Document Information

Date: 1980-09-03
By: Canada
Citation: Federal-Provincial First Ministers’ Conference, The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Revised Discussion Draft, Federal, [September 3, 1980] Doc 800-14/064 (Ottawa: 8-12 September 1980).
Other formats: Coming soon.

1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms recognizes the following rights and freedoms subject only to such reasonable limits as are generally accepted in a free and democratic society with a parliamentary system of government.

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; and
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.

Democratic Rights

3. Every citizen of Canada has, without unreasonable distinction or limitation, 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 of the return of the writs for the 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 the period of 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 in every year and not more than twelve months shall intervene between sittings.

Legal Rights

6. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

7. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure.

8. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.

9. 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
(c) to the remedy by way of habeas corpus for the determination of the validity of the detention and for release if the detention is not lawful.

10. Anyone charged with an offence has the right

(a) to be informed promptly of the specific offence;
(b) to be tried within a reasonable time;
(c) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal;
(d) not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause;
(e) not to be found guilty on account of any act or omission that at the time of the act or omission did not constitute an offence;
(f) not to be tried or punished more than once for an offence of which he or she has been finally convicted or acquitted; and
(g) to the benefit of the lesser punishment where the punishment for an offence of which he or she has been convicted has been varied between the time of commission and the time of sentencing.

11. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual treatment or punishment.

12. A witness has the right when compelled to testify not to have any evidence so given used to incriminate him or her in any subsequent proceedings, except a prosecution for perjury or for the giving of contradictory evidence.

13. A party [or] witness has the right to the assistance of an interpreter if that person does not understand or speak the language in which the proceedings are conducted.

Mobility Rights

14. (1) Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.

(2) Everyone in Canada has the right

(a) to move to and take up residence in any province; and
(b) to acquire and hold property in, and 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 other laws referred to in subsections (4) or (5) of section 121 of the British North America Act.

Non-discrimination Rights

15. (1) Everyone has the right to equality before the law and to equal protection of the law without discrimination because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age or sex.

(2) This section does not preclude any programme or activity that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged persons or groups.

Official Languages

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) In addition, English and French have the status set forth in this Charter, which does not limit the authority of Parliament or a legislature to extend the status or use of the two languages or either of them.

Language Rights

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 the debates of the legislature of any province.

18. (1) The statutes, records and journals of Parliament shall be printed and published in English and French.

(2) The statutes, records and journals of the legislatures of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Manitoba shall be printed and published in English and French.

(3) The statutes, records and journals of the legislatures of each province not referred to in subsection (2) shall be printed and published in English and French to the greatest extent practicable accordingly as the legislature of the province prescribes.

(4) Where the statutes of Parliament or a provincial legislature are printed and published in English and French, both language versions are equally authoritative.

19. (1) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or in any pleading or process in or issuing from, the Supreme Court of Canada or any court established by Parliament.

(2) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or in any pleading or process in or issuing from, any court of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick or Manitoba.

(3) Either English or French may be used by any person in, or in any pleading or process in or issuing from, any court of a province not referred to in subsection (2), to the greatest extent practicable accordingly as the legislature prescribes.

(4) Nothing in this section precludes the making of such rules by any competent body or authority for the orderly implementation and operation of this section.

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 that office is located within an area of Canada in which it is determined, in such manner as may be prescribed or authorized by Parliament, that a substantial number of persons within the population use that language.

(2) Any member of the public in a province has the right to communicate with and to receive available services from any head, central or principal office of an institution of the legislature or government of the province in English or French to the greatest extent practicable accordingly as the legislature prescribes.

21. 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 commencement of this Charter with respect to any language that is not English or French.

22. (1) Citizens of Canada in a province who are members of an English-speaking or French-speaking minority population of that province have a right to have their children receive their education in their minority language at the primary and secondary school levels wherever the number of children of such citizens resident in an area of the province is sufficient to warrant the provision out of public funds of minority language educational facilities in that area.

(2) In each province, the legislature may, consistent with the right provided in subsection (1), enact provisions for determining whether the number of children of citizens of Canada who are members of an English-speaking or French-speaking minority population in an area of the province is sufficient to warrant the provision out of public funds of minority language educational facilities in that area .

Undeclared Rights

23. The enumeration in this Charter of certain rights and freedoms shall not be construed to deny the existence of any other rights or freedoms that may exist in Canada, including any rights or freedoms that may pertain to the native peoples of Canada.

General

24. Any law, order, regulation or rule that is inconsistent with the provisions of this Charter is, to the extent of such inconsistency, inoperative and of no force or effect.

25. No provision of this Charter other than section 12 affects the laws respecting the admissibility of evidence in any proceedings or the authority of Parliament or a legislature to make laws in relation thereto.

26. A reference in this Chapter to a province or to the legislative assembly or legislature of a province shall be deemed to include a reference to the Yukon Territory or the Northwest Territories or to the appropriate legislative authority thereof, as the case may be.

27. Nothing in this Charter confers any legislative power on any body or authority except as expressly provided by this Charter.

28. Nothing in sections 17 to 19 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 provisions of the Constitution of Canada.(*)

(*Transitional provisions will be required for repeal of these provisions at an appropriate time.)

29. A legislature of a province to which subsections 18(2) and 19(2) do not expressly apply may declare that one or both of those subsections shall have application, and thereafter any such provision shall apply to that province in the same terms as to any province expressly named therein.