⁣In unprecedented times like these, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms matters more than ever. The Justice Centre is closely monitoring government actions and their impact on the rights and freedoms of Canadians.


The government response to COVID-19 presents a difficult challenge around the world. The virus is inflicting severe hardship and suffering on thousands of Canadians, and government measures taken with the goal of stopping its spread are inflicting economic crisis and emotional distress on millions more around the world.


The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires that the response of governments to this challenge must remain rational, and commensurate with demonstrable evidence, and the checks and balances of the rule of law. The severe curtailment of civil liberties without projected timelines for their rescission, the shutdown of economic activity and resulting job losses, the increase of human suffering through confinement and restriction of liberty, and the closure of courts of justice preventing citizen recourse, are all factors which bear close scrutiny and must be weighed in the balance of a Constitution which zealously guards the rights and freedoms of citizens.



Governments may enact laws and pursue policies that limit Charter rights and freedoms, but the onus is on the government to prove that the limit is demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society.



Find out more:


https://www.jccf.ca/important-message-to-our-supporters-about-covid-19/