{"id":151287,"date":"2025-09-17T21:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T21:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/151287\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T21:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T21:56:07","slug":"ottawa-calls-on-supreme-court-to-clarify-the-law-around-use-of-charters-notwithstanding-clause","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/151287\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa calls on Supreme Court to clarify the law around use of Charter\u2019s notwithstanding clause"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The federal government detailed its arguments in a legal filing at the Supreme Court on Wednesday as part of the landmark case on Quebec\u2019s secularism law.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Ottawa is calling on the Supreme Court of Canada to clarify the law around governments\u2019 use of the Charter\u2019s notwithstanding clause, arguing that courts should have a somewhat bigger role in such cases than previously granted by legal precedent.<\/p>\n

If the Supreme Court accepts Ottawa\u2019s arguments, it will mark the first substantive limits on governments\u2019 use of the notwithstanding clause to override the rights of Canadians since the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted in 1982.<\/p>\n

The federal government detailed its arguments in a legal filing at the Supreme Court on Wednesday as part of the landmark case on Quebec\u2019s secularism law. The filing propels Ottawa towards a clash with the provinces, including Quebec, Ontario and Alberta, on core Constitutional questions at the top court.<\/p>\n

Ottawa, provinces set to file arguments in landmark Supreme Court case over Quebec\u2019s secularism law<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2019, Quebec used the notwithstanding clause to shield legislation to promote secularism in the province, Bill 21, from court challenges. The law bars public service workers including teachers and police from wearing religious symbols such as crosses and hijabs on the job. The law upended the lives of numerous Quebeckers and is widely seen as a violation of freedom of religion.<\/p>\n

A Supreme Court hearing on Bill 21, which has not yet been scheduled, will be the first time in almost four decades that the top court conducts an in-depth adjudication of the notwithstanding clause. A 1988 Supreme Court precedent generally endorsed governments\u2019 unfettered use of the clause.<\/p>\n

In its filing, the Liberal federal government urged the Supreme Court to impose some limits on the notwithstanding clause. Quebec, Ontario and Alberta oppose any restrictions. Quebec has said its political autonomy is at stake.<\/p>\n

Ottawa\u2019s proposed limits include a role for the courts to rule on whether continual use of the notwithstanding clause by a government results in an \u201cirreparable impairment\u201d of Canadians\u2019 rights. Ottawa argued that continual use of a clause meant for temporary purposes \u201cwould amount to indirectly amending the Constitution.\u201d It further said that courts \u201cmust retain jurisdiction\u201d to determine if governments violate this proposed limit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The federal government detailed its arguments in a legal filing at the Supreme…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-151287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}