1. The charter of rights and freedoms

2. Canadian Charter of rights and freedoms
The charter is divided into 7 section:
1. Fundamental Freedoms
2. Democratic Rights
3. Mobility Rights
4. Legal Rights
5. Equality Rights
6. Language Rights
7. Minority Language Education Rights

3. Pre-Charter Before the charter we had the Canadian Bill of Rights.
This was the basis for Federal law
The difference is that the Charter is entrenched in the constitution
The charter was proposed by Pierre Trudeau
It guarantees certain political rights to the Canadian citizen
It also guarantees civil rights to everyone in Canada
Ideally, it is supposed to unify Canadians around a set of principles.
It was signed into law on April 17, 1982

4. Reasonable limits
This means that none of the rights in the Charter are absolute
The government has the ability to restrict them
Certain rights within the charter must be weighed against each other
For example: The right to have a party vs. the right to peace and quiet

5. Enforcing the charter
Someone that has a complaint against a government agency must apply to the court system to have it stopped

6. The Notwithstanding clause
This is section 33 of the Charter
This clause allows parliament or a provincial government to exempt legislation from parts of the Charter
This can only be applied to fundamental freedoms and legal and equality rights

7. Legal Rights
Legal Rights: The rights that people have in their dealings with the justice system and with law enforcement
Habeas Corpus: section 10 of the charter consists of a court order that requires a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court. The principle of habeas corpus is to ensure that a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention or detention lacking sufficient cause or evidence
Presumption of innocence: The Principle that everyone is considered innocent until proven guilty. This is a legal right of the accused person in a criminal trial

8. Fundamental freedoms Section 2: - Freedom of conscience
- Freedom of religion
- Freedom of thought
- Freedom of belief
- Freedom of expression
- Freedom of the press and other media communication
- Freedom of peaceful assembly
- Freedom of association

9. Equality rights Section 15:
- equal treatment before and under the law, and equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination

10. Democratic rights The right to participate in political activities
The right to a democratic form of government

11. Mobility rights → Section 6:
Protects the rights of Canadian citizens to enter and leave Canada
Protects the rights of Canadian citizens to move to and live in any province
Protects the rights of Canadian citizens to reside outside of Canada
Also protects these rights to permanent residents, just to a lesser extent
Basically, you can move around all you want →

12. Language rights
Section 16: English and French are the official languages of Canada
Everyone has the right to use either of these languages in communicating with Canada’s federal government

13. Minority language rights
Section 23: Rights for certain citizens that belong to French or English speaking minority communities
Educated in their own language

14. Minority rights
The Indian Act: “An Act Respecting Indians.” This is a Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians, their bands, and the system of Indian reserves
Children’s Rights: Children’s rights are a primary concern within Canada’s foreign policy because of their unique vulnerability.
Canada played a large role in the United Nations convention on the rights of the child

15. Applying the charter
The charter like the American constitution can be seen as a living and breathing document.
It has to adapt and meet changes in Canadian society.
Think of it like a tree. The roots are Canadian values and court decisions are represented by the growth of the tree

16. Interpreting the charter
Some words and phrases in the charter are straight forward.
Some are more difficult and require in-depth interpretation by judges.
For example: Life, Liberty and the Security of person

17. Balancing competing interests
Often times courts will hear cases that involve different sections of the charter
For example: Retirement age vs. Opportunities for young people
One of the charter sections can be used to limit the scope of another
Ex: Lord’s Day act

18. The role of judges
We rely on judges to exercise good faith and the best interests of society.
We hope that they will remain impartial, considering we expect them to rule on something that politicians are not able to.
Some people argue that the Charter erodes the power of Parliament and puts all control in judges hands
Do you think that personal views influence decisions?

19. The impact of the charter on Canada
How has the Charter impacted Canadian society?
The charter has brought changes to laws that previously discriminated against people because of personal characteristics
We now have a clearer recognition of human rights and freedoms within Canada
We also have ways to enforce these rights
The charter has given us an ability to see that our rights and freedoms are to be respected by the government
If a law or action by the government violates the Charter, we can ask the court system to address this  The courts can in turn, strike down any laws that violate the charter

20. The end 