Saskatchewan’s premier says he’ll use the notwithstanding clause to override a court injunction that has paused the province’s new pronoun policy for students. But a professor says the clause is meant to be used as a tool of last resort.
Saskatchewan’s premier says he’ll use the notwithstanding clause to override a court injunction that has paused the province’s new pronoun policy for students. But a professor says the clause is meant to be used as a tool of last resort.
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It needs to be stated clearly every time this comes up:
The notwithstanding clause TAKES AWAY RIGHTS, IT DOESN’T GIVE THEM. Using it doesn’t give “parents rights,” it takes away children’s charter rights.
Using the Notwithstanding clause is an admission by the government that it’s trying to pass legislation that goes against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It should at the very least require a full explanation and apology by the Premier, as to why he felt citizens’ rights were unimportant.
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If this was true, they could pass the legislation without the notwithstanding clause.
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No. Not necessarily.
In this particular case, yes. But not always.
Elegant argument. Hear hear!
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No, it doesn’t take away or give rights to provincial or federal governments. They don’t have charter rights in the first place, only individuals have charter rights.
The notwithstanding clause permits the province to override people’s charter rights. That may be justified sometimes, but it shouldn’t be framed as anything else. It’s removing rights, not granting them.
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Huh, I had suspected a lot of conservative types see everything as a zero-sum game, but it isn’t usually presented so obviously.
Clearly, this isn’t the case. Let’s say we delete the right to freedom of religion in the Charter, and ban Christianity from our country. No one has gained any rights. In fact, we all lose a right, even non-Christians.
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That’s a strange re-definition of a “right”. I guess if you re-define the word to encompass any sort of government power. Too bad we live in a world where words mean things.
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No? Why?
If this were the US, “land of the free”, I wouldn’t be so sure. Maybe I’m just cynical, but they’ve been removing that right from students in schools for a while now.
You don’t even know your own rights, let alone a child’s 🤣
https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/features/canadas-gender-identity-rights-bill-c-16-explained
“Would it cover the accidental misuse of a pronoun? I would say it’s very unlikely. Would it cover a situation where an individual repeatedly, consistently refuses to use a person’s chosen pronoun? It might.”
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Well, considering you like making up rights that you have over others out of whole cloth, I’m not sure you can add a whole lot of value here.
It’s always projection with you people, always.