Canadian Bill of Rights

Canadian Bill of Rights
An Act for the Recognition and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms
Citation	S.C. 1960, c. 44
Enacted by	Parliament of Canada
Date assented to	10 August 1960

The Canadian Bill of Rights (French: Déclaration canadienne des droits) is a federal statute and bill of rights enacted by Parliament of Canada on August 10, 1960. It provides Canadians with certain quasi-constitutional rights at Canadian federal law in relation to other federal statutes. It was the earliest expression of human rights law at the federal level in Canada, though an Implied Bill of Rights had already been recognized in the Canadian Common Law. The Canadian Bill of Rights remains in effect, but its widely acknowledged ineffectiveness arises in large part to its character as a federal statute only—although as to Canadian federal law, the Bill of Rights has subsequently acquired through judicial interpretation a quasi-constitutional status through the paramountcy doctrine. These legal and constitutional limitations were a significant reason that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was established as an unambiguously-constitutional-level Bill of Rights for all Canadians, governing the application of both federal and provincial law in Canada, with the patriation of the Constitution of Canada in 1982. Since patriation, its usefulness at federal law in Canada is mostly limited to issues pertaining to the enjoyment of property, as set forth in its section 1(a)—a slightly-broader "life, liberty, and security of the person" right than is recognized in Section Seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In 1947, Saskatchewan passed into law a bill of rights which was (and remains) unique. The Saskatchewan Bill of Rights covered both fundamental freedoms and equality rights. Saskatchewan's Bill of Rights is considered to have had formative influence on John Diefenbaker, who was from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Thirteen years later, Diefenbaker successfully introduced the Canadian Bill of Rights, in 1960.

...
Wikipedia