Does the Canadian Charter Effectively Protect our Human Rights?

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Apart from the other laws in Canada’s constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is an important law that affects every Canadian’s rights and freedoms. It was created in 1981 by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to provide legal protection for the most important rights and freedoms. These rights include fundamental freedoms, democratic rights, mobility rights, and legal rights. Most but not all articles included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are protected in the constitution. However, if a Canadian feels that their rights are violated, they can challenge laws and unfair actions using the justice system. In my opinion, I believe the Canadian Charter of Human Rights somewhat protects Canadians’ rights and…show more content…
To prove that the Charter protects some rights but not all, a court case that involved Dr Henry Morgentaler and the Supreme Court of Canada was successful after trials. Before this case, women were only allowed to have an abortion after proper certification of approval from a hospital's Therapeutic Abortion Committee. Three doctors including Morgentaler set up an abortion clinic that allowed women to have an abortion without a certification of approval. He was later charged with illegal abortion under section 251 of the Criminal Code. Morgentaler argued that women had full right on deciding whether or not they wanted an abortion. This law was struck down as unconstitutional as it violated a woman’s right according to section 7 on the Charter.
Another example to support my statement involves the case R. V. Big M Drug Mart. Before this case, the Lord’s Day Act prevented people from opening shops on Sundays because that day was for Christian people to go to church and spend time with their family. Big M Drug Mart was charged in Calgary for unlawfully opening their store on a Sunday. They disagreed to the Lord’s Day Act because not every Canadian citizen had to have a religion. This case was later released and the law was struck down due to violation in section 2 in the Canadian Charter, which protected fundamental rights.
In contrast, a case study involving Omar Khadr, the United

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