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance
with the
principles of fundamental justice.
8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable
search or
seizure.
9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.
10. Everyone has the right on arrest or detention
(a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;
(b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and
to be informed of that
right; and (c) to have the validity of the detention
determined by way of
habeas corpus and to be released if the detention
is not lawful.
11. Any person charged with an offence has the right
(a) to be informed without unreasonable delay of the
specific offence;
(b) to be tried within a reasonable time;
(c) not to be compelled to be a witness in proceedings
against that person
in respect of the offence;
(d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according
to law in a fair
and public hearing by an independent and impartial
tribunal;
(e) not to be denied reasonable bail without just
cause;
(f) except in the case of an offence under military
law tried before a
military tribunal, to the benefit of trial by jury
where the maximum punishment for the offence is imprisonment for five years
or a more severe
punishment;
(g) not to be found guilty on account of any act or
omission unless, at the
time of the act or omission, it constituted an offence
under Canadian or
international law or was criminal according to the
general principles of
law recognized by the community of nations;
(h) if finally acquitted of the offence, not to be
tried for it again and,
if finally found guilty and punished for the offence,
not to be tried or
punished for it again; and
(i) if found guilty of the offence and if the punishment
for the offence
has been varied between the time of commission and
the time of sentencing,
to the benefit of the lesser punishment.
12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any
cruel and unusual
treatment or punishment.
13. A witness who testifies in any proceedings has
the right not to have
any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate
that witness in any
other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury
or for the giving of
contradictory evidence.
14. A party or witness in any proceedings who does
not understand or speak
the language in which the proceedings are conducted
or who is deaf has the
right to the assistance of an interpreter.
Equality Rights
15.(1) Every individual is equal before and under the
law and has the right
to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law
without discrimination
and, in particular, without discrimination based on
race, national or
ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental
or physical disability.
(2) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program
or activity that has
as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged
individuals
or groups including those that are disadvantaged because
of race, national
or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental
or physical
disability.
Official Languages of Canada
16.(1) English and French are the official languages
of Canada and have
equality of status and equal rights and privileges
as to their use in all
institutions of the Parliament and government of Canada.
(2) English and French are the official languages
of New Brunswick and have
equality of status and equal rights and privileges
as to their use in all
institutions of the legislature and government of
New Brunswick.
(3) Nothing in this Charter limits the authority of
Parliament or a
legislature to advance the equality of status or use
of English and French.
17.(1) Everyone has the right to use English or French
in any debates and
other proceedings of Parliament.
(2) Everyone has the right to use English or French
in any debates and
other proceedings of the legislature of New Brunswick.
18.(1) The statutes, records and journals of Parliament
shall be printed
and published in English and French and both language
versions are equally
authoritative.
(2) The statutes, records and journals of the legislature
of New Brunswick
shall be printed and published in English and French
and both language
versions are equally authoritative.
19.(1) Either English or French may be used by any
person in, or any
pleading in or process issuing from, any court established
by Parliament.
(2) Either English or French may be used by any person
in, or any pleading
in or process issuing from, any court of New Brunswick.
20.(1) Any member of the public in Canada has the right
to communicate
with, and to receive available services from, any
head or central office of
an institution of the Parliament or government of
Canada in English or
French, and has the same right with respect to any
other office of any such
institution where
(a) there is a significant demand for communications
with and services from
that office in such language; or
(b) due to the nature of the office, it is reasonable
that communications
with and services from that office be available in
both English and French.
(2) Any member of the public in New Brunswick has the
right to communicate
with, and to receive available services from, any
office of an institution
of the legislature or government of New Brunswick
in English or French.
21. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates
from any right,
privilege or obligation with respect to the English
and French languages,
or either of them, that exists or is continued by
virtue of any other
provision of the Constitution of Canada.
22. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates
from any legal or
customary right or privilege acquired or enjoyed either
before or after the
coming into force of this Charter with respect to
any language that is not
English or French.
Minority Language Educational Rights
23.(1) Citizens of Canada
(a) whose first language learned and still understood
is that of the
English or French linguistic minority of the province
in which they reside,
or
(b) who have received their primary school instruction
in Canada in English
or French and reside in a province where the language
in which they
received that instruction is the language of the English
or French
linguistic minority population of the province, have
the right to have
their children receive primary and secondary school
instruction in that
language in that province.
(2) Citizens of Canada of whom any child has received
or is receiving
primary or secondary school instruction in English
or French in Canada,
have the right to have all their children receive
primary and secondary
language instruction in the same language.
(3) The right of citizens of Canada under subsections
(1) and (2) to have
their children receive primary and secondary school
instruction in the
language of the English or French linguistic minority
population of a
province
(a) applies wherever in the province the number of
children of citizens who
have such a right is sufficient to warrant the provision
to them out of
public funds of minority language instruction; and
(b) includes, where the number of those children so
warrants, the right to
have them receive that instruction in minority language
educational
facilities provided out of public funds.
Enforcement
24.(1) Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed
by this Charter, have
been infringed or denied may apply to a court of competent
jurisdiction to
obtain such remedy as the court considers appropriate
and just in the
circumstances.
(2) Where, in proceedings under subsection (1), a court
concludes that
evidence was obtained in a manner that infringed or
denied any rights or
freedoms guaranteed by this Charter, the evidence
shall be excluded if it
is established that, having regard to all the circumstances,
the admission
of it in the proceedings would bring the administration
of justice into
disrepute.
General
25. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights
and freedoms shall not
be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any
aboriginal, treaty or
other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal
people of Canada
including
(a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized
by the Royal
Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and
(b) any rights or freedoms that now exist by way of
land claims agreements
or may be so acquired.
26. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights
and freedoms shall not
be construed as denying the existence of any other
rights or freedoms that
exist in Canada.
27. This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent
with the
preservation and enhancement of the multicultural
heritage of Canadians.
28. Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights
and freedoms
referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and
female persons.
29. Nothing in this Charter abrogates or derogates
from any rights or
privileges guaranteed by or under the Constitution
of Canada in respect of
denominational, separate or dissentient schools.
30. A reference in this Charter to a province or to
the legislative
assembly or legislature of a province shall be deemed
to include a
reference to the Yukon Territory and the Northwest
Territories, or to the
appropriate legislative authority thereof, as the
case may be.
31. Nothing in this Charter extends the legislative
powers of any body or
authority.
Application of Charter
32.(1) This Charter applies
(a) to the Parliament and government of Canada in
respect of all matters
within the authority of Parliament including all matters
relating to the
Yukon Territory and Northwest Territories; and
(b) to the legislature and government of each province
in respect of all
matters within the authority of the legislature of
each province.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), section 15 shall
not have effect until
three years after this section comes into force. {WWLIA
note: Section 32
came into force on April 17, 1982, so section 15 had
effect on April 17,
1985.}
33.(1) Parliament or the legislature of a province
may expressly declare in
an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the
case may be, that the
Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding
a provision
included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this
Charter.
(2) An Act or a provision of an Act in respect of which
a declaration made
under this section is in effect shall have such operation
as it would have
but for the provision of this Charter referred to
in the declaration.
(3) A declaration made under subsection (1) shall cease
to have effect five
years after it comes into force or on such earlier
date as may be specified
in the declaration.
(4) Parliament or the legislature of a province may
re-enact a declaration
made under subsection (1).
(5) Subsection (3) applies in respect of a re-enactment
made under
subsection (4).
34. This Part may be cited as the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms.