Why the Right-Freedom Distinction Matters To Labour Lawyers – And to All Canadians

Abstract

This lecture is about very basic legal ideas such as rights, freedoms, and the distinction between them. It makes the argument that clear thinking about these basic ideas is required and that when these ideas are neglected we have a recipe for real legal confusion. More than that, a failure to attend to these basic concepts and their relationship can produce, as it has in recent Supreme Court of Canada Charter cases on 'Freedom of Association', a real threat to the fundamental freedoms of all Canadians.