Law Students

Canadian Constitutional Law #22: Implied (and Real) Bill of Rights

By Erin

Were there any protections in place for our rights before the Charter?

In this podcast we first look at the “implied bill of rights”, a concept drawn from a series of pre-Charter cases that seem to hint at the idea that there may be a sphere of fundamental freedoms needed for a democracy which is beyond the reach of the provincial (and perhaps federal) government. Then we will look at the Drybones case and discuss why the Canadian Bill of Rights was ineffectual. Next podcast we will begin on the Charter.

Reference re Alberta Statutes (1938)
Boucher v the King (1951)
Saumur v City of Qc (1953)
Switzman v Elbling (1957)
AG Canada v Dupond (1978)
Ontario Public Service Employees? Union v AG Ontario (1987)
Canadian Bill of Rights (1960)
R v. Drybones (1970)
Curr v R (1972)
Winnipeg School Division 1 v Craton (1985)
Singh v Minister of Employment and Immigration (1985)
Canada v Lavell (1974)
Bliss v AG Canada (1979)

Full post as published by Life of a Law Student on February 10, 2007 (boomark / email).