The ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' (french: Déclaration canadienne des droits) is a federal statute and

bill of rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pr ...

enacted by the Parliament of Canada on August 10, 1960. It provides

Canadians Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

with certain rights at Canadian federal law in relation to other federal statutes. It was the earliest expression of human rights law at the federal level in Canada, though an

implied Bill of Rights The Implied Bill of Rights () is a judicial theory in Canadian jurisprudence that recognizes that certain basic principles are underlying the Constitution of Canada. The concept of an implied bill of rights develops out of Canadian federalism. ...

had already been recognized in the Canadian

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipres ...

.Joseph E. Magnet
''Constitutional Law of Canada'', 8th ed., Part VI, Chapter 1
Juriliber, Edmonton (2001). URL accessed on March 18, 2006. The ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' remains in effect but is widely acknowledged to be limited in its effectiveness because it is a federal statute only, and so not directly applicable to provincial laws. These legal and constitutional limitations were a significant reason that the ''

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part ...

'' was established as an unambiguously-constitutional-level Bill of Rights for all Canadians, governing the application of both federal and provincial law in Canada, with the

patriation Patriation is the political process that led to full Canadian sovereignty, culminating with the Constitution Act, 1982. The process was necessary because under the Statute of Westminster 1931, with Canada's agreement at the time, the British parl ...

of the

Constitution of Canada The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents a ...

in 1982. Since patriation, its usefulness at federal law in Canada is mostly limited to issues pertaining to the enjoyment of property, as set forth in its section 1(a)]—a slightly-broader "life, liberty, and security of the person" right than is recognized in Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section seven of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''.

Background

Saskatchewan's Bill of Rights

In 1947,

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

passed into law a bill of rights which covered both fundamental freedoms and equality rights. Saskatchewan's Bill of Rights is considered to have had a formative influence on

John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electi ...

, who was from

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...

. Thirteen years later, Diefenbaker successfully introduced the ''Canadian Bill of Rights'', in 1960.

United Nations

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

. Civil rights activists in Canada had for some time been advocating for the elimination from Canadian laws of discrimination based on sex, ethnicity, race and religion; the new declaration led to an increasing call for protection of human rights in Canada.

John Diefenbaker and a National Bill of Rights

In 1936, four years before being elected to Parliament, John Diefenbaker began drafting his Bill of Rights. As a young boy, he saw injustice first-hand in the form of discrimination against French-Canadians, natives, Métis and European immigrants. On March 16, 1950, a decade before the ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' became law, Diefenbaker, then a Saskatchewan MP, told a public forum why such a law was needed. Individuals' freedoms of religion, press, speech and association are threatened by the state, he said. A Bill of Rights was needed to take a "forthright stand against discrimination based on colour, creed or racial origin". Diefenbaker advocated for the adoption of a bill of rights during the federal election campaign of 1957. In 1960, as prime minister, Diefenbaker introduced the ''Canadian Bill of Rights'', and it was enacted by Parliament.

Features

The ''Canadian Bill of Rights'' protects numerous rights, most of which were later included in the Charter. Examples include: *

Freedom of speech in Canada Freedom of expression in Canada is protected as a "fundamental freedom" by section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, however, in practice the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Charter permits the government to enforce "reas ...

and

freedom of religion in Canada Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing believers the freedom to assemble and worship without limitation or interference. Legal framework Constitutional rights The " Fundamental Freedoms" section of the ...

(now in Section 2 of the Charter) *

equality rights Social equality is a state of affairs in which all individuals within a specific society have equal rights, liberties, and status, possibly including civil rights, freedom of expression, autonomy, and equal access to certain public goods and ...

(more complete rights are contained in Section 15 of the Charter) *The right to life,

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and

security of the person Security of the person is a basic entitlement guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. It is also a human right explicitly defined and guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, th ...

, and in another section, rights to

fundamental justice In Canadian and New Zealand law, fundamental justice is the fairness underlying the administration of justice and its operation. The principles of fundamental justice are specific legal principles that command "significant societal consensus" as ...

