The Impact of the Charter

Untangling the Effects of Institutional Change

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20494100
AutoresMiriam Smith (0000-0001-9587-0129, autor de correspondencia)
Año2007
Número36
Páginas17
Fecha de publicación2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaInternational Journal of Canadian Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1180-3991 • E-ISSN: 1923-5291
EditorialConsortium Erudit (PUBLISHER • CA)
DOI10.7202/040775ar
OpenAlexW2165567558
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas27

This article provides an overview of the main debates on the impact of the Charter's entrenchment in Canadian politics. In doing so, it casts a wide net, providing a selective exploration of the impact of the Charter in three main areas: 1) public policy; 2) political institutions and 3) political mobilization. The paper argues that we should move away from thinking about the Charter as a constitutional document that sets out rights that are protected by courts and move towards a view of the Charter as a structuring influence on Canadian political debate. In policy terms, the paper examines the instrumental impact of the Charter on criminal law and on lesbian and gay rights. While the Charter has strengthened the hand of the judiciary relative to other political institutions, the discursive and instrumental effects of the Charter are also felt in other political institutions such as the executive and Parliament as well as the operation of federalism. Perhaps most importantly, the Charter has become an important factor in structuring political mobilization and debate, encouraging civil society organizations to stake their political claims in terms of Charter rights (for better or ill) and contributing to the partisan competition between political parties in federal politics

Charter · Federalism · Parliament · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Criminal Law and Evidence · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Public Administration