The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: A Business Law Analysis

This essay provides an overview of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a crucial part of the Canadian Constitution. It explores the Charter's role in protecting fundamental freedoms, mobility rights, democratic rights, equality rights, legal rights, and language rights. The essay highlights the Charter's significance in safeguarding the interests of Canadians and its function in challenging abuses of rights. It also discusses the criticisms surrounding the Charter, including concerns about its vague wording, the role of judges in its interpretation, and the ongoing relationship between the courts and the legislature. Furthermore, the essay addresses the argument about whether Canadians were better off before the Charter was incorporated, providing a balanced perspective on the Charter's impact on Canadian society and business law.

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BUSINESS LAW
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Author Note

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The Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedom is one of the parts of the Canadian
Constitution. The ‘Charter’ is considered as the most important law in Canada that sets out the
freedoms and rights that are deemed necessary in a democratic society (Canada.ca, 2019). The
‘Charter’ can be considered to be the document which protects the interests of people of Canada
and provides for the way for challenging the abuse of the basic freedoms and rights of people
(Lawlessons.ca , 2019). The ‘Charter’ was introduced for ensuring that the freedoms and rights
of people has not been unreasonably interfered with or taken away by government themselves or
anyone acting on behalf of the government (Justice.gc.ca, 2019). In the initial twenty-four
sections of the ’Charter’ various rights are discussed with an outline of their major protections
are mentioned. In the first 24 sections fundamental freedoms, mobility rights, democratic rights,
equality rights, legal rights and language rights have been discussed. In the final ten sections of
the ‘charter’ it is seen that application of aforementioned rights are mentioned.
Although the ‘Charter’ provides with all the freedoms and rights of people in the country
yet the Charter is not without its critics. Canada was a democratic country even before Charter of
Rights and Freedoms was incorporated in the Canadian Constitution. The only thing that
changed with the introduction of the Charter is the freedoms and rights of people are given status
of constitutionality. Many critics have observed that the element of the ‘Charter’ is not a self-
executing process. The ‘Charter’ is full of rights that are vaguely worded. The evidence of social
science present in the charter have in disposition are not determinative. Hence the interpretation
and application of the ‘Charter’ are always controversial. The judges can be seen to have no
greater insights than the common people hence many oppose to vest constitutional powers to
judges. Even after completing 30 years it can be seen that relation between the courts and the
legislature is still a most prominent problem of Canada (The Globe and Mail, 2017).

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Reference
Canada.ca. (2019). Guide to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Canada.ca.
Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/how-rights-protected/
guide-canadian-charter-rights-freedoms.html
Justice.gc.ca. (2019). Learn about the Charter. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-
sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/learn-apprend.html
Lawlessons.ca. (2019). Topic 1: Overview of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms |
LawLessons.ca. Retrieved from https://www.lawlessons.ca/lesson-plans/1.3.overview-of-the-
canadian-charter-of-rights-and-freedoms
The Globe and Mail. (2017). Yes. The Charter of Rights has given judges too much
power. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/yes-the-charter-of-
rights-has-given-judges-too-much-power/article4101032/