Do you mean the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the laws titled British North America Act that were later named Constitution Act in 1982, which also put the Charter into force?
Because my answer is yes to the former, no to the latter.
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2026
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AskACanadian
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And, if anyone hasn't read the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, put aside five minutes and read it.
Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God
:/
You dropped the most important word of that sentence; the word that means, "This sentence has no legal bearing."
You mean the "whereas"? Doesn't that just mean that this is a given and everything coming after is based on this?
"Whereas" marks the paragraph as part of the preamble. The preamble of legislation has no operative effect. It can be used to explain the purpose of a law which can be used when interpreting intent, but it can't be used to create new powers or take rights away from people. It was tested in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouvement_la%C3%AFque_qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois_v_Saguenay_(City) where iiuc there was an attempt to use the preamble to justify prayer in City Council meetings, and the SCC gave a unanimous ruling that it was a breech of citizen's rights despite the "supremacy of god" whereas.
If you say that we have law X because of reasons Y, then doesn't it invalidate X when Y no longer holds?
No, the preamble cannot make laws inactive. If you wanted the legislation to have a limited term (like a sunset clause) or only apply in certain circumstances, you would have to put that in the actual body of the legislation. Legislation can only be changed by act of the legislative assembly, even if it has become archaic or obsolete. I think the judiciary can strike down entire acts if the assembly refuses to fix constitutional issues, not sure how that works.
Even less when you skip the meaningless parts subject to the NWC.
There are two blogs every Canadian should read who cares about privacy:
David Fraser https://blog.privacylawyer.ca/
Michael Geist https://www.michaelgeist.ca/feed/
Edit: changed David's link from his RSS to his website for those not using RSS.
No. But I'm not Canadian. However, now you've made me curious (otherwise I wouldn't have responded).
If you have does it say anything about privacy?
The Charter contains this clause:
- Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.
Which is what is applicable to privacy. This right, as with all rights in the Charter, is subject to "reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society". Mandating digital service companies to keep tabs on everyone they serve in Canada, just in case it's needed to investigate a crime later, seems like an uphill battle for the Government to justify in court, if that is what you were asking for.
That’s exactly what I’m asking for! Thank you.
So you didn't want conversation, you just wanted to get an answer about their contents?
EDIT: lmao, this has gotten a lot of people quite salty to the point that they're either deleting their comments or blocking me.
That's perfectly acceptable.
I figured it was about a relevant discussion topic.
They wanted a specific piece of information though, rather than opinions. You don't have to be Canadian to read these documents
This community is to ask not discuss.
Usually it's asking for the purpose of generating discussion.
Like, "What is the capital of Canada" doesn't seem like a good question.
"Why is Ottawa the capital of Canada" seems like a better question.
"Who knows the capital of Canada" and then following it up with "ok and what is the longest street there" seems a bit silly.
While not in the spirit of it, no rules are broken so it is acceptable.
Do you know the longest street in Ottawa?
I live nowhere near Ottawa, so I'd just be looking it up, lol
Imma go ahead and say Bank St and wait to be proven wrong (think it actually is though).
Edit: I'm technically wrong, it's Dwyer Hill Road at 70 km long. Stupid amalgamation...
Not in over 30 years
school wall while practicing standing in lines?