society’s espousing certain collective goals threatens to run
against both of these basic provisions of our Charter, or indeed
any acceptable bill of rights. First, the collective goals
may require restrictions on the behavior of individuals that
may violate their rights. For many nonfrancophone Canadians,
both inside and outside Quebec, this feared outcome
had already materialized with Quebec’s language legislation.
For instance, Quebec legislation prescribes, as already mentioned,
the type of school to which parents can send their
children; and in the most famous instance, it forbids certain
kinds of commercial signage. This latter provision was actually
struck down by the Supreme Court as contrary to the
Quebec Bill of Rights, as well as the Charter, and only reenacted
through the invocation of a clause in the Charter
that permits legislatures in certain cases to override decisions
of the courts relative to the Charter for a limited period of
time (the so-called notwithstanding clause).
But second, even if overriding individual rights were not
possible, espousing collective goals on behalf of a national
group can be thought to be inherently discriminatory. In the
modern world it will always be the case that not all those
living as citizens under a certain jurisdiction will belong to
the national group thus favored. This in itself could be
thought to provoke discrimination. But beyond this, the pursuit
of the collective end will probably involve treating insiders
and outsiders differently. Thus the schooling provisions
of Law 101 forbid (roughly speaking) francophones
and immigrants to send their children to English-language
schools, but allow Canadian anglophones to do so.
This sense that the Charter clashes with basic Quebec policy
was one of the grounds of opposition in the rest of Canada
to the Meech Lake accord. The cause for concern was the
distinct society clause, and the common demand for amendment
was that the Charter be “protected” against this clause,
or take precedence over it. There was undoubtedly in this
society’s espousing certain collective goals threatens to run
against both of these basic provisions of our Charter, or indeed
any acceptable bill of rights. First, the collective goals
may require restrictions on the behavior of individuals that
may violate their rights. For many nonfrancophone Canadians,
both inside and outside Quebec, this feared outcome
had already materialized with Quebec’s language legislation.
For instance, Quebec legislation prescribes, as already mentioned,
the type of school to which parents can send their
children; and in the most famous instance, it forbids certain
kinds of commercial signage. This latter provision was actually
struck down by the Supreme Court as contrary to the
Quebec Bill of Rights, as well as the Charter, and only reenacted
through the invocation of a clause in the Charter
that permits legislatures in certain cases to override decisions
of the courts relative to the Charter for a limited period of
time (the so-called notwithstanding clause).
But second, even if overriding individual rights were not
possible, espousing collective goals on behalf of a national
group can be thought to be inherently discriminatory. In the
modern world it will always be the case that not all those
living as citizens under a certain jurisdiction will belong to
the national group thus favored. This in itself could be
thought to provoke discrimination. But beyond this, the pursuit
of the collective end will probably involve treating insiders
and outsiders differently. Thus the schooling provisions
of Law 101 forbid (roughly speaking) francophones
and immigrants to send their children to English-language
schools, but allow Canadian anglophones to do so.
This sense that the Charter clashes with basic Quebec policy
was one of the grounds of opposition in the rest of Canada
to the Meech Lake accord. The cause for concern was the
distinct society clause, and the common demand for amendment
was that the Charter be “protected” against this clause,
or take precedence over it. There was undoubtedly in this
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