The Canadian Charter as a Model for Israel's Basic Laws

Abstract

Although there are vast contrasts in the constitutional arrangements, history, economic substructure, demographics, security and political cultures of Canada and Israel, these countries share a common approach to rights protection. Israel has continually looked to Canada's Charter experience to inform its own stance.

To understand this phenomenon one must look beyond the contrasts: the appeal lies at a deeper, more abstract level. The attraction is the Canadian Charter's membership in the post-World War Two family of rights protecting instruments. By capturing a coherent national statement of constitutional priorities based on these instruments, and in particular a network of institutionally sound roles, the Canadian Charter offers a more attractive system of rights protection than, for example, its American counterpart.