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

AuthorJane Bailey
Pages487-509

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

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