The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
1.
The Canadian Chater of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such a reasonable limits prescribed by laws as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.
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 assebly; and
(d) freedom of association
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, invastion 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 assebly, as the case may be.
5.
There shall be a sitting of Parliament and of each legislature at least once every tweleve months.
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 as 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 discriminate 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 publicly provided social
services
(4) Subsections (2) and (3) do not preclude any law, program or
activity that has as it's 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.
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 courpus 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 to the offence;
(d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law
in a fair and public hearing by an independant 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 a 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 constitued 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 punished 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 proceedings, 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.
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) Subsection (1) does not preclude any law, program or activity
that has as its object 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.
16.
(1) English and French are the official language of Canada and
have equality of status and equal rights and privaleges as to
their use in all instituions 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 rights and
privaleges as to their use in all institutions of the legislature
and government of New Brunswick.
(3) Nothing in this 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 and 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 in 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 significant demand for communications with and
services from that office in such langauge; 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.
21.
Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from any right, privalege or obligation with respect to the English and Rench languages, or either of them, that exists or is continued by virtue of any other provision of the Constitution of Canada.
22.
Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from any legal or customary right or privalege 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
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.l
(2) Citizens of Canda of whom any child has received or is
receiving primary or secondary school insruction in English or
French in Canada.
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 establsihed that, having regard to all
the circumstances, the admission of it in the proceedings would
bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
25.
The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms
shall not be contrued 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 now exist by way of land claims
agreements or may be so acquired.
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 equallty to male and female persons.
29.
Nothing in this Charter abrogates or derogates from any rights or privaleges 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 deeemed to include a reference to the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories, or to the appropirate legislative authority thereof, as the case may be.
31.
Nothing in this Charter extends the legislative powers of any body or authority.
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 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
province.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), section 15 shall not hae
effect until three years after this section comes into froce.
33.
(1) Parliament or the legilsature 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
notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7
to 15 of this Charter.
(2) An Act or a 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 the legislature of a province may re-enact a
declaration made under subsection (1).
(5) Subsection (3) applies in respect of a re-enactment made
under subsection (4).
34.
This Part may be cited as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.