Constitutional law
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As Expected
The Superior Court of Ontario has ruled yesterday that the Canadian citizenship oath, which requires would-be citizens to promise “allegiance” to the Queen, is constitutional, thus rejecting the challenge of a group of anti-monarchists who argued that it infringed their freedoms of speech and of religion, as well as their equality rights under the Canadian… Continue reading
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Don’t Come Back!
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada delivered a judgment considering the constitutionality of the provisions of the International Transfer of Offenders Act (ITOA) which allow the Canadian government to refuse the application of a Canadian imprisoned abroad to serve his sentence in Canada, despite the agreement of the state where he is currently imprisoned to hand… Continue reading
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Facing Justice ― English Version
I wrote last year about the Supreme Court’s decision on whether a witness in a criminal proceeding could testify while wearing a niqab, a full-face veil, R. v. N.S., 2012 SCC 72, [2012] 3 SCR 726. Of course, the questions about balancing trial fairness and freedom of religion which the Court had to confront in that case do not only… Continue reading
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Not Even Close
I said I would stop writing about the Québec Charter of Values for a while, but I’ll break that promise already, albeit only to report that a number of law professors have given their views on it in the last couple days. Their verdict is almost unanimous: the proposed Charter’s key part, the prohibition on… Continue reading
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Chasser les marchands du temple
J’ai beaucoup écrit cette semaine sur la « Charte des valeurs » avec laquelle le gouvernement péquiste se propose d’enchâsser en loi l’intolérance et la méfiance envers « l’autre », celui ― et surtout celle ― qui ne ressemble pas à ce qu’on est habitué de voir « chez nous », intolérance et méfiance qu’il… Continue reading
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Can’t Work
The most serious argument I have seen a representative of the Québec government invoke in defence of its proposed “Charter of Values” is Bernard Drainville’s claim, in an interview to the Globe, that “[w]orking for the state is not a right, it is a choice that comes with certain responsibilities.” The argument is that since… Continue reading
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Histoire des deux chartes
Dans sa démarche de propagande pour nous faire avaler sa « Charte des valeurs », le gouvernement du Québec la compare souvent à la Loi 101, la Charte de la langue française. L’argument est que les deux Chartes sont semblables en ce qu’elles sont nécessaires et, surtout, en ce que, bien qu’extrêmement controversées au départ,… Continue reading
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Le Point Godwin
J’ai promis, dans mon dernier billet, où j’analysais la constitutionnalité de la « Charte des valeurs » proposée par le gouvernement du Québec, de dire des méchancetés au sujet de celle-ci. Eh bien, en voici la plus grande. Ce projet ressemble drôlement à une loi Nazie de 1933, la Loi sur la restauration de la fonction… Continue reading
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Of Course Not
The Québec government’s proposal for a “Charter of Québec Values” is now official. It’s not much of a proposal, actually ― there is no bill, and there isn’t going to be for months yet ― but we do have a fancy website on which the government explains what the Charter will do. (The English version isn’t… Continue reading
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Challenging Succession
Parliament made many people unhappy when it enacted the Succession to the Throne Act, S.C. 2013 c. 6, “assent[ing] to” the British legislation allowing a woman to succeed to the Crown despite having a younger brother, or a person to succeed to the Crown despite being married to a Catholic. Among those unhappy was one… Continue reading
Double Aspect 