What is the relationship between the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
The Charter as a Rights Document The Charter provides Canadian citizens and residents with a broad set of constitutional rights. This, however, raises an important question: what exactly are rights? Answers to this are often very complex, and depend greatly on the context in which specific rights are recognized and exercised. Nevertheless, an introduction to the basic nature of rights can be provided by discussing a very simple example – everyday promises. While we often do not think of promises as being analogous to constitutional rights, their basic nature is very much the same. Two key things occur when one makes a promise. On the one hand, a duty or obligation is created. When one makes a promise, s/he is obligated to fulfill that promise. On the other hand, an entitlement is also created. When one makes a promise to another, the other person is entitled to claim performance of that promise. This becomes clearer when considering an example, such as the promise to help a friend pain
