Human rights in Canada have come under increasing public attention and legal protection since World War II. Inspired by Canada's involvement in the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the current legal framework for human rights in Canada consists of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, part of the Constitution of Canada, and statutory human rights laws, passed by the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures.

The Supreme Court of Canada first recognized an implied bill of rights in 1938 in the decision Reference Re Alberta Statutes.Joseph E. Magnet, Constitutional Law of Canada, 8th ed., Part VI, Chapter 1 , Juriliber, Edmonton (2001). URL accessed on March 18, 2006. Starting with the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights in 1947, the provinces and the federal government passed a series of laws to protect human rights. Statutes originally tended to focus on specific issues, such as racial discrimination in housing or employment, and gradually expanded to comprehensive human rights statutes which took a general approach to discrimination. As well, to ensure consistent enforcement of the human rights laws, governments began to create human rights commissions, charged with investigating human rights complaints and providing clear remedies. By 1977, all ten provinces and the federal government had enacted human rights laws.

Since the 1960s, Canada has placed emphasis on equality and inclusiveness for all people. In present-day Canada the idea of a "just society" is constitutionally protected. The Charter guarantees fundamental freedoms such as; free expression, religion, association and peaceful assembly rights and the right to life, liberty and security of the person. Other rights related to participation in elections, mobility, legal process, equality, language usage and minority-language education are also within the Charter.

Internationally, Canada is a signatory to multiple human rights treaties, and ranks among the highest globally in measurements of civil rights. Notwithstanding there are significant issue of historic racism and discrimination against Indigenous peoples - including the modern day plight of violence faced by Indigenous women and girls, reports of excessive force used by law enforcement and racial profiling targeting visible minorities, concern with the treatment of migrants and refugees and the freedom of religion and language expression in Quebec society.

Constitutional and legal framework

Human rights in Canada are given legal protections by the dual mechanisms of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is part of the Constitution of Canada, and statutory human rights codes, both federal and provincial.Nancy Holmes, "Human Rights and the Courts in Canada", Publications Canada, Law and Government Division, BP-279E, November 1991, revised October 2001.

As part of the Constitution of Canada, the Charter applies equally to all governments in Canada: federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal. All governments are bound to comply with the rights and freedoms set out in the Charter.Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s. 32(1).

Another constitutional issue that relates to human rights is the federal division of powers between the Parliament of Canada and the provincial Legislatures. Human rights are not assigned exclusively to either level of government. Instead, each level of government has jurisdiction over human rights issues that arise in their respective areas of constitutional jurisdiction. Federal laws relating to human rights only apply to activities that come within federal legislative jurisdiction, and provincial and territorial laws relating to human rights only apply to matters that come within provincial and territorial legislative jurisdiction.

Human rights claims are typically investigated by a human rights commission of the appropriate jurisdiction, either the Canadian Human Rights Commission, for claims under federal human rights law, or a provincial human rights commission, for claims under provincial human rights law. If a human rights claim goes to adjudication, it may be in front of a specialised human rights tribunal, such as the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for federal claims, or a provincial human rights tribunal for claims under provincial law. In one province, Saskatchewan, there is no human rights tribunal and claims are adjudicated directly by the superior trial court of the province. Marie-Yosie Saint-Cyr, "The Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal Eliminated", Slaw – Canada’s online legal magazine, August 4, 2011.Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission: Filing a Complaint. A tribunal or court generally has broad remedial powers.

Constitutional protections

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of the Constitution of Canada.Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter guarantees political, mobility, and equality rights and fundamental freedoms such as freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion for private individuals and some organisations. The Charter only applies to governments, requiring them to respect the rights and freedoms it sets out. Charter rights are enforced by legal actions in the criminal and civil courts, depending on the context in which a Charter claim arises.

Fundamental freedoms Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees four fundamental freedoms:

freedom of conscience and religion;

freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

freedom of peaceful assembly;

freedom of association.

Freedom of conscience and religion

Freedom of conscience and religion is protected by section 2(a) of the Charter.Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 2(a). Religious freedom is further protected by section 15 of the Charter, which promotes the pursuance of equality and the freedom from discrimination under enumerated or analogous grounds, one of which is religion.Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 15.

