2.4 The Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms
 Section 1 of the Charter, the reasonable limits clause,
allows your rights and freedoms to be limited if there
is justifiable reason to do so.
Section 2: Fundamental Freedoms
 Section 2 contains the “fundamental freedoms”
 Divided into 4 areas:
 Freedom of Conscience and Religion
 Freedom of Thought, Belief, Opinion and Expression
 Freedom of Peaceful Assembly
 Freedom of Association
Freedom of Conscience and
Religion
 People are free to choose to practice (or not practice)
religion without fear.
 This has caused many disputes such as working on
holidays, praying publically, and religion in schools
 Government can impose limits, as long as it doesn’t
infringe on the fundamental beliefs of the religion
Freedom of Thought, Belief,
Opinion, and Expression
 Deals with communication and expression, such as
mass media, writing, painting, sculpture and film.
 Governments can again limit this if it targets hatred
towards groups and individuals. Also limits are not
announcing some names of accused and victims
 Censorship laws, are also used to limit availability of
material from citizens (ex: movies and music ratings)
 This is done to protect vulnerable people who may be
harmed and/or influenced
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and
Freedom of Association
 Includes peaceful demonstrations and striking
 Does not permit unlawful assembly
 If a riot breaks out police read the Riot Act
Section 3, 4 and 5: Democratic
Rights
 Before 1982, the franchise (right to vote) was not
guaranteed
 Voting rights are limited. Restricted by age, residency
and citizenship
Section 6: Mobility Rights
 Allows you to move in and out of Canada and
throughout the country freely
 Provinces can restrict mobility into the province to
protect the economy (ex: no collecting welfare until
they have resided in the province for a certain time;
also not looking for work if unemployment is already
down in the province)
Section 7-14: Legal Rights
 This will be covered in detail in Unit 2
Section 15 and 28: Equality Rights
 Section 15 most controversial!
 Difficult to define “equality”
 “every individual” has the right to equal treatment by the
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law
Entitled to be treated “in particular, without discrimination
based on race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, sex,
age, mental or physical disability”
Section 15 (2) allows for affirmative action programs (ex:
assist minority groups)
Section 15 came into effect 3 years after the Charter, to give
more time to define “equality”
Section 28 deals with equality of the sexes
Section 16-22: Official Languages
of Canada
 States the 2 official languages are French and English
 They are equal under federal dealings (laws in both
languages, debates, offered in federal buildings)
Section 23: Minority Language
Educational Rights
 Only dealing with French and English
 Each province decides whether to offer another
language in school
Section 25: Aboriginal Rights and
Freedoms
 Charter rights cannot interfere with treaty rights
 Guarantees the “existing rights” of Aboriginal peoples
 These rights are not actually laid out because the
Canadian politicians and aboriginals could not agree
Section 27: Multicultural and Heritage Rights
 Guides the government to consider ethnic
backgrounds when creating and interpreting laws