Education and Linguistic Security in the Charter

Abstract

The authors provide an interpretive framework for minority language education rights as guaranteed in section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. They argue that the purpose of such rights is to protect linguistic security. Attending to that value and to the text of the Charter, they seek to explain the nature and ground of the limitation which confines application of the right to circumstances in which numbers warrant. In doing so, they critically discuss a number of judgments bearing on the content of the right, the relevance of cost in securing the right, and the appropriate judicial remedies for enforcing it.