Difference between revisions of "Charter Rights: Overview"

The ''Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' is part of Canada’s Constitution. It protects a broad range of rights and freedoms. If a court decides that a law, or part of a law, violates one of those rights or freedoms, and the government cannot justify the violation under section 1, that law is not valid − unless the Canadian Parliament or a provincial legislature says that it operates in spite of (or notwithstanding) the Charter. (Check script 230 for details of the “notwithstanding clause”.) Both the Constitution and the Charter are on the Canadian government website at http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const.