Does Canada have Freedom of Speech?
An exploration of the wacky world of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Hey Folks,
If you’re like most people, you probably think that Canadian law protects freedom of speech, just like the U.S. Constitution.
After all, we’ve got the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, don’t we? Isn’t that like the Canadian version of the First Amendment?
Well, yes and no. True, the Charter is modelled on the U.S. Bill of Rights, but it doesn’t actually say anything about “freedom of speech” specifically.
If you haven’t actually read the Charter, it’s worth taking the time to do so. It’s actually very easy to read. It’s written in plain English, and it fits on a single page. You can probably read it in 15 minutes.
If you like having rights, it’s probably worth your time to read it.
You can click here to follow a link to the full text.
If you’d like to listen to an audio version of it, you can click here.
WHAT IS A RIGHT ANYWAY?
The word “right” is quite a confusing one because it is used to mean multiple things, both in law and in common usage.
I think that the way the term is commonly understood is to mean “something that everyone deserves.”
For instance, a politician might say something like “everyone has the right to healthcare” or “everyone has the right to education.” But what does that actually mean in practice? And what about property rights? Do inanimate objects have rights? What about “intellectual property rights”? That would seem to refer to something that doesn’t even exist in any physical way.
Probably the simplest way of understanding rights is to define them by what they are not. Rights are not privileges.
What is the difference between a Right and a Privilege?
In Canadian law, the terms "right" and "privilege" have distinct meanings:
Right: A right refers to a legally protected entitlement or freedom that individuals possess by virtue of law, typically guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or other legislation. Rights are considered fundamental.
Privilege: A privilege, on the other hand, refers to a special benefit, advantage, or permission granted to certain individuals or groups, often at the discretion of authorities or based on specific criteria. Privileges may not be legally guaranteed or enforceable in the same way as rights. They can be conditional and may be revoked or modified under certain circumstances.
So, in other words, rights are things that individuals fundamentally possess. No human being gave you the right to free speech, and no one can take it away.
Privileges, on the other hand, must be granted by someone, usually some bureaucratic institution.
In other words, if someone else needs to do something in order in order for it to be possible, it’s not a right. It’s a privilege.
The right to pray to God is a right.
The “right” to get a free knee surgery is a privilege.
The right to write, publish, and distribute a manifesto calling for the abolition of the monarchy is a right.
The “right” to public education is a privilege.
The right to go to a public park carrying a sign is a right.
The “right” to a fair trial is a privilege.
Basically, if the government needs to do anything in order for you to exercise a right, it’s not actually a right. It’s a privilege. People get these two things mixed up all the time., but the government does not give you rights anymore than they make the sun shine or the snow fall. They can either respect them or fail to respect them. That’s all there is to it.
As the great anarchist folk singer Utah Phillips said:
“You’re born free. Then you wait for someone to take that right away from you. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free.”
THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS IS MOSTLY JUST A LIST OF PRIVILEGES
The rights and freedoms listed in the Charter fall into 7 categories:
For the most part, this is a list of privileges, not rights.
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
When you think of human rights, you are most likely thinking of fundamental rights, such as the right to free speech, the right to peacefully assemble, the right to practice a religion, etc.
The section of the Charter that deals with fundamental rights is brief and straightforward.
It reads:
Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:
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.
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.
That’s it, that’s all, that’s everything.
A common misunderstanding that many people have is that these fundamental rights are granted by the government of Canada. In reality, the Charter merely lists inherent rights that human beings already have. The part about the “supremacy of God” suggests that these rights are given to us by our creator.
The U.S. Constitution, which inspired the Charter, refers to fundamental rights as “God-given” and “inalienable”, meaning that they can neither be given nor be taken away. If you believe in God, this is a good way to think of it.
It is important to understand that the Canadian constitution is much weaker than the U.S. constitution. Arguably, the Canadian constitution exists so that Canada can pretend that its citizens have the same rights as Americans. But that’s clearly nonsense if you think about it.
The U.S. Constitution was the result of a revolution. Canada is not even a sovereign country. It is a monarchy ruled by foreigners.
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A PHYSICAL COPY OF CANADA’S CONSTITUTION?
The government likes to teach children that Canada is a “constitutional monarchy”, but have you read Canada’s constitution? Have you ever seen a copy of it? Do you know anyone who’s actually read it?
No, you haven’t, and no, you don’t, because it’s fucking impossible to read. Not only is it extremely long, it’s written in archaic legalese that only specialists stand a chance of understanding. No physical copies of it exist, so far as I know. If it were printed out, it would fill multiple binders, and only a trained Canadian constitutional lawyer would be capable of actually understanding it.
I highly recommend watching this video for a better explanation.
In my opinion, it would be tremendously naive to think the British monarchy would tie its own hands by granting Canadian citizens rights when it didn’t have to.
As Frederick Douglass put it:
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
If you are naive enough to think that the British monarchy would grant Canadians rights without being forced to, let me ask you this: why didn’t they grant Australians rights?
(If you didn’t know, Australia has no bill of rights.)
In my opinion, Canada is simply a resource colony for the British Crown, and the Canadian Constitution basically exists so that Canada can pretend that it’s just like the U.S., which is a Republic.
YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIE
One thing that the Canadian constitution did do was legalize homicide, which the Canadian government calls the “right to die”.
It also created strengthened the “rights of the accused”. In Canada, if you are accused of a crime, the Crown is required to disclose what evidence it has against you.
Before the Constitution, this wasn’t the case, meaning that defence lawyers would have had a much harder time preparing for trials.
The Canadian constitution offers very strong protection to people accused of crimes, which makes sense when you realize that Canada is ruled by a gang of crooks.
Canadian law is also very lenient when it comes to the sexual abuse of children, which makes more sense when you realize that Prince Andrew is a serial child molester.
Many of the privileges listed in the Charter do much more to protect criminals than the victims of crime.
The important thing to know is that the Canadian constitution is designed to look like the American constitution, but it is provides much weaker legal protections.
For instance, a lot of Canadians think that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives them the same right to “freedom of speech” that is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, but this is not at all true.
THE NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE
If you still aren’t convinced, I would suggest looking into Canada’s infamous notwithstanding clause, a.k.a. the “override power”.
The notwithstanding clause in found in Section 33 of the Charter and allows federal, provincial, and territorial governments to override certain rights and freedoms protected by the Charter for a limited period of time.
Specifically, it states:
"Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter."
Sections 2 and 7 to 15 of the Charter contain various fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedom of expression, freedom of religion, the right to life, liberty, and security of the person, and equality rights.
By invoking the notwithstanding clause, a government can enact legislation that infringes upon these protected rights and freedoms, but only for a specific period of time, typically five years, after which the legislation must be re-enacted or allowed to lapse.
In other words, you kind of have rights, until you don’t.
If you feel like trying out some of your nifty cool rights, the courts have ruled that “freedom of expression” includes the right to make rude gestures at police. I guess someone rich must have flipped off a cop.
If you think that the Charter of Rights is worth the paper it’s written on, I dare you go give a cop the middle finger and see what happens.
The good news is that you’re a criminal and you’ve got money to pay for a good lawyer, you’ll probably be fine.
Any questions?
Canada is over. Come out and be separate