| ASSIGNMENT-1 | HUMA 040 – 99 LAW AND SOCIETY | | | Instructor Submitted by Jessica Hirschorn Harminder Pal Singh 820-359-792 |

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Notwithstanding clause
Notwithstanding clause allows province to pass a law or rule which breaks or fail to comply with the charter of rights. It is only valid for five years but it can be easily renewed by the provincial government if they want to .A legislature can easily make a law to immune from judicial review in to the Charter's fundamental freedoms, legal rights, and equality rights. Basically legislature can do whatever they want to do. They can also miss use their power.
I am completely against to Notwithstanding clause. As Canada is democratic country which means government is to the people, by the people and for the people. In a democratic country every citizen has equal rights. Every citizen has fundamental freedoms which means Freedom of conscience and religion, legal rights which means right to life, liberty, security . Equality rights which means every one is equal no discrimination. People choose government but people don’t elect judges. There is no chance that judges can have more power than the people. They should not have any right to take the last decision. They can anytime miss use their powers which can disturb the peace of the country.
Advantages
Notwithstanding clause is inconsistent with entrenching rights and freedoms. As Canada has a tradition respecting the supremacy of parliament, there’s always fear that important political issues would be reviewed by the unelected judicial branch of government. Therefore, this clause provides a process for the elected legislative body to take the final decison in some important issues.
The defence of the charter, in effect, transfers the authority from elected representatives to the judiciary. This has attracted criticism largely because charter cases often involved such controversial issues such as abortion, pornography, hate propaganda, and other politically sensitive matters
The override clause is most noted for its inclusion in the Quebec language law, the only other use of the notwithstanding clause as of 2004 was with respect to the labor law.
Disadvantages
Although it does not apply to the whole Charter of Rights, but it does apply to a very large number of the rights and freedoms. In some of the important issues like gay marriages, it has been extremely controversial, because of the existence of the notwithstanding clause. The clause has broken the stability and reliability that has been created by a fundamental charter like this charter of rights and freedoms.
It is not the