Democracy and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Paper Presented at the University of Toronto Political Science Undergraduate Research Conference 2017 organized by the Association of Political Science Students on March 8, 2017 at the Hart House Music Room. Submitted to T-Space on May 12, 2017In this paper, I argue that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, entrenched through the Constitution Act, 1982, enhances democracy. It strengthens Canada's democratic institutions, but also helps to strengthen other democracies abroad. I advance this argument by 1) outlining how the Charter's protection of fundamental rights maintains democracy; this is portrayed through the guarantee of both democratic and minority rights, and how ensuring these rights can prevent populous policies 2) outlining the ways that the judiciary can safeguard these protections; this will be proven through arguing how the dynamic relationship between parliaments and judges helps implement democratic law-making, and how judges also have restraints through the Charter's notwithstanding clause and 3) analyzing how Canada's Charter can be used as a template for other democracies; this will be shown through the South African case example and how fundamental principles of justice can be applied universally throughout the world. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to interview The Hon. Roy McMurtry who helped negotiate the Charter's entrenchment with the provinces on behalf of Pierre Trudeau. His insight brings an interesting perspective to the paper because he was both an elected Ontario MPP (serving as Ontario's Attorney General) and was also later appointed as the Chief Justice of Ontario. Mr. McMurtry therefore greatly understands the integral dynamic between unelected judges and elected politicians, and how that plays out in the application of the Charter.Professor Rodney Haddow, Undergraduate Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Toront