Canadian
Charter of Right and Freedom Highlights
For a full version click
on the link at the bottom of this page.
Guarantee of Rights
and Freedoms
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RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IN CANADA.
1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights
and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits
prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic
society.
Fundamental Freedoms
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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 of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.
Legal Rights
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LIFE, LIBERTY AND SECURITY OF PERSON.
7. 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.
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SEARCH OR SEIZURE.
8. Everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search
or seizure.
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DETENTION OR IMPRISONMENT.
9. Everyone has the right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.
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ARREST OR DETENTION.
10. 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 to be informed
of that right; and
(c) to have the validity of the detention determined by way of habeas
corpus and to be released if the detention is not lawful.
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PROCEEDINGS IN CRIMINAL AND PENAL MATTERS.
11. Any person charged with an offence has the right
(a) to be informed without
unreasonable delay of the specific offence;
(b) to be tried within a reasonable time;
(c) not to be compelled to be a witness in proceedings against that
person in respect of the offence;
(d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in
a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal;
(e) not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause;
(f) except in the case of an offence under military law tried before
a military tribunal, to the benefit of trial by jury where the maximum
punishment for the offence is imprisonment for five years or a more
severe punishment;
(g) not to be found guilty on account of any act or omission unless,
at the time of the act or omission, it constituted an offence under
Canadian or international law or was criminal according to the general
principles of law recognized by the community of nations;
(h) if finally acquitted of the offence, not to be tried for it again
and, if finally found guilty and punished for the offence, not to
be tried or punished for it again; and
(i) if found guilty of the offence and if the punishment for the offence
has been varied between the time of commission and the time of sentencing,
to the benefit of the lesser punishment.
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TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT.
12. Everyone has the right not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual
treatment or punishment.
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SELF-INCRIMINATION.
13. A witness who testifies in any proceedings has the right not to
have any incriminating evidence so given used to incriminate that
witness in any other proceedings, except in a prosecution for perjury
or for the giving of contradictory evidence.
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INTERPRETER.
14. A party or witness in any proceedings who does not understand
or speak the language in which the proceedings are conducted or who
is deaf has the right to the assistance of an interpreter.
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Equality Rights
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EQUALITY BEFORE AND UNDER LAW AND EQUAL PROTECTION AND BENEFIT OF
LAW / Affirmative action programs.
15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has
the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without
discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on
race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental
or physical disability.
(2) Subsection (1) does
not preclude any law, program or activity that has as its object the
amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups
including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or
ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
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Minority Language
Educational Rights
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LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION / Continuity of language instruction / Application
where numbers warrant.
23. (1) Citizens of Canada
(a) whose first language
learned and still understood is that of the English or French linguistic
minority of the province in which they reside, or
(b) who have received their primary school instruction in Canada in
English or French and reside in a province where the language in which
they received that instruction is the language of the English or French
linguistic minority population of the province,
have the right to have their children receive primary and secondary
school instruction in that language in that province.
(2) Citizens of Canada of whom any child has received or is receiving
primary or secondary school instruction in English or French in Canada,
have the right to have all their children receive primary and secondary
language instruction in the same language.
(3) The right of citizens
of Canada under subsections (1) and (2) to have their children receive
primary and secondary school instruction in the language of the English
or French linguistic minority population of a province
(a) applies wherever in
the province the number of children of citizens who have such a right
is sufficient to warrant the provision to them out of public funds
of minority language instruction; and
(b) includes, where the number of those children so warrants, the
right to have them receive that instruction in minority language educational
facilities provided out of public funds.
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Enforcement
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ENFORCEMENT OF GUARANTEED RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS / Exclusion of evidence
bringing administration of justice into disrepute.
24. (1) Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this Charter,
have been infringed or denied may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction
to obtain such remedy as the court considers appropriate and just
in the circumstances.
(2) Where, in proceedings
under subsection (1), a court concludes that evidence was obtained
in a manner that infringed or denied any rights or freedoms guaranteed
by this Charter, the evidence shall be excluded if it is established
that, having regard to all the circumstances, the admission of it
in the proceedings would bring the administration of justice into
disrepute.
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FULL
VERSION OF CHARTER
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