Where Canadian rights come from

Canadian law comes from several places. Parliament and the provincial legislatures pass laws. Judges also make law through their decisions, a system called common law that came from England. Quebec uses a civil code based on the French model for private matters such as contracts and property. Canada also inherited unwritten rules and customs from the British constitution. Together they protect the rights and freedoms of people in Canada.

Canada's tradition of freedom under the law is more than 800 years old. It goes back to Magna Carta, also called the Great Charter of Freedoms, which was signed in England in 1215. Another old English right is habeas corpus. It lets a person who is held by the state ask a court to decide if the detention is lawful. If it is not, the person must be released.

Rights were protected in Canada long before 1982. In 1960 Parliament passed the Canadian Bill of Rights. It listed rights such as freedom of religion and equality before the law. But it was an ordinary federal law. It did not apply to the provinces, and Parliament could change it like any other law. The Charter, added to the Constitution more than 20 years later, gave rights much stronger protection.