In a 1985 Supreme Court case, R. v. Big M Drug Mart Ltd., Chief Justice Brian Dickson said that religious freedom in Canada includes freedom of religious speech, including "the right to entertain such religious beliefs as a person chooses, the right to declare religious beliefs openly and without fear of hindrance or reprisal, and the right to manifest religious belief by worship and practice or by teaching and dissemination."R v Big M Drug Mart Ltd., 1 SCR 295, at para. 94.

Concerns with regards to religious freedom remain with respect to public funding of religious education in some provinces,Richard Moon, "The public funding of Catholic schools in Ontario is unstable and unprincipled", CBC News, 28 May 2018. public interest limitations of religious freedom,Cristin Schmitz, "SCC Affirms 7-2 Ontario and B.C. Regulators' Denial of Accreditation to TWU's Proposed Law School" , The Lawyer's Daily, LexisNexis Canada, 15 June 2018. state religious neutrality and religious dress,Canadian Human Rights Commission Statement: "Denying the Rights of One Group of People Puts Everyone's Rights at Risk", 29 March 2019: "The Canadian Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned by Quebec’s announcement this week that it will seek to ban religious symbols for all provincial public servants in roles such as, police officers, judges, teachers and senior officials." and conflicts between anti-discrimination law and religiously motivated discrimination.Kathleen Harris, "Trinity Western loses fight for Christian law school as court rules limits on religious freedom 'reasonable' ", CBC News, 16 June 2018.

Three provinces, Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, are constitutionally required to operate publicly funded separate religious schools. The Supreme Court has held that the funding is not discriminatory under the Charter. Reference re Bill 30, An Act to Amend the Education Act (Ont.), 1 SCR 1148. Adler v. Ontario, 3 SCR 609. On November 5, 1999, the UN Human Rights Committee held that Canada was in breach of the equality provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.Waldman v Canada, Communication No. 694/1996, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/67/D/694/1996 (1999). The Committee restated its concerns on November 2, 2005, observing that Canada had failed to "adopt steps in order to eliminate discrimination on the basis of religion in the funding of schools in Ontario."UN Human Rights Committee, Report of the Human Rights Committee, Volume I: Eighty-fifth Session (17 October-3 November 2005), Eighty-sixth Session (13-31 March 2006), Eighty-seventh Session (10-28 July 2006), 85th Sess, UN DOC A/61/40 (1 December 2006) 20 at 24.

Freedom of expression

Freedom of expression is protected by section 2(b) of the Charter, which guarantees "Freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication."Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 2(b). Freedom of speech and expression has constitutional protection in Canada but is not absolute. Section 1 of the Charter allows limitations on this freedom if it can be "justified in a free and democratic society".Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 1. The Charter protection works to ensure that all such limits are reasonable and strictly necessary. The approach by the Supreme Court on free expression has been that in deciding whether a restriction on freedom of expression is justified, the harms done by the particular form of expression must be weighed against the harm that would be done by the restriction itself.Julian Walker, "Hate Speech and Freedom of Expression: Legal Boundaries in Canada", Library of Parliament Research Publications, No. 2018-25-E, Library of Parliament, 2018.

In Canada, legal limitations on freedom of expression include:

Sedition, fraud, specific threats of violence, and disclosure of classified information Civil claims involving libel, defamation, fraud, or workplace harassment Violations of copyright laws Criminal offences involving hate speech and advocacy of genocide Municipal by-laws that regulate signage or where protests may take place

Some limitations remain controversial due to concerns that they infringe on freedom of expression.

Freedom of peaceful assembly Freedom of peaceful assembly is protected by section 2(c) of the Charter, which guarantees to all Canadians freedom of peaceful assembly.Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 2(c). In 1987, the Supreme Court found in Reference Re Public Service Employee Relations Act (Alta), that although being written as a separate right, section 2(c) was closely related to freedom of expression.Reference Re Public Service Employee Relations Act (Alta.), 1 SCR 313.

Recent controversies involving concerns about freedom of assembly in Canada include the eviction of Occupy Canada's protests from public parks in 2011,Vilko Žbogar, et al. "Forcible Removal of Peaceful Protests in Canada: Submission to United Nations, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression." The Law Union of Ontario, November 18. 2011. the possible effects of Bill C-51 on freedom of assembly,Alexandra Theodorakidis, "Bill C-51, Freedom of Assembly and Canadians' Ability to Protest." Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, 25 June 2015. and CSIS surveillance of environmental and indigenous activists."CSIS surveillance of pipeline protesters faces federal review", CBC News, September 27, 2018.

Freedom of association