CFN – With Constitution Day (March 29th) fast approaching, a survey commissioned by the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) has revealed a startling lack of basic knowledge among Canadians about Canada’s Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Among other findings:
•Barely half of Canadians surveyed (53%) knew that Canada’s original constitution came into force on July 1, 1867.
•Only 28% of Canadians were correctly able to identify the four provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) that initially formed the Dominion of Canada in 1867.
•61% of Canadians did not know that the Constitution Act, 1867 listed the distribution of powers between the federal and provincial levels of government.
•Only 9% of Canadians surveyed knew that the Charter does not include protection for private property.
•Only 7% of Canadians surveyed knew that the Charter only applies to governments and not to private individuals, businesses, or other organizations.
The survey also reveals Canadian attitudes about various amendments to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including:
•After being informed that the Charter does not protect property rights, 56% of Canadians strongly supported/somewhat supported amending the Charter to protect private property. Support was highest in Alberta at 67%.
•Only 36% of Canadians strongly/somewhat supported removing the section 33 “notwithstanding” clause from the Charter.
Given Canadians’ lack of knowledge about their Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the CCF is promoting Constitution Day, to be held annually on March 29th. Details are on the website www.ConstitutionDay.ca.
The Constitution Day celebration aims to advance awareness and understanding of our Constitution among all Canadians, especially young Canadians. Like the similar “U.S. Citizenship and Constitution Day”, the CCF encourages governments and citizens alike to acknowledge and celebrate this day each year.
March 29th has been selected as the date for Constitution Day because as Acts of the British Parliament, both the British North America Act, 1867 (now known as the Constitution Act, 1867), and the Canada Act, 1982, (the Constitution Act, 1982, was a Schedule to the Canada Act) received Royal Assent on the same day, March 29, in their respective years.
As part of this effort, the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) is unveiling a new website at www.ConstitutionDay.ca, which makes available:
•Results of a public opinion poll conducted by Abacus Data which reveals the current state of knowledge, or lack thereof, of Canadians of their Constitution and the rights and freedoms it affords.
•Constitutional curriculum to assist teachers in teaching about Canada’s Constitution, and to help students learn about it.
•Other tools to raise awareness and to educate about the Constitution, including a graphic guide, info-graphic, video content, etc.
For more information, visit www.ConstitutionDay.ca
The Canadian Constitution Foundation (“Freedom’s Defence Team”) is a registered charity, independent and non-partisan, whose mission is to defend the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through education, communication and litigation.
For more information, contact:
Chris Schafer, Executive Director and Lawyer
Canadian Constitution Foundation
647-389-8052 (cell)
cschafer@canadianconstitutionfoundation.ca www.theCCF.ca
Great article, Don! We will be discussing this at the 2nd Annual St Patrick’s Day Brunch this Sunday, hosted by Canadians for Language Fairness.
It is already sold out, which is not surprising due to the EXCELLENT guest speakers from a wide variety of organizations that are all fighting the same fight…it’s all about our Rights and Freedoms that are being taken away from us by “social engineers” and politicians.
Property rights, religious rights, freedom of assembly, freedom of expression are all INALIENABLE rights and freedoms and you cannot believe in one without believing in them all.
But, we have been dumbed down thanks to our school boards, and by not knowing our Constitutioinal history and jurisprudence, it has allowed these persons with agendas, to slowly but surely, take away those rights which only GOD gives us.
Thank you, Don Smith. The Canadian Constitution Foundation has been trying to get more people to know and understand our Constitution.
On March 17th, at our annual St. Patrick’s Day Brunch at Vars, Ontario, Karen Selick will be one of the speakers talking about the loss of Freedom of Canadians. Karen Selick & Derek From have co-authored a chapter entitled, “The Evisceration of liberty in Canadian Courts” in a new book published by the Fraser Institute. Our Constitution and the Charter are not flawless documents.
The present Constitution has a major flaw. The 1982 Constitution took away much protection of individuals. It did this by elevating the so called rights of groups as in fascist societies. It is the supremacy of “group rights” as opposed to “individual rights” that has empowered the French-speakers in Canada to demand rights that far exceed their numbers. By entrenching “group rights” into our Constitution, only recognized special interest groups who claim the right to be protected from assimilation can have access to substantial amounts of funding.
Some other flaws in Canada’s new constitution make it impossible for Supreme Court Judges to resolve conflicts with laws of individual provinces.
