canada's constitution

canada's constitution

In 1982 Canada’s Constitution was repatriated with one major change, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was entrenched in the Constitution making it, for all intent and purposes, the true law of Canada. This change to the Constitution has had some far larger repercussions in Canadian judicial system than PM Pierre Trudeau ever could have imagined when he signed the repatriation. With the Charter being the set of rules that no law may contradict, the Supreme Court is able to strike down any law which they feel is infracting upon the Chartered rights of an individual or group. The abilities of the Supreme Court make it all powerful, but with this power come many problems and controversies which must be addressed by both the courts, and the government immediately.   While at the moment it is generally frowned upon for someone to question the Supreme Court’s power, if there is no solution found for these issues, then it is only a matter of time before the democratic credibility and legitimacy of the Supreme Court’s power is brought under public scrutiny.
      One of the main complaints about the Supreme Court is that on several levels, many consider them to be undemocratic.   Holding more power than the Canadian Government the court is not made up of elected officials, but appointed ones.   The court is also undemocratic in the fact that many of their decisions have the air of being arbitrary due to the inconsistency that is seen throughout the history of the court’s verdicts. In a country that too many is seen to hold the torch of democracy, having a court system which does not follow the nation’s political structure and philosophy does not seem fitting.  
The Supreme Court of Canada has the ability to strike down any law they are able to connect to a Charter infraction, and when the Court is dealing with controversial social issues, their decisions can lead to retaliation by the general public.   In the past, training for a career as a lawyer and possibly a judge,...