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Yuan Yi Zhu: Fire any Supreme Court judge that tries to put limits on Section 33

The constitution must not be changed without democratic consent

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In a normal country, ideas about the ideal arrangements for society’s well-functioning are debated by the public and voted upon by either elected legislators or, in some cases, through direct democracy. But Canada isn’t a normal country.

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Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the challenge against Quebec’s secularism law, which imposes all manners of restrictions on the public practice of religion in the name of secularism. For good measure, the legislature insulated it from constitutional challenge by invoking the notwithstanding clause.

Yuan Yi Zhu: Fire any Supreme Court judge that tries to put limits on Section 33 Back to video

Both the bill’s substance (with a few small exceptions) as well as Quebec’s invocation of Section 33 were upheld in the Quebec Court of Appeal. But critics of the law, supported by the federal government and numerous NGOs, have taken the case to the Supreme Court. They hope not only to strike down the law, but to introduce limits on the invocation of Section 33, a longstanding goal of a segment of the Laurentian elite (think........

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