@ Beth Trudeau
“[W]e have been dumbed down…”
Yes, absolutely, Beth…and it suits our miserable excuse for a government in Ottawa to a T. Consider how it’s been in their interest since 2006 to have a dumb and ignorant citizenry to manipulate, much like Big Brother and the “proles” in George Orwell’s 1984.
Am I making this up? Consider some facts—some highlights of the Harper government’s moves against Canadian freedoms: gutting information resources such as the long-form census, muzzling scientists, falsifying/denying scientific evidence, programming ministers as robots, using taxpayers’ money for government propaganda, dismantling watch-dog agencies, ramping up incarceration for minimal offences, denying inmates learning opportunities for rehabiiitation, “kettling” peaceful demonstrators at the Toronto G20, generally attacking/silencing anyone who voices disagreement with their narrow, punitive, divisive, dark-age ideology.
At the same time, Harper goes around the world lecturing other countries on democracy and human rights. The hypocrisy is sickening, the reality frightening.
Their incompetence (F35s etc. etc.) is another story.
Indeed, thank you, Don. Excellent and timely piece.
‘Recognition through assimilation’ must be entrenched into our Canadian Constitution. If not we will be guaranteeing a couple of hundred language and cultural rights that will so boggle and tie up our rule of law and cohesion as a society.
We have in this country what is called a ‘mosaic of multi-culturalism’.
NO ONE can lead such a postulate (A thing suggested or assumed as true as the basis for reasoning, discussion, or belief) to the satisfaction of all it’s members.
Turmoil ensues. Anger. dysfunction, accusation, blame games, demands for acceptance over all others……reckless behavior, cursing each other, rallies, flag waving…….is that about what we are experiencing these days, instead of love, wine and roses we have hate, whine and noses, WAR ON ALL FRONTS.
I’m beginning to think Quebec has it right and the rest of us are just pissed off because we don’t understand French and don’t want to any more.
That my friends sums up my reasoning for my next statement.
THE BEST THING FOR THE ROUIC (REST OF US IN COUNTRY) IS TO DEMAND THAT ‘ALL’ OF US LEARN AND DEAL IN ENGLISH ONLY to be at our happiest, as the Quebec ‘horde’ have come to be.
Now you are going to say too late cause we’re screwed with the Ottawa French contingent and the Departments of French affairs polluting all our provincial legislatures that this idyllic situation would be impossible. Oh, really now.
Well, How be we start being even more civil disobedient than ever before and start to make our own demands of English only
everywhere from Ontario to B.C. as requirements by all cultures, dialects and religions………and to hell with the constitution as we will be adopting the Quebec way of doing things.
I fully accept their right to be one language, one people, one country, even within a country. There are enough good people who hold the gift of duality with french and English and even citizenship with family and friends. It makes me happier to realise that so many of our citizens have both language but for them to accept that one language, English in ROUIC.
Once all of us accept this as normal, we can then proceed to be a happier, freer nation. Sorry if the word ‘nation’ us not commonly used anymore as in the ROC(rest of Canada) as it is in the res’s and in Quebec but we too can adopt the term ‘NATION’. there, I SAID IT…..WE TO ARE A NATION……..their, I said it again.
Be proud of OUR very own NATION TOO. Now as I see it, simply because we called ourselves a NATION, then the ROC really then is a NATION unto itself.
So, you see, now we have 3 NATIONS in one. Isn’t that wonderful. Isn’t that ‘FREEING’.
Holy shit, I’m so happy now.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to the Res.’s and th Quebec for helping us through this lack of self-confidence in what is now our own fu&%^$ NATION.
Now that we have come to this realization…..lets get the fu!k on with our lives and start making OUR OWN fu!king demands.
Seems like until this moment, but NO fu!king longer that WE TOO CAN MAKE OUR DEMANDS HEARD.
NO MOE MONEY for leaches and bums, cause we don’t have any. No more blowing smoke in our faces or up our ass’s cause we are not going to take it any more.
Until this very moment, WE WERE THE TARGET, THE FALL GUYS, THE ONE TO BLAME FOR EVERYONE ELSE’S FU!K UPS.
Are we getting the point people. STOP IT. STOP IT. Stop bitching about everyone else’s demands on us. START, START right now to take back what is ours……our very own self-confidences in who the fu!k WE ARE. No more falling into this self-pity game as though all the other bastards are right to rob us of OUR VERY OWN ANGLO/ENGLISH civility rights. Like it’s now up to us to GIVE UP AND SHUT THE FU!K UP ABOUT IT.
