Section 21 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms |
---|
Part of the Constitution Act, 1982 |
Preamble |
Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms |
1 |
Fundamental Freedoms |
2 |
Democratic Rights |
3, 4, 5 |
Mobility Rights |
6 |
Legal Rights |
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 |
Equality Rights |
15 |
Official Languages of Canada |
16, 16.1, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 |
Minority Language Education Rights |
23 |
Enforcement |
24 |
General |
25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 |
Application |
32, 33 |
Citation |
34 |
Section 21 of the
Text
In full, it reads,
21. Nothing in sections 16 to 20 abrogates or derogates from any right, privilege or obligation with respect to the English and French languages, or either of them, that exists or is continued by virtue of any other provision of the Constitution of Canada.
Function
Section 21 thus reaffirms language rights in the Constitution in respect to the provinces of Quebec and Manitoba. Although neither of these provinces are officially bilingual, there are constitutional rights regarding the use of English and French in those provinces that are not duplicated in the Charter. Specifically, section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867 guarantees that anyone in the Quebec legislature (now known as the National Assembly of Quebec) may speak in either language, and that the records of the National Assembly must be kept in both languages. Furthermore, bilingualism is allowed in Quebec courts.
The same rights are guaranteed in respect to the federal government under section 133, but these are repeated in
The
Comparisons to other Charter sections
Whereas section 16 can be used to guarantee rights to those working in government offices to use either French or English, it has been noted that the rights referred to in section 21 do not.[1]
Section 21 can be better compared to some of the sections under the heading "General" (sections 25–31). This is because it is "negative in form," not guaranteeing rights but protecting pre-existing ones. Like section 21,
References
- Walter S. Tarnopolskyand Gerard-A. Beaudoin (Toronto: The Carswell Company Limited, 1982), 454.
- Walter S. Tarnopolskyand Gerard-A. Beaudoin (Toronto: The Carswell Company Limited, 1982), 471.