Showing results by author "Centre for Constitutional Studies" in All Categories

In June 2022, the US Supreme Court made global headlines when it overturned Roe v Wade, a nearly 50-year-old precedent that guaranteed a qualified constitutional right to abortion in the US. In the blink of an eye, the Court’s intervention ended this protection, and flipped the question of abortion regulation back to the 50 states, resulting in extreme disparities in the accessibility and legality of abortion across the country. While none of this altered the legal landscape in Canada, it did lead Canadians to wonder about the legal status and long-term security of their reproductive rights....

Among the many provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, none has divided opinion more than the notwithstanding clause, a provision that allows governments to enact laws "notwithstanding" their impact on key rights. After a long period of relative dormancy, the clause has experienced something of a resurgence since 2018, with a crop of notable uses coming out of Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan. For some, this increase in usage is less about governments opting to violate rights and more about their reasonable disagreement with the courts over whether specific limits on rights...

Hosted by the Centre for Constitutional Studies, Extremism, Polarization, and the Future of Democracy is a podcast mini-series focused on the changing dynamic of public discourse and its implications for democratic politics. The series is based on a third-year undergraduate course in the Department of Political Studies at Queen's University that offered an intimate look at the twin phenomena of political extremism and polarization. The series connects with a range of academics, advocates, filmmakers, and journalists to tackle extremism and polarization from different vantage points. Listeners ...

This podcast series is an intimate look at one of the most controversial topics in Canadian public discourse at the moment: free expression. The first season includes 11 episodes featuring in-depth interviews with a range of legal academics and experts. Blending academic insight with current affairs, the podcast will appeal to anyone interested in the law of free expression, and especially those wanting to make sense of contemporary politics. The series will address a number of important questions, including: Why is free expression so important for democratic societies? When can a state or ...

In August 1992, a group of seventeen Canadian leaders agreed to adopt the Charlottetown Accord, a colossal package of constitutional reforms that would have redefined the basic terms of the federation. However, less than two months later, the Accord was decisively rejected in Canada’s first — and to this day, only — nationwide referendum on the Constitution. Through interviews with ex-government ministers, constitutional negotiators, and legal experts, this series tells the story of how Canada found itself at this constitutional crossroads, and of how Canada’s leaders went from a ...

The “duty to consult” requires consultation with Indigenous groups when government action may impact “Aboriginal and treaty rights”. Through interviews with legal experts, this four-part series explores what the duty to consult is, where it comes from, and how it might change in future. Listen to learn more about Canadian Aboriginal Law, its interaction with Indigenous Laws and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Developed by student researchers at the Centre for Constitutional Studies, University of Alberta. None of the information in this podcast ...