The Charter doesn't list our rights in a hierarchical order relative to each other. In cases where two rights are competing, judges will attempt to reconcile them, rather than having one right trump the other. That isn't the case concerning Quebec's law. It simply tries to limit a fundamental right.

However, the Charter does explicitly describe some of our rights as "fundamental." That doesn't mean to say that freedom of belief trumps equality rights, for example. But it does mean that when it comes time to apply the Oakes Test to a piece of legislation that violates a right, judges should note that it's a fundamental right that's being violated. Consequently, the criteria of the Oakes Test should be applied even more rigorously.

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