Democratic Rights in a Technocratic Age: When Constitutions (in Law) Are Not Enough
Author | Jane Bailey |
Pages | 487-509 |
DemocraticRights
inaTechnocraticAge
WHE N C ONS T I T U T I ONS I N L AW
AR E N O TENO 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 defacto constitution of sorts,
the constitution of a sociotechnical order.
LangdonWinner
You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it.
ScoMcNealythenCEOofSunMicrosystems
A. INTRODUCTION
Inwemarkt heocca sionoft hethi rtyf tha nniver saryof therepatri
ation of Ca nadas Constit ution and the entrenchment of the Canadi an
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ConstitutionActbeingScheduleBtot heCanadaActUKc
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Charter of Rights and Freedoms the CharterAsearlyasthepre
decessor to CanadasConstitution t he British North America Act had
beendescr ibedas inadequate int hatitd idnotserve Canadian sfu lly
as either a mirror of ourselves or as an aspirational idealSimilarly
the Charterspredecessortheunentre nchedCanadian Bill of Rights also
came upshor tinterm sofde mocraticide als TheSpec ial JointC om
mieeontheConstitutionsaw
aBill of Rights which is entrenched in the Constit utionse rving as a
guarantee toindividuals thatdemocrac ydoesnot meanrut hlessun i
formityasasymboltomi noritiesthatthei rreasonableautonomywill
berespectedandasasig ntothewholepeopleofawholesomeration
alityinaworldoftengiventoaceasele ssstruggleforpower
Inafteryearsofdebatedia logueandnegotiationCanadasCon sti
tutionwas nallyrepatriatedalthoughthe provinceof Quebecwhich
has its own statutory Charter of Human Rights and Freedomsdeclined
tosignon Incorporated in CanadasConstit utionis a body of rights
andfr eedomsentrenching guarantees relating to expressionmobil ity
lifelibertyandsecurityofthepersonsea rchandseizureequalityand
manyothers Atthe repatriation ceremonythenPrimeMin isterPierre
Trudeaudescribedtheprocessasacomingofagestory
Formorethanhal facentur yCanadianshaveres embledyoungadults
wholeavehometobuildalifeoftheirownbutarenotquitecondent
enoughtotakealongallt heirbelongings
Afterft yyearsof discussion wehavena llydecidedto retrieve
whatisproperlyoursItismydeepesthopethatCanadawillmatch
itsnewlegal maturit ywith thatdegre eofpol iticalmatu rityt hatwill
allowustomakeatotalcomm itmenttotheCanadia nideal
Cana dian Charter of Rights and FreedomsPartIoftheConstitutionActbeing
ScheduleBtotheCana daActUKc
TheConstitutionActUKVictcrepri ntedinRSCAppendix
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SenateHouseofCommonsSp ecialJointCommieeoft heSenateandHouseof
CommonsontheConst itutionofCanadaFi nal ReportJointChai rsSenatorGildas
LMolgatMarkMacGuiganOawaInformat ionCanadaat
Canadian Bill of RightsSCc
Final Repo rtabovenoteat
QuebecCharter of Human Rights and Freedo msCQLRcC
Recentnewscoveragehoweversuggeststhatt heConstitutionc ouldbereopened
inordertoaddressQuebec sconcernsAmyMinskyAfterYearsWhyDoes
QuebecWantintheConst itutionGlobal News Juneonlinehpsglobal
newscanewsquebeccanadaconstitutionamendreopen
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