CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the
supremacy of God and the rule of law:
Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees
the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such
reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably
justified in a free and democratic society.
Fundamental Freedoms
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including
freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Democratic Rights
3. Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an
election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative
assembly and to be qualified for membership therein.
4.(1) No House of Commons and no legislative assembly shall
continue for longer than five years from the date fixed for the
return of the writs at a general election of its members.
(2) In time of real or apprehended war, invasion or
insurrection, a House of Commons may be continued by Parliament
and a legislative assembly may be continued by the legislature
beyond five years if such continuation is not opposed by the
votes of more than one-third of the members of the House of
Commons or the legislative assembly, as the case may be.
5. There shall be a sitting of Parliament and of each
legislature at least once every twelve months.
Mobility Rights
6.(1) Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in
and leave Canada.
(2) Every citizen of Canada and every person who has the
status of a permanent resident of Canada has the right
(a) to move to and take up residence in any province; and
(b) to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province.
(3) The rights specified in subsection (2) are subject to
(a) any laws or practices of general application in force in a
province other than those that descriminate among persons
primarily on the basis of province of present or previous
residence; and
(b) any laws providing for reasonable residency requirements as a
qualification for the receipt of publically provided social
services.
(4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not preclude any law, program
or activity that has as its object the amelioration in a province
of conditions of individuals in that province who are socially or
economically disadvantaged if the rate of employment in that
province is below the rate of employment in Canada.
Legal Rights
7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of
the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in
accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.
8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable
search or seizure.
9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or
imprisoned.
10. Everyone has the right on arrest or detention
(a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;
(b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be
informed of that right; and
(c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of
habeas corpus and to be released if the detention is not
lawful.
11. Any person charged with an offence has the right
(a) to be informed without unreasonable delay of the specific
offence;
(b) to be tried within a reasonable time;
(c) not to be compelled to be a witness in proceedings against
that person in respect of the offence;
(d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law
in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial
tribunal;
(e) not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause;
(f) except in the case of an offence under military law tried
before a military tribunal, to the benefit of trial by jury
where the maximum punishment for the offence is imprisonment
for five years or a more severe punishment;
(g) not to be found guilty on account of any act or omission
unless, at the time of the act or omission, it constituted an
offence under Canadian or international law or was criminal
according to the general principles of law recognized by the
community of nations;
(h) if finally acquitted of the offence, not to be tried for it
again and, if finally found guilty and punished for the
offence, not to be tried or punsihed for it again; and
(i) if found guilty of the offence and if the punishment for the
offence has been varied between the time of commission and
the time of sentencing, to the benefit of the lesser
punishment.
12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel
and unusual treatment or punishment.
13. A witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right
not to have any incriminating evidence so given used to
incriminate that witness in any other proceeding, except in a
prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory
evidence.
14. A party or witness in any proceedings who does not
understand or speak the language in which the proceedings are
conducted or who is deaf has the right to the assistance of an
interpreter.
Equality Rights
15.(1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and
has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the
law without discrimination and, in particular, without
discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour,
religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
(2) Sunsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or
activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of
disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are
disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour,
religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability
Official Languages of Canada
16.(1) English and French are the official languages of Canada
and have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to
their use in all institutions of the Parliament and government of
Canada.
(2) English and French are the official languages of New
Brunswick and have equality of status and equal right and
privileges as to their use in all institutions of the legislature
and government of New Brunswick.
(3) Nothing in the Charter limits the authority of Parliament
or a legislature to advance the equality of status or use of
English and French.
17.(1) Everyone has the right to use English or French in any
debates or other proceedings of Parliament.
(2) Everyone has the right to use English or French in any
debates and other proceedings of the legislature of New
Brunswick.
18.(1) The statutes, records and journals of Parliament shall be
printed and published in English and French and both language
versions are equally authoritative.
(2) The statutes, records and journals of the legislature of
New Brunswick shall be printed and published in English and
French
and both language versions are equally authoritative.
19.(1) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or
in any pleading in or process issuing from, any court established
by Parliament.
(2) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or
in any pleading or process issuing from, any court of New
Brunswick.
