Canadian Charter Birthday and Harper's Snub

Today is the 30th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a major advance in Canadian human rights which enabled the expansion of women's reproductive freedom, gay rights and other boons.

That makes it no surprise that Harper and his cronies want to ignore the occasion as much as they can. What else do you expect from a government that is so petty partisan to sneer at such a historical landmark in part because it was Pierre Trudeau's pride and joy.  Of course, the fact that it is a guard against the abuses of parliament with a majority government from in theory doing nearly whatever it wants is a factor as well. Now we have to hope that the courts will get a backbone to actually use the Charter to thwart the abuses Harper wants to commit in law. Given their misogyny, the fact that the Charter has the equivalent provisions of the failed US Equal Rights Amendment must really irritate Harper and the gang at least as much considering it makes it that much harder for them to push women around. The fact that they killed the Court Challenges program to impede the fight to make it work is no accident itself.

Of course, I do have complaints about the Charter.  The Notwithstanding Clause, which enables Parliament to arbitrarily override court decision for five years at a time is completely unacceptable as if the Parliament is above the law, or at least the official interpretation of it. Even if that clause has become political poison, it is no excuse to have it still available for any government to use. The fact that it has no provisions for protecting things of basic humanity like the social safety for the most vulnerable in our country is an equal sticking point.

There is also the fact that people have perverted its interpretation as a means to attack public health care in Quebec because it is having problems with wait times, just as how the US Supreme Court used their constitution's 14th amendment to create that legal person concept called the business corporation and unleashed those psychotics on the the world. Watch the film, The Corporation, to see a full explanation of that.

But still, this is a moment to commemorate the Charter to some degree, if only to understand that on the whole, it is something special that Trudeau gave to Canada, if imperfect in nature.