Section 2: Fundamental Freedoms

Fundamental Freedoms

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.

Brief description of section 2(b)

I’m going to talk about section 2 of the Charter, and specifically about the freedom of conscience and religion and freedom of thought, belief, and expression. It states that everyone has the right to have your thoughts and beliefs and can share them and not have these discriminated against by the government. Also the government can’t tell people what belief or what thought they can have. This is similar to how the government can’t discriminate people on their gender, age, disability and culture.

An Important Case

An important case that showed section 2 in our lives is R. v. Big M Drug Mart Ltd. [SCC 1985]. In this case, a drug store in Alberta was charged because they were open on Sunday. The drug store said that the law that made them close on Sunday for religious reasons went against section 2 of the Charter because it was based on one religion. It took the case to the Supreme Court of Canada and won. The case shows that governments cannot tell people what religion to believe in.

When our Rights Can be Limited

When there is a justifiable reason, the government could take away some of the rights and freedoms because of section 1 of the Charter, like when they start taking away rights of what we can do. An example is like when the government has to limit some rights during the Covid-19 pandemic by making us stay at home, saying don’t go outside and stay in the house because of social distancing. Even if you think you shouldn’t have to stay home, and believe the government is wrong, you might be limited in when you tell other people to go out. You also can’t act on those beliefs. Finally, you can't practice your religion the same way in a large group. This is because it is very important for people’s safety. It’s not going to be forever, so the limitation is not too much.