Legalized Abuse of Rights

One of the things I hear routinely from the Conservative Right-Wing is that they believe that the so-called "Not Withstanding" clause should be invoked where they want to legislate on something in a way that is contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section 33, the NotWithstanding clause specifically speaks about legislation that would otherwise abrogate individual rights held under sections 2, 7 - 15 of the Charter. In the past, members of various Right-Wing parties - whether it be Ralph Klein in Alberta, or Stephen Harper's minions in the Conservative party have demanded legislation be invoked using this clause. Usually, the subject of such legislation are topics that the Religious Reich seem to think "there oughta be a law" about - gay marriage, abortion, equality rights, etc.

After reading the NotWithstanding clause, there is both good news and bad news.

The bad news is the clause seems to be sufficiently sweeping in its wording that it could be used to enact some pretty onerous legislation. In theory, they could legislate - as Mary, Queen of Scots once did, that we must attend a Roman Catholic Mass every Sunday. Under section 2(a) of the Charter, this would be a clear violation of the rights of all Canadians - non-Catholic and Catholic alike. This could be made to "stand" for by invoking the "not withstanding" clause, and our courts would be obliged to live by it.

That's the bad news. The good news is that there is a 'time fuse' clause that reads " (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. ". The 5 year declaration has two effects - first, the voters will have an election which could - and should - remove the government that introduced the offending legislation.

You might look and say "but legislating against XXXXX is a "GOOD THING"(tm)" (Apologies to Martha Stewart). I will argue that there is a problem with that inference - whether your activities are covered under XXXXX or not, the legislation in question is abrogating YOUR PERSONAL RIGHTS too. You might tell yourself that you are not affected, so why should you worry? Many groups of people in Nazi-occupied Europe said similar things, until their neighbors were dragged off to concentration camps as part of Hitler's insane search for a "perfect race". In retrospect, that was a horrifying time in history.

Clause 7 of the charter reads " Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice. ". A government willing to invoke the Notwithstanding clause could easily abrogate this fundamental right. Don't say "it'll never happen" - history says that it has, and therefore, it has a distinct probability of occurring again. It may be cloaked in a veneer of respectability, but lurking just under that cloak is a slavering horror, waiting to escape.

A government that is willing to abrogate the rights of any group in society is likely to abrogate other rights as well. How long will it be before you are affected. The zeal with which some people speak of invoking the NotWithstanding Clause should be held by all Canadians as frightening, for your rights freedoms are being threatened.