(the Charter combines those rights in Section 7) *The right to the enjoyment of property, which is not enshrined in the Charter *The right to counsel (now in Section 10 of the Charter). Section 2 of the Bill of Rights reads as follows: :2. Every law of Canada shall, unless it is expressly declared by an Act of the Parliament of Canada that it shall operate notwithstanding the ''Canadian Bill of Rights'', be so construed and applied as not to abrogate, abridge or infringe or to authorize the abrogation, abridgement or infringement of any of the rights or freedoms herein recognized and declared, and in particular, no law of Canada shall be construed or applied so as to: ::(a) authorize or effect the arbitrary detention, imprisonment or exile of any person; ::(b) impose or authorize the imposition of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment; ::(c) deprive a person who has been arrested or detained :::(i) of the right to be informed promptly of the reason for his arrest or detention, :::(ii) of the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay, or :::(iii) of the remedy by way of habeas corpus for the determination of the validity of his detention and for his release if the detention is not lawful; ::(d) authorize a court, tribunal, commission, board or other authority to compel a person to give evidence if he is denied counsel, protection against self-crimination or other constitutional safeguards; ::(e) deprive a person of the right to a fair hearing in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice for the determination of his rights and obligations; ::(f) deprive a person charged with a criminal offence of the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, or of the right to reasonable bail without just cause; or ::(g) deprive a person of the right to the assistance of an interpreter in any proceedings in which he is involved or in which he is a party or a witness, before a court, commission, board or other tribunals, if he does not understand or speak the language in which such proceedings are conducted. The notwithstanding wording of section 2 is a precursor to the

notwithstanding clause Section 33 of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' is part of the Constitution of Canada. It is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause (french: clause dérogatoire, links=no or ), sometimes referred to as the override power, and ...

of the Charter. While the Bill of Rights is considered only quasi-constitutional because it was enacted as an ordinary Act of the Parliament of Canada, it contains the following provision: :3. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Minister of Justice shall, in accordance with such regulations as may be prescribed by the Governor in Council, examine every regulation transmitted to the Clerk of the Privy Council for registration pursuant to the ''Statutory Instruments Act'' and every Bill introduced in or presented to the House of Commons by a Minister of the Crown, in order to ascertain whether any of the provisions thereof are inconsistent with the purposes and provisions of this Part and he shall report any such inconsistency to the House of Commons at the first convenient opportunity. :(2) A regulation need not be examined in accordance with subsection (1) if prior to being made it was examined as a proposed regulation in accordance with section 3 of the Statutory Instruments Act to ensure that it was not inconsistent with the purposes and provisions of this Part.

Criticism and support

Criticism of the Bill of Rights has mostly centred on its limited effect. The ineffectiveness of the Bill of Rights in achieving its stated aim was the main reason that two decades later, it was thought necessary to adopt a constitutionally-entrenched charter. The Bill of Rights was (and is) limited in several ways. Firstly, it does not explicitly amend any conflicting statutes, either to remove conflicts or to insert explicit allowances for the statutes to operate notwithstanding the Bill of Rights. When called upon to apply conflicting laws, the courts typically sought to interpret a later statute as creating a minimal disturbance of earlier law. In practice, that meant that the courts relied on Parliament to repeal or amend any laws contrary to the Bill of Rights. Disappointments for those who wanted courts to enforce rights vigorously included ''

Bliss v Canada (AG) ''Bliss v Canada (AG)'' 9791 S.C.R. 183 is a famous Supreme Court of Canada decision on equality rights for women under the ''Canadian Bill of Rights''. The Court held that women were not entitled to benefits denied to them by the ''Unemployment Ins ...

'' and ''

Canada (AG) v Lavell ''Canada (AG) v Lavell'', 974S.C.R. 1349, was a landmark 5–4 Supreme Court of Canada decision holding that Section 12(1)(b) of the '' Indian Act'' did not violate the respondents' right to "equality before the law" under Section 1 (b) of the '' ...

''. A notable exception was ''

R v Drybones ''R v Drybones'', 970S.C.R. 282, is a landmark 6-3 Supreme Court of Canada decision holding that the '' Canadian Bill of Rights'' "empowered the courts to strike down federal legislation which offended its dictates." Accordingly, the Supreme Court ...

''. Second, since the Bill of Rights was not a constitutional amendment, there was some debate as to whether it was binding on future parliaments. Third, because it is an ordinary statute, the authority of the Bill of Rights is limited to matters set out in

Section 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867 Section 91 of the ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: article 91 de la Loi constitutionnelle de 1867) is a provision in the Constitution of Canada that sets out the legislative powers of the federal Parliament. The federal powers in section 9 ...

, as being under the legislative authority of the Parliament of Canada. However, the 1960 Act enumerates some rights (such as property rights and specific legal rights) not protected under the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''. For that and other reasons, the 1960 Act is occasionally referenced in court decisions today."Looking forward, thinking back"
''NOW Magazine'', by Joshua Errett, October 14, 2008

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Canadian Bill of Rights'' (full text)

Supreme Court cases which use the 1960 Bill of Rights

Canada's Need for a Written Bill of Rights. Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
About 1949.
Canada's Human Rights History
Canadian federal legislation 1960 in Canadian law Human rights in Canada National human rights instruments August 1960 events in Canada 1960 in Canadian politics 1960 documents