The phenomenon of entrenching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not new to Canadian citizens, but it is a notion that is perceived in several ways. Many view it as a feature that disregards the fundamental right to democracy, an integral part of Canada’s political system. A functioning democracy is an important factor in providing citizens with the utmost rights and freedoms deserved. Society’s full potential is not being achieved if there are individuals who believe their principle of democracy is being violated. This violation nonetheless, true or not, should not be ignored.
1. 2 Define Civil Liberties; then define Civil Rights. How are they similar? How do they differ? Which civil sequence has more influence on your life as you know it to be now? Why do you believe this to be so?
When our founding fathers sat down to illustrate and create the foundation of the United States, they had many goals and ideals they set out to uphold. One of those is equality. It states clearly in our constitution that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” It can sometimes be a blurry line to if these ideals are still upheld in a rapidly changing and disunified country. This is where our civil sequences: Liberties and Rights, keep our country intact. 1 Both Civil Liberties and Rights are granted and defined in the Constitution. We must continue enforcing our civil sequences to maintain order for ourselves, our states,
One might ask the importance of civil liberties after so many years. The answer is that we are all touched by these liberties every day. Even though civil liberties were embedded into the Bill of Rights in the late 1800’s, we today, as Americans, still have the right to be protected against any abusive power used by the government (Bianco & Canon, 2015, p. 106). Although Americans are protected fully today, it took over a century for all civil liberties to be implemented. With several civil liberties in place, which is most important? Which liberty protects us as Americans, most significantly? I believe all of our civil liberties are equally as beneficial and lead to the safety of every citizen in the United
Many Canadians of the 21st century still often wonder, was the creation of the Charter of Rights & Freedoms a mistake? It is believed that the Charter 's creation was a significant benefit as it guarantees certain political rights to Canadian citizens and civil rights of everyone in Canada from the policies and actions of all areas and levels of government. However, many believe the Charter makes Canada more like the United States, especially by serving corporate rights and individual rights rather than group rights and social rights. Also, there are several rights that should be included in the Charter, such as a right to health care and a basic right to free education. With this, by guaranteeing certain political rights and civil rights to every Canadian citizen, it is evident that the creation of the Charter of Rights & Freedoms was not a mistake, and was truly a benefit to all Canadian citizens for many important reasons. One important reason is that Charter guarantees all Canadians their legal rights as it promises rights of people in dealing with the justice system and law enforcement are protected. In addition with the guarantee of Canadians legal rights, is their language rights which is to assure people have the right to use either the English or French language in communications with Canada 's federal government and certain provincial governments. As well as guaranteeing all Canadian 's equality rights to promise equal treatment before and under the law. The
granted. Police can’t intrude when I am doing something, without reason. The streets I walk on
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was constructed to replace the Bill of Rights, 1960. In the 1960’s-1970’s Quebec was extremely discontent with being apart of Canada due to the language barer and being a minority. Many citizens in Quebec even wanted to separate themselves from Canada and form their own nation. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau decided that the new charter in order to ensure the rights of people residing in Quebec. In order to do this Trudeau had to create an amending formula for the British North-American Act. This would grand Canada its independence from Brittan. After gaining independence Pierre Trudeau also included the new Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This charter created a great amount a controversy among many
This essay will argue the reasons behind the notwithstanding clause remaining within the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In this paper, I will provide reasons as to why the clause should be kept within the Charter beginning with the arguments that it is an essential element in critical policy decisions being made by politicians and it 's hard to remove which requires the amending formula to be used if changes are to be made. On the other side, its use in policy can create grave and problematic judicial activism in the eyes of those who oppose it. In the next few paragraphs, I will define my terms, introduce a brief history of the charter and the notwithstanding clause and describe the positions from both sides regarding its use,
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights granted constitutional status that was introduced in the Constitution Act of 1982 by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. The Constitution Act is also known as the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution. The Charter had several purposes; the first is “to outline and guarantee the political rights of Canadian citizens, as well as the civil rights of anyone who is residing on the territory of Canada” (The Canadian Charter. 1). Secondly, “It balances the rights of legislatures and courts through the ‘notwithstanding’ clause, which gives the federal and provincial parliaments limited powers to override court decisions “, while section 2 of the bill enshrines the freedom of the press, allowing the media to release controversial reports without fear of the state (Ibbitson. 2012). thirdly, it criminalized discrimination in society, government rulings and the judicial system and provides a set of ethical principles for all Canadians to follow, while promoting equality throughout the country.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has significantly enhanced the power of the judiciary in Canada. Within the Supreme Court of Canada judges have been given the judiciary power and this amount of power is not excessive. Again, in the Supreme Court of Canada judges are federally appointed. Most of these appointments are made by the minister of Justice after Cabinet consultation and approval. In some other cases, appointments are made by the Prime Minister.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of Canada’s written constitution called the Constitution Act in 1982 it was the second main aspect of the Act and it guaranteed fundamental, democratic, legal, egalitarian, and linguistic rights and freedoms against government intrusion, it imposed formal new limitations on the governments in interaction with its citizens. The charter has made society more equitable for visible minorities through its use of its Fundamental Rights and Freedoms and Section 15 which say that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of law without discrimination, but does the Charter really represent Canada’s egalitarian society or are we just saying we care without actually taking action. In this paper it will be shown that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has not made Canadian society more equitable and will discuss the right side and the left side of the debate, while agreeing with the left sided critiques. The right winged perspective on the Charter argues that the groups are not seeking equality, but, instead, are asking judges to grant them political advantages through favorable Charter decisions ( Smithey, S. I., 2001, p. 2) while the left winged perspective is the Charter not only does not go far enough, but actually retards egalitarian progress in Canada and that the Charter is essentially a classically liberal document designed to constrain state action rather than to require the
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was establishing the renowned Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since the three decades of being established, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has protected the individual rights and freedoms of thousands of Canadians. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has become a part of the national identity and has become a big patriotic symbol for the country. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the document the truly separates Canada from all the other powerful nations and is really something that Canadian take a pride in. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms brings up many questions, but the biggest and most common question is how effectively does Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms protect your individual rights? To exactly know how effectively it protects your rights you can look at situations where it has protected and has not protected the rights of Canadians. Within the Middle East, the largest population of the men and women are Muslim. The Muslim religion suggests that women wear a veil or hijab, which is a headscarf that only exposes a woman’s eyes, accompanied by a burqa, which is a full body cloak. The sole purpose of the clothing is to cover a woman’s feminine features from men’s eyes. The Quran, an Islamic scripture, supports and slightly obligates the uniform by saying that women are to be conservative, “let them wear their head covering over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments” (Quran). It could be inferred that women
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms entrenched under the CA 1982 act in the Canadian constitution is seen as a decisive indicator of national identity by the majority of Canadians. The charter’s role in Canadian society ranges from providing individuals with intrinsic human rights such as freedom of expression, freedom of belief and acts particularly as a concrete limit on ‘tyranny of the majority’, advocating and enforcing basic rights of individuals and minorities. It is however worthy to note that CA 1982’s involvement as a platform to increased activism of the Supreme court in Canada is highly controversial. Employing the charter as a basis to the interpretation of different situations, the Canadian Supreme Court has in many occasions
Hafsa Zahid Professor Sharifian Government 2305 17 September 2017 What Role Does Our Civil Liberty and Rights Play In Our Government System?