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Building a Just Society:
A Retrospective of Canadian Rights and Freedoms

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom

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Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Photograph of Honourary Captain Samuel Cass, a rabbi, conducting the first worship service celebrated on German territory by Jewish personnel of the 1st Canadian Army, March 18, 1945
Source
Honourary Captain Samuel Cass, a rabbi, conducting the first worship service celebrated on German territory by Jewish personnel of the 1st Canadian Army, March 18, 1945

Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law:

Guarantee of Rights and Freedoms

1. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

Privy Council document addressed to the Secretary of State, quoting a resolution of the Victoria and District Trades and Labour Council in support of freedom of speech in Canada, May 4, 1918

Privy Council document addressed to the Secretary of State, quoting a resolution of the Victoria and District Trades and Labour Council in support of freedom of speech in Canada, May 4, 1918
Source

Card from Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau inviting Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gordon Fairweather to attend a performance at the National Arts Centre on the occasion of the Proclamation of the CONSTITUTION ACT, 1982,  April 16, 1982

Card from Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau inviting Mr. and Mrs. Robert Gordon Fairweather to attend a performance at the National Arts Centre on the occasion of the Proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982, April 16, 1982
Source

Fundamental Freedoms

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.

Cover of a book entitled SUGGESTIVE POSES: ARTISTS AND CRITICS RESPOND TO CENSORSHIP, 1997

Cover of a book entitled Suggestive Poses: Artists and Critics Respond to Censorship, 1997
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Cover of a book by Mike Hirst entitled LA LIBERTÉ DE PENSÉE, 2000

Cover of a book by Mike Hirst entitled La liberté de pensée, 2000
Source

Further Research

Human Rights in Canada: A Historical Perspective.
www.chrc-ccdp.ca/en/index.asp
(accessed October 24, 2006).