Law 30 08.1 The Charter – Summaries & Cases
Looking at the different sections of the Charter, use either the Text for support or online sources to develop a clear summary of the rights/freedoms protected within each of the sections as well as a collection of Cases that have been tried in the court system to test the limits of each section.
Textbook Chapter – pdf – it’s been emailed to you through your Sunwest email
Websites useful in Charter Case Studies:
- Charterpedia website
Extension Questions: Questions we have from our discussion
- The court is meant to balance against government abusing power to create new legislation. What if the courts aren’t balanced either ideologically and decisions are made leaning towards whoever was able to add judges to the bench?
- Why, unlike some people, Canadians don’t lose their mind over Supreme Court appointments (National Post article)
- Why Canada’s Supreme Court appointments are nothing like America’s circus (Maclean’s article)
- Chief Justice McLachlin says judges are accountable despite being appointed (The Globe and Mail article)
- The Political Bias in our Court System (The Walrus article)
- Other – find your own articles on the topic. Is there consensus about this not being an issue of concern in Canada like it often is in the states.
Question to answer in your Comment: What understanding do you have now of Canada’s Supreme Court make up and whether it could be used by a government to predict decisions, as it often is in the States. In your opinion, can we trust the balance the courts offer against government power?
We learned absolutely nothing.This article included Brett Kavanaugh and how the supreme court attracted attention from the people more then other countries. but this proves nothing and the purpose of this was not the way their supreme court works but the way their liberal media and how they hated kavanaugh.
We also read about how our judges are appointed, but so are the American judges, so why does that make theirs a cirus?
Canadas Supreme Court Make up is made up of members that have been appointed by the different parties in command over the years. Although it is typically made up of a majority of whichever political party is in command, it has been proven through some studies over the years that people are not able to accurately predict the outcomes of decisions made in the court as easily as they are the states. This is due to a number of reasons including but not limited to the fact the states are used to having backlash from decisions made, Canadian Courts aim to not be one-sided and only make decisions in the party’s favour, and the fact that U.S. Citizens can join a party most often by paying a fee and identifying they want to join the party vs Canadas long formal process.
Based on the article that I read, Canada has a much more balanced and trust worthy as compared to the US. That is not to say that the US Supreme Court is corrupt, but with every change in Leader, There is often a large shift in the Judgment of the Supreme Court, something that does not happen in Canada. Even if Judges are appointed that are more Right wing or Left wing, the decisions made do not so drastically shift.