20.(1) Any member of the public in Canada has the right to
communicate with, and to receive available services from, any
head or central office of an institution of the Parliament or
government of Canada in English or French, and has the same right
with respect to any other office of any such institution where
(a) there is a significant demand for communications with and
services from that office in such language; or
(b) due to the nature of the office, it is reasonable that
communications with and services from that office be
available in both English and French.
(2) Any member of the public in New Brunswick has the right
to communicate with, and to receive available services from, any
office of an institution of the legislature or government of New
Brunswick in English or French.
21. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from
any right, privilege or obligation with respect to the English
and French languages, or either of them, that exists or is
continued by virtue of any other provision of the Constitution of
Canada.
22. Nothing in section 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from
any legal or customary right or privilege acquired or enjoyed
either before or after the coming into force of this Charter with
respect to any language that is not English or French.
Minority Language Educational Rights
23.(1) Citizens of Canada
(a) whose first language learned and still understood is that of
the English or French linguistic minority population of the
province in which they reside, or
(b) who have received their primary school instruction in Canada
in English or French and reside in a province where the
language in which they received that instruction is the
language of the English or French linguistic minority
population of the province,
have the right to have their children receive primary and
secondary school instruction in that language in that province.
(2) Citizens of Canada of whom any child has received or is
receiving primary or secondary school instruction in English or
French in Canada, have the right to have all their children
receive primary and secondary school instruction in the same
language.
(3) The right of the citizens of Canada under subsections (1)
and (2) to have their children receive primary and secondary
school instruction in the language of the English or French
linguistic minority population of a province
(a) applies wherever in the province the number of children of
citizens who have such a right is sufficient to warrant the
provision to them out of public funds of minority language
instruction; and
(b) includes, where the number of those children so warrants, the
right to have them receive that instruction in minority
language educational facilities provided out of public funds.
Enforcement
24.(1) Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this
Charter, have been infringed or denied may apply to a court of
competent jurisdiction to obtain such remedy as the court
considers appropriate and just in the circumstances.
(2) Where, in proceedings under subsection (1), a court
concludes that evidence was obtained in a manner that infringed
or denied any rights or freedoms guaranteed by this Charter, the
evidence shall be excluded if it is established that, having
regard to all the circumstances, the admission of it in the
proceedings would bring the administration of justice into
disrepute.
General
25. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and
freedoms shall not be construed so as to abrogate or derogate
from any aboriginal, treaty or other rights or freedoms that
pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canada including
(a) any rights or freedoms that have been recognized by the Royal
Proclamation of October 7, 1763; and
(b) any rights or freedoms that may be acquired by the aboriginal
peoples of Canada by way of land claims settlement.
26. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and
freedoms shall not be construed as denying the existence of any
other rights or freedoms that exist in Canada.
27. This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent
with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural
heritage of Canadians.
28. Notwithstanding anything in this Charter, the rights and
freedoms referred to in it are guaranteed equally to male and
female persons.
29. Nothing in this Charter abrogates or derogates from any
rights or privileges guaranteed by or under the Constitution of
Canada in respect of denominational, separate or dissentient
schools.
30. A reference in this Charter to a province or to the
legislative assembly or legislature of a province shall be deemed
to include a reference to the Yukon Territory and the Northwest
Territories, or to the appropriate legislative authority thereof,
as the case may be.
31. Nothing in this Charter extends the legislative powers of
any body or authority.
Application of Charter
32.(1) This Charter applies
(a) to the Parliament and government of Canada in respect of all
matters within the authority of Parliament including all
matters relating to the Yukon Territory and the Northwest
Territories; and
(b) to the legislature and government of each province in respect
of all matters within the authority of the legislature of
each privince.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), section 15 shall not have
effect until three years after this section comes into force.
33.(1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly
declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the
case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate
nothwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or section 7
to 15 of this Charter.
(2) An Act or provision of an Act in respect of which a
declaration made under this section is in effect shall have such
operation as it would have but for the provision of this Charter
referred to in the declaration.
(3) A declaration made under subsection (1) shall cease to
have effect five years after it comes into force or on such
earlier date as may be specified in the declaration.
(4) Parliament or a legislature of a province may re-enact a
declaration made under subsection (1).
(5) Subsection (3) applies to a re-enactment made under
subsection (4).
Citation
34. This Part may be cited as the Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms.