Section Thirty-one of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section 31 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a part of the Constitution of Canada, which clarifies that the Charter does not increase the powers of either the federal government or the legislatures of the provinces of Canada. As a result, only the courts may enforce the rights in the Charter.

The section reads,

As the government of Canada notes, this shows the Charter does not disturb the balance of the distribution of legislative powers under the Constitution Act, 1867. Constitutional scholar Peter Hogg has called section 31 a "cautionary provision." He specifically notes that section 31 denies the federal Parliament of Canada any additional powers. Indeed, section 31 is a departure from the educational rights in the Constitution Act, 1867. Section 93(4) of that Act gives the federal Parliament the power to intervene if a provincial government fails to respect certain rights. The federal government could then pass and enforce laws that would uphold the rights.

The adoption of section 31 was probably meant to avoid an unfavourable reaction against the Charter from the provinces. The provinces had opposed the Charter because of the potential limits on their powers, but the opposition would have been stronger had Parliament been able to exert its authority over the provinces.

As Hogg notes, section 31 also distinguishes the Charter from various rights in the amendments to the United States Constitution. In the United States, the federal Congress has the authority to enforce various rights, including those in the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibits slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment, which binds the states to respect due process, and the Fifteenth Amendment, which contains a partial right to vote.

...
Wikipedia