Essay On Canada's Constitutional Arrangement

Outline Canada’s constitutional arrangement. Give a robust and well-supported explanation that outlines its historical origins, principles, and key legislation. (300 words) Canada is a constitutional monarchy where the parliament can make amendments to the constitution. What this means is that the monarch of the U.K. is the formal head of state. In this system, Canada has a constitution but also has some shared powers. In Canada, there are duties where the provinces or the national legislation has autonomy. In 1867, Canada passed the Constitution Act. The Constitution Act established three provinces and defined the structure of the Canadian government. In 1931, the Statue of Westminster

What is the liberal idea of the rule of law? Give a robust and well-supported explanation that outlines its historical origins, principles, Canadian context, and critiques. (300 words) Liberalism is the protection of individual rights. Under the liberal idea of the rule law crimes must be proven in courts, no one is above the law and the judgements makes up the constitution One of the main court cases that defined the limits to protection of individual rights were R. v. Oakes in 1986. Under this case the limits to rights were permissible if the violation was sufficiently important, and there are measure to preserve rationality. Furthermore, a rights violation must impair the individual freedom as little as possible, and there must a proportional ratio of effects. The liberal rule of law has critics. These critics point to judge appointment and the democratic rights as potential problems with the liberal rule of law. Preventing the tyranny of the majority becomes important. Furthermore, there must be a line between individual rights and governmental policy. With that being said the rule of law acknowledges that the limit to personal right is when those rights infringe on another’s right. In the liberal rule of law there is one law that governs all. This means that minorities, immigrants and refugees are protected under the law. Additionally, there is not one person who is

“A political system must also possess legitimacy, and in our political culture, that requires an interaction between the rule of law and the democratic principle... It would be a grave mistake to equate legitimacy with the ‘sovereign will’ of majority rule alone, to the exclusion of other constitutional values” (“Analysis of the Constitutional Principles”. In: Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217, 247-263). Drawing on this quote from Reference re Secession of Quebec, write a short essay arguing whether or not there is adequate interaction between the rule of law and democracy in the decision in Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v. Harkat, 2014 SCC 37. Using the Harkat case and any other content from our course as your source material, give a robust and well-supported argument for your answer. In your response be sure to demonstrate your ability to construct a thesis statement and carry out a sustained argument, as well as use appropriate and correct facts from Harkat with proper referencing. (900 words) The case of Canada (Citizenship and Immigration v. Harkat is a case where the liberal idea of the rule of law is put to the test. In 2002, Mohammed Harkat was arrested in Canada for the purposes of preserving National Security. Since his arrest, Harkat has had to defend his ability to stay in Canada and has claimed innocence. The liberal rule of