Time to get radical all right. It’s bloody time to get pissed of and back up a moment here…the right to backlash is ours.
STOP. STOP, STOP.
It’s a new beginning if you just simply want it to be. Let go of the English in Quebec because we will only piss ourselves off and those caught in the middle can and will sort out their own issues.
They will assimilate or move, period and there is not a damn thing you or I can do about it.
That’s my story and I’, sticking to it.
Diddlyscwat
Thanks Don for yet another great article.
Without appearing sarcastic, the Canadian Constitution Foundation forgot to mention plump social work programs and universal healthcare amongst other things that make Canada so attractive to live in in it’s infomercial. I think focusing the reasoning of Canada’s lacklustre laws as an anchor to attract people from around the world seems to me to be a weak argument.
I mean we have a political system that supports a federal political party hellbent on separation. I know of no other place on earth where the victim willingly provides the knife to the assailant. And then after getting stabbed repeatedly, thanks them for it. But we do here…
It’s boggling!
Cory Cameron
March 16, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Said: ‘I mean we have a political system that supports a federal political party hellbent on separation. I know of no other place on earth where the victim willingly provides the knife to the assailant. And then after getting stabbed repeatedly, thanks them for it. But we do here…’
The best compliment to the English I/we have ever heard……no damn wonder we are all tossed up like a freakin salad. YOU SIR HIT THE NAIL SQUARLY ON THE HEAD……THE HEAD OF THE SNAKE IS OUR OWN GOD DAMN(Moderate that) GOVERNMENT.
Our constitution is a international embarassment.
-no property rights
-no freedom to bear arms
-genocidal not-withstanding clause against English speakers
-$ going to Quebec
-George Stomboulopolis allowed to exist (faggot liberal)
-laissez faire for alleged refugees is making me ill
-government paid abortions and forced euthenasia ( Cornwall Hospice)
-gay marriage
Only 20 more years of a Harper government will get us back to the status quo, 1965.
Liberals
1) Were responsible for the notwithstanding clause being enshrined into the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms
Consequence: this allowed laws such as bill 101 to OVERRIDE the supreme court of Canada when it ruled bill 101 unconstitutional
It also opened the door for any and all discriminatory laws to be theoretically passed by any provincial legislature .Nice eh ???
trudeau.
2) liberals, revamped the federal hiring practices so that the 28% French MINORITY in Canada can now control, through responsible government positions, the 78% majority ( English)
trudeau,chretien
3) liberals, through indifference and inaction came within a whisker of loosing the 1995 quebec referendum.
chretien
4) liberals ,Encourage, promoted and enforced forced bilingualism in Canada,
trudeau/chretien
5) liberals, under trudeau, initiated the 3-4 billion a year spent on forced bilingualism in Canada, that exists to this day.
6) liberals, soft on both crime and terror.
chretien, martin and all the rest.
7) liberals promised to scrap the GST-still waiting
chretien
8) liberals, who can ever forget the “sponsorship scandal”
chretien/martin
9) liberals, united under chretien and martin, we think not. their open conflicts paved the way for yet even more BQ’S in Ottawa.
10) liberals, supporting the Ontario provincial liberals in their quest of forced bilingualism in a province that is 92% English
chretien, martin and all the rest
Need I say more.
And they have the bloody unmitigated nerve to bad mouth P.M. Stephen Harper. At least Harper did not sell out Canadians by enshrining the notwithstanding clause into the charter, which in effect allowed quebec, to have the English bent over and raped by the likes of bill 101 and possibly bill 14, not mention language police, Pastagate and the infamous “penis ring” fiasco.
paramedics refusing to speak English in a medical emergency of an English 2 year old child. Anglos attacked in St Lambert for speaking English,, and the hits keep on coming
trudeau’s and liberals vision of Canada.
Right on diddlyscwat
Can’t just blame Trudeau, Chretian etc. blame whoever put them into power. Trudeau had the biggest funeral (coast to coast) I believe, in the country’s history, a tribute from the people who thought he was a great leader………… Or maybe they were glad he was gone? Doubt it because looks like the sheep are ready to be screwed over again with little Justy. I only needed a couple of examples to make my decision about the man…… a real leader with confidence would not run away or ignore questions from a news outlet which is exactly what he did to Sun News.