Overview
- The federal government, in a Wednesday session at the Supreme Court, urged judges to allow rights rulings and to curb repeat use of the Charter’s notwithstanding clause, while Ontario and Alberta argued courts should have no role when the clause is invoked.
- Quebec told the court it owes no justification for using the override and said even non-binding judicial declarations are off-limits, a stance that drew questions from Justice Nicholas Kasirer about what the Constitution actually forbids.
- Bill 21 bars some public workers, including teachers, police and judges, from wearing religious symbols on the job, which has sidelined people who wear items like hijabs, turbans or kippahs and prompted faith groups to call the law discriminatory.
- Lower courts upheld the law in 2021 and 2024 after Quebec pre-emptively invoked the override in 2019 and renewed it in 2024, and the Supreme Court is expected to take months to issue its decision.
- Section 33 lets legislatures suspend certain Charter rights for up to five years with renewals, a tool several provinces have used recently, so the Court’s guidance could reset how governments balance provincial autonomy with individual freedoms across Canada.