Canadian Pluralism and the Charter: Moral Diversity in a Free and Democratic Society

This text comprises a collection of extensively-researched papers from leading authorities, and offers thought-provoking reflections about public decision-making, Charter rights and values, state neutrality and secularism, and the rule of law.

What is the role of the state in resolving social tensions rooted in competing morals and beliefs among citizens? And what is the role of the law in resolving such ‘values’ conflicts between the citizen and the state?

These questions are increasingly pertinent as Canada’s religious diversity expands, the administrative state extends into traditionally private sectors, and state actors seek to promote certain preferred values. These developments raise important questions about how, and why, differences ought to be accommodated in a free and democratic society.

The articles collected in this volume explore some of these themes and questions, and underscore the value of, and need for, continued dialogue and critical examination of these issues.

The volume is divided into four parts:

• Part I: Charter Values
• Part II: Rejuvenating Charter Protections
• Part III: State Neutrality, Secularism, and Religious Pluralism
• Part IV: Reconciling Competing Rights and Interests

The Collection of Papers

1. The Honourable Justice Peter Lauwers – What Could Go Wrong with Charter Values?;
2. Prof. Mary Anne Waldron, Q.C. – The Intolerant State: The Use and Misuse of Charter Values in the Supreme Court of Canada
3. Prof. Dwight Newman, Q.C. – Interpreting Freedom of Thought in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
4. Derek Ross and Deina Warren – Religious Equality: Restoring Section 15's Hollowed Ground
5. Prof. Anna Su – Transformative State Neutrality
6. Prof. Janet Epp Buckingham – The Role of the Secular State vis-à-vis Religion
7. Kristopher E.G. Kinsinger – Inclusive Religious Neutrality: Rearticulating the Relationship Between Sections 2(a) and 15 of the Charter
8. Barry W. Bussey – The Canada Summer Jobs Debate and the Democratic Decline
9. Prof. Matthew Harrington – Canada’s New Hierarchy of Rights

Of interest to:

• Constitutional Lawyers – acquire insights on recent nuanced developments in the interpretation of Charter rights and values
• Administrative Law practitioners – learn about and consider how administrative law principles should comport with the rule of law in the modern administrative state
• Religious and Community Organizations – understand recent court approaches in interpreting issues of core import to faith and community groups
• Government – analyse the need to design and implement programs that comply with the evolving interpretation of the Charter
• Academia – review the latest developments and scholarship on the relationship between law, the state, and individual freedoms

Canadian Pluralism and the Charter: Moral Diversity in a Free and Democratic Society is a collection of papers developed out of Supreme Court Law Review, Second Series.