Protecting rights and freedoms : essays on the Charter's place in Canada's political, legal, and intellectual life : Conference : Papers

In his introduction to this collection of essays by constitutional experts, Philip Bryden says that Canadians can be proud of their commitment to the protection of rights and liberties in the Charter. Canada, he believes, is a better place to live than it would be otherwise. Nevertheless, as the essays in this book reveal, the case in favour of the Charter is not simple or one-sided. For instance, Kim Campbell, minister of justice at the time of writing, and Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail express concern that the Charter promotes a rights discourse that threatens to overwhelm the ordinary politics of recognizing and accommodating different interests. Dean Lynn Smith of the University of British Columbia law faculty observes that Charter rights are better understood as complementing than as supplanting traditional mechanisms. The papers in this volume originated in a conference which was held in Vancouver in May 1992. The conference was sponsored by the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and the Philosophy Department of Simon Fraser University. The editors would like to thank the federal Department of Multiculturalism and Citizenship, the Social Sciences and Humanities Council, and the Dean of Arts at Simon Fraser University for their financial support for the conference and the volume that resulted from it. The editors also would like to thank Protecting Rights And Freedoms : An Overview / Philip Bryden -- Parliament's Role In Protecting The Rights And Freedoms Of Canadians / Kim Campbell -- The Political Purposes Of The Charter : Have They Been Fulfilled? An Agnostic's Report Card / Peter H. Russell -- The Charter And Quebec / Lysiane Gagnon -- Rights Talk : The Effect Of The Charter On Canadian Political Discourse / Jeffrey Simpson -- Have The Equality Rights Made Any Difference? / Lynn Smith -- The Supreme Court Judges' Views Of The Role Of The Courts In The Application Of The Charter / Andrée Lajoie And Henry Quillinan -- The Charter Then And Now / Patrick J. Monahan -- The Supreme Court's Rethinking Of The Charter's Fundamental Questions (or Why The Charter Keeps Getting More Interesting) / Robin Elliot -- Is Democracy A Constitutional Right? New Turns In An Old Debate / Frank I. Michelman -- Après Nous La Liberté? / Edgar Z. Friedenberg -- Multirow Federalism And The Charter / James Tully -- Nationalistic Minorities And Liberal Traditions / John Russell. Philip Bryden, Steven Davis, John Russell, Editors. Cover Title: Protecting Rights & Freedoms. Includes Bibliographical References.

In his introduction to this collection of essays by constitutional experts, Philip Bryden says that Canadians can be proud of their commitment to the protection of rights and liberties in the Charter. Canada, he believes, is a better place to live then it would be otherwise. Nevertheless, as the essays in this book reveal, the case in favour of the Charter is not simple or one-sided. For instance, Kim Campbell, minister of justice at the time of writing, and Jeffrey Simpson of the Globe and Mail express concern that the Charter promotes a rights discourse that threatens to overwhelm the ordinary politics of recognizing and accommodating different interests. Dean Lynn Smith of the University of British Columbia law faculty observes that the Charter rights are better understood as complementing than as supplanting traditional mechanisms.

The authors, diverse in background and outlook, reflect varying points of view but share a significant degree of consensus on issues that need to be addressed.

Contents 5 Acknowledgments 7 Contributors 9 1. Protecting Rights and Freedoms: An Overview 13 I. THE CHARTER AND CANADIAN POLITICAL LIFE 33 2. Parliament's Role in Protecting the Rights and Freedoms of Canadians 33 3. The Political Purposes of the Charter: Have They Been Fulfilled? An Agnostic's Report Card 43 4. The Charter and Quebec 55 5. Rights Talk: The Effect of the Charter on Canadian Political Discourse 62 6. Have the Equality Rights Made Any Difference? 70 II. THE CHARTER IN THE COURTS 103 7. The Supreme Court Judges' Views of the Role of the Courts in the Application of the Charter 103 8. The Charter Then and Now 115 9. The Supreme Court's Rethinking of the Charter's Fundamental Questions (Or Why the Charter Keeps Getting More Interesting) 139 III. THE CHARTER AND OUR INTELLECTUAL TRADITIONS 155 10. Is Democracy a Constitutional Right? New Turns in an Old Debate 155 11. Après Nous la Liberté? 180 12. Multirow Federalism and the Charter 188 13. Nationalistic Minorities and Liberal Traditions 215