Legislative scrutiny and the Charter of rights: a review of senate practices and procedures.
Canadian Parliamentary Review › Vol. 28 Nbr. 1, March 2005
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Legislative scrutiny and the Charter of rights: a review of senate practices and procedures.
This article examines how the Senate of Canada attempts to ensure that rights are protected when it examines proposed legislation. While some believe that the Senate is uniquely situated to deal with minority rights protection, its responsibilities in this area differ little from other Canadian legislatures. Since there has been commentary from a number of scholarly sources of Parliament's response to the challenges raised by the Charter, it is useful for the accuracy of the record to describe some of the actions taken by the Senate for dealing with rights issues. The article concludes with some options for reform which have been expressed by individual senators which could provide insight into the kinds of institutional reform the Senate may wish to undertake in the future concerning the protection of rights.
********* A traditional view of parliamentary institutions is that legislatures deal with the good of the community as a whole and that courts deal with the fundamental rights of individuals. This theory has been seriously challenged in the post-World War II era as legislatures around the world, prompted by the adoption of such conventions as the Universal Declar...See the full content of this document
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