This seminar asks if recent jurisprudence under the Constitution Act, 1982, and especially under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, enhances or marginalizes "rights talk". Has the original "rights and limits" approach which also manifested as "no rights are absolute" nevertheless changed with the invocation of new discourse about "no hierarchy of rights", "competing rights", "reconciling rights", accommodation, the duty to consult, and "contextual balancing"? We examine cases involving religious minorities, gays and lesbians, women, aboriginal peoples, etc., to determine whether the new constitutionalism serves them well or badly. (To be offered jointly with LAW-529.) Three term hours.
This seminar asks if recent jurisprudence under the Constitution Act, 1982, and especially under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, enhances or marginalizes "rights talk". Has the original "rights and limits" approach which also manifested as "no rights are absolute" nevertheless changed with the invocation of new discourse about "no hierarchy of rights", "competing rights", "reconciling rights", accommodation, the duty to consult, and "contextual balancing"? We examine cases involving religious minorities, gays and lesbians, women, aboriginal peoples, etc., to determine whether the new constitutionalism serves them well or badly. (To be offered jointly with LAW-529.) Three term hours.
