The Canadian Constitution and the World
in P. Oliver, P. Macklem & N. DesRosiers, eds., Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), pp. 1075-1102; ISBN: 9780190664817
Posted: 11 Sep 2018
Date Written: November 25, 2017
Abstract
This chapter examines the influence of elements of Canada’s constitutional model abroad, in three areas: (1) the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as an innovative way to institutionalize the relationship among legislatures, executives, and courts with respect to the enforcement of a constitutional bill of rights, as justified by “dialogue theory”, that contrasts starkly with its leading alternatives, the American and German systems of judicial supremacy; (2) Canada’s plurinational federalism as a strategy to accommodate minority nationalism and dampen the demand for secession and independence within the context of a single state, by divorcing the equation of state and nation; and (3) the complex interplay between a constitutional bill of rights and minority nation-building, as reflected in the constitutional politics surrounding the recognition of Quebec’s distinctiveness, and the role of the Supreme Court of Canada in adjudicating constitutional conflicts over official language policy arising out of Quebec.
Keywords: Canada, Constitutional Design, Constitutional Law
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