Canada’s justice minister rules out withdrawing legal submission on notwithstanding clause
Global News
Canada's Justice Minister has rejected calls from five premiers that he rescind a request for the Supreme Court of Canada to put limits on use of the notwithstanding clause.
Justice Minister Sean Fraser has rejected calls from five premiers for Ottawa to withdraw its legal argument calling for limits on the use of the Constitution’s notwithstanding clause.
Fraser said it would be “unimaginable” for a federal government to steer clear of a case affecting Charter rights that will have lasting impacts. He suggested the premiers’ argument is “untenable.”
The minister, who is also attorney general, told reporters Wednesday morning this should be a legal matter decided through the courts, not the subject of political debate and pressure.
“The interplay of the notwithstanding clause, vis-a-vis the rights and freedoms that the Charter guarantees to all Canadians, is something that will be of national importance, that will have lasting impacts,” Fraser said.
“It is unimaginable that a federal government would not intervene to share its perspective on the meaning of the Charter — particularly at a time when, in Canada and around the world, democracies are increasingly under strain, courts’ independence are being questioned.
“We are going to stand ardently in defence of the Charter and the rule of law, and thankfully it will be the court and not a federal or provincial government who will make the decisions.”
In a filing submitted last month to the Supreme Court of Canada in a case on Quebec’s secularism law, the federal government argues constitutional limits on the notwithstanding clause should prevent it from being used to wipe out rights guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The Constitution’s notwithstanding clause gives provincial legislatures or Parliament the ability to pass legislation that effectively overrides provisions of the Charter for a five-year period.
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