From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 20:43:04 GMT

There has been a lot of talk recently about the speech protection
provided by the Canadian Constitution. (Including an incorrect
assertion be me, that the Canadian Parliment is not bound in practice
bound by Constitution.) Now you can read it yourself. I'm enclosing
Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

It was typed in and sent to me by an Canadian would would perfer to be
anonymous. As far as I know, the Charter was not previously available
on-line. (If this is wrong and the rest of the Constitution is
available on-line, please send it to me.)

- Carl Kadie, Computer and Academic Freedom Archivist

================= ftp.eff.org:pub/academic/civics/charter.can =====
[
  Excerpt from the Constitution Act 1982
]

CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of
God and the rule of law:

Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms

1.  The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and
    freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed
    by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Fundamental Freedoms

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 assembly; and
    (d) freedom of association.

Democratic Rights

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, invasion 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 assembly, as the case
    may be.

5.  There shall be a sitting of Parliament and of each legislature at least
    once every twelve months.

Mobility Rights

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 has 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 its object the amelioration in a province of conditions
    of individuals in that province who were socially or economically
    disadvantaged if the rate of employment in that province is below the
    rate of employment in Canada.

Legal Rights

7.  Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and
    the rights 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
        corpus 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 of the offence;
    (d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a
        fair and public hearing by an independent 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 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 constituted 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.

Equality Rights

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 the 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.

Official Languages of Canada

16. (1) English and French are the official languages of Canada and
    have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use
    in all institutions 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 privileges 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 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 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 a significant demand for communications with and
        services from that office in such language; 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.

    (2) Any member of the public in New Brunswick has the right to communicate
    with, and to receive available services from, any office of an institution
    of the legislature or government of New Brunswick in English or French.

21. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from any right,
    privilege or obligation with respect to the English and French 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 privilege 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.

Minority Language Educational Rights

23. (1) Citizens of Canada
        (a) whose first language learned and still understood is that of the
        English or French linguistic minority 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.

    (2) Citizens of Canada of whom any child has received or is receiving
    primary or secondary school instruction in English or French in Canada,
    have the right to have all their children receive primary and secondary
    language instruction in the same language.

    (3) The right of citizens of Canada under subsections (1) and (2) to
    have their children receive primary and secondary school instruction in
    the language of the English or French linguistic minority population of
    a province
        (a) applies wherever in the province the number of children of
        citizens who have such a right is sufficient to warrant the
        provision to them out of public funds of minority language
        instruction; and
        (b) includes, where the number of those children so warrants, the
        right to have them receive that instruction in minority language
        educational facilities provided out of public funds.

Enforcement

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 established that, having regard to all the circumstances, the
    admission of it in the proceedings would bring the administration of
    justice into disrepute.

General

25. The guarantee in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not
    be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any aboriginal, treaty
    or other rights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal people 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 equally to male and female persons.

29. Nothing in this Charter abrogates or derogates from any rights or
    privileges 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 deemed to include a reference to
    the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories, or to the appropriate
    legislative authority thereof, as the case may be.

31. Nothing in this Charter extends the legislative powers of any body or
    authority.

Application of Charter

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 have effect
    until three years after this section comes into force.  [Section 32
    came into force on April 17, 1982; therefore, section 15 had effect
    on April 17, 1985.]

33. (1) Parliament or the legislature 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.

-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =
Newsgroups: alt.censorship,alt.privacy