Democratic Rights in a Technocratic Age: When Constitutions (in Law) Are Not Enough

• Author: Jane Bailey
• Pages: 487-509



DemocraticRights

inaTechnocraticAge

WHE N C ONS T I T U T I ONS I N L AW 

AR E N O TENO UGH

Jane Bailey*

Today we can examine the interconnected systems of manufacturing,

communications, transportation and the like that have arisen during the past

two centuries and appreciate how they form a defacto constitution of sorts,

the constitution of a sociotechnical order.

LangdonWinner

You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.

ScoMcNealythenCEOofSunMicrosystems

A. INTRODUCTION

Inwemarkt heocca sionoft hethi rtyf tha nniver saryof therepatri

ation of Ca nadas Constit ution and the entrenchment of the Canadi an

 FullProfessorUniversityofO awaFacultyofLawCommonLawSection

jbaileyuoawacaTh ankstoSafaAbdelR ahmanforherexcel lentresearchs up

portandtotheSoc ialSciencesa ndHumanitiesRes earchCounci lforfundingT he

eQualityPro jectwwwequalitypr ojectcaasevenyearpart nershipiniti ativeof

whichtheresea rchinthi spaperformsapart

 LangdonWinnerTheW haleandtheReactorASe archforLimitsinanAgeofHigh

TechnologyChicagoTheUniversityofChicagoPressat

 PollySprengerSunonPrivacyGetOverItWiredJanuaryonline

wwwwiredcomsunonprivacygetoverit

 ConstitutionActbeingScheduleBtot heCanadaActUKc

JB

Charter of Rights and Freedoms the  CharterAsearlyasthepre

decessor to CanadasConstitution t he British North America Act had

beendescr ibedas inadequate int hatitd idnotserve Canadian sfu lly

as either a mirror of ourselves or as an aspirational idealSimilarly

the Charterspredecessortheunentre nchedCanadian Bill of Rights also

came upshor tinterm sofde mocraticide als TheSpec ial JointC om

mieeontheConstitutionsaw

aBill of Rights which is entrenched in the Constit utionse rving as a

guarantee toindividuals thatdemocrac ydoesnot meanrut hlessun i

formityasasymboltomi noritiesthatthei rreasonableautonomywill

berespectedandasasig ntothewholepeopleofawholesomeration

alityinaworldoftengiventoaceasele ssstruggleforpower

Inafteryearsofdebatedia logueandnegotiationCanadasCon sti

tutionwas nallyrepatriatedalthoughthe provinceof Quebecwhich

has its own statutory Charter of Human Rights and Freedomsdeclined

tosignon Incorporated in CanadasConstit utionis a body of rights

andfr eedomsentrenching guarantees relating to expressionmobil ity

lifelibertyandsecurityofthepersonsea rchandseizureequalityand

manyothers Atthe repatriation ceremonythenPrimeMin isterPierre

Trudeaudescribedtheprocessasacomingofagestory

Formorethanhal facentur yCanadianshaveres embledyoungadults

wholeavehometobuildalifeoftheirownbutarenotquitecondent

enoughtotakealongallt heirbelongings

Afterft yyearsof discussion wehavena llydecidedto retrieve

whatisproperlyoursItismydeepesthopethatCanadawillmatch

itsnewlegal maturit ywith thatdegre eofpol iticalmatu rityt hatwill

allowustomakeatotalcomm itmenttotheCanadia nideal

 Cana dian Charter of Rights and FreedomsPartIoftheConstitutionActbeing

ScheduleBtotheCana daActUKc

  TheConstitutionActUKVictcrepri ntedinRSCAppendix

IINo

  SenateHouseofCommonsSp ecialJointCommieeoft heSenateandHouseof

CommonsontheConst itutionofCanadaFi nal ReportJointChai rsSenatorGildas

LMolgatMarkMacGuiganOawaInformat ionCanadaat

  Canadian Bill of RightsSCc

  Final Repo rtabovenoteat

  QuebecCharter of Human Rights and Freedo msCQLRcC

 Recentnewscoveragehoweversuggeststhatt heConstitutionc ouldbereopened

inordertoaddressQuebec sconcernsAmyMinskyAfterYearsWhyDoes

QuebecWantintheConst itutionGlobal News Juneonlinehpsglobal

newscanewsquebeccanadaconstitutionamendreopen