Canadian Bill of Rights: Difference between revisions

{{About|the Canadian federal statute enacted in 1960|the charter of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada|Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms}}

{{Infobox legislation

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{{Constitutional history of Canada}}

 

The ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' remains in effect but is widely acknowledged to be limited in its effectiveness because it is a federal statute only, and so not directly applicable to provincial laws.<ref name="BoyleFinnie2002">{{cite book|author1=Alan E. Boyle|author2=Wilson Finnie|author3=Andrea Loux, Chris Himsworth, Hector MacQueen|title=Human Rights and Scots Law|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZSSuFFsD_QC&pg=PA177|year=2002|publisher=Hart Publishing|isbn=978-1-84113-044-6|page=177}}</ref><ref name="Turner2009">{{cite book|author=Francis J. Turner|title=Encyclopedia of Canadian Social Work|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=StvfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA42|date=23 July 2009|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|isbn=978-1-55458-807-7|pages=41, 42}}</ref> These legal and constitutional limitations were a significant reason that the ''[[Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms]]'' was established as an unambiguously-constitutional-level Bill of Rights for all Canadians, governing the application of both federal and provincial law in Canada, with the [[patriation]] of the [[Constitution of Canada]] in 1982. Since patriation, its usefulness at federal law in Canada is mostly limited to issues pertaining to the enjoyment of property, as set forth in its section 1(a)]—a slightly-broader "life, liberty, and security of the person" right than is recognized in [[Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|section seven of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'']].<ref name="Greene2014">{{cite book|author=Ian Greene|title=The Charter of Rights and Freedoms: 30+ years of decisions that shape Canadian life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vv6lBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT66|date=18 November 2014|publisher=James Lorimer Limited, Publishers|isbn=978-1-4594-0662-9|page=66}}</ref>

 

==Background==

 

===Saskatchewan's Bill of Rights===

 

===United Nations===

On March 16, 1950, a decade before the ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' became law, Diefenbaker, then a Saskatchewan MP, told a public forum why such a law was needed. Individuals' freedoms of religion, press, speech and association are threatened by the state, he said. A Bill of Rights was needed to take a "forthright stand against discrimination based on colour, creed or racial origin".<ref>Radio Clip: [http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/prime-ministers/john-diefenbaker-dief-the-chief/the-canadian-bill-of-rights.html John Diefenbaker: Dief the Chief. The Canadian Bill of Rights.]</ref>

 

 

==Features==

Section 2 of the Bill of Rights reads as follows:

 

 

::(a) authorize or effect the arbitrary detention, imprisonment or exile of any person;

 

==Criticism and support==

 

The Bill of Rights was (and is) limited in several ways.

Firstly, it does not explicitly amend any conflicting statutes, either to remove conflicts or to insert explicit allowances for the statutes to operate notwithstanding the Bill of Rights.<ref name="Peaslee1956">{{cite book|author=Amos Jenkins Peaslee|title=Constitutions of nations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6aUGNB3qteMC&pg=PA207|year=1956|publisher=Brill Archive|page=207|id=GGKEY:3DG2ENRE077}}</ref> When called upon to apply conflicting laws, the courts typically sought to interpret a later statute as creating a minimal disturbance of earlier law.<ref name="Macklem2001">{{cite book|author=Patrick Macklem|title=Indigenous Difference and the Constitution of Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=quM1xyFyfhQC&pg=PA210|year=2001|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-0-8020-8049-3|pages=162, 210}}</ref> In practice, that meant that the courts relied on Parliament to repeal or amend any laws contrary to the Bill of Rights.<ref>Adam Dodek. [https://policymagazine.ca/pdf/27/PolicyMagazineJulyAugust-2017-Dodek.pdf "The Supreme Court at Canada's 150th"]. ''Policy'', July/August 2017, page 24.</ref> Disappointments for those who wanted courts to enforce rights vigorously included ''[[Bliss v Canada (AG)]]'' and ''[[Canada (AG) v Lavell]]''. A notable exception was ''[[R v Drybones]]''.

 

 

Third, because it is an ordinary statute, the authority of the Bill of Rights is limited to matters set out in [[Section 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867]], as being under the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada.

 

 

==See also==

*''[[Canadian Human Rights Act]]'' of 1977

*[[Constitution of Canada]]

*[[New Zealand Bill of Rights Act]]

*''[[Saskatchewan Bill of Rights]]''

 

==References==

 

==External links==

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050504204636/http://www.canadianprisonlaw.com/misc/billofrights.htm Annotated bill of rights]

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040927181825/http://www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/cgi-bin/srch.pl?database=en%2Fjug Supreme Court cases which use the 1960 Bill of Rights]

[[Category:Human rights in Canada]]

[[Category:National human rights instruments]]

[[Category:1960 in Canadian politics]]

[[Category:1960 documents]]