Analysis and Opinion
The Notwithstanding Clause under the Miscroscope: Peter Biro on the Brian Crombie Hour
Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, also known as the NOTWITHSTANDING CLAUSE, is one of the Constitution’s most controversial and least well understood provisions. By invoking the notwithstanding clause, the government can insulate a law from the strongest order a court can issue, which is to strike down the law because it infringes a Charter right or freedom.
McGill Institute for the Study of Canada panel discussion on The Notwithstanding Clause and the Canadian Charter (September 2024)
MISC presents a panel discussion amongst some leading experts and commentators who have contributed to a new and important volume, collection The Notwithstanding Clause and the Canadian Charter: Rights, Reforms and Controversies (McGill-Queen's University Press). Edited by Peter Biro, the collection examines the NWC from all angles, considering who should have the last word on matters of rights and justice – the legislatures or the unelected judiciary – and what balance liberal democracy requires.
The notwithstanding clause has put our rights – and democracy – on the line. Peter’s article in The Globe and Mail
Is the Notwithstanding Clause really "a dagger pointed at the heart of our fundamental freedoms", as the late Senator Eugene Forsey warned? It depends on whether its use ousts the court's jurisdiction to undertake judicial review of a protected law, says Peter Biro. "It is one thing, after all, for a law to operate notwithstanding its inconsistency with a Charter provision. It is another thing altogether for such an operation to occur in darkness."