What are fundamental freedoms?

The four fundamental freedoms in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are listed in section 2: freedom of conscience and religion, freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression including freedom of the press and other media, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of association. These freedoms apply to everyone in Canada, not just citizens, and are the foundation of Canadian civil liberties.

Section 2(a), freedom of conscience and religion, protects belief, worship, and the absence of compulsion to participate in religious observance. Major cases include R. v. Big M Drug Mart (1985, striking down the federal Lord's Day Act), Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (2006, the kirpan in school), and Loyola High School v. Quebec (2015, religious schools and ethics curriculum). Section 2(b), freedom of expression, protects speech, the press, art, and most forms of public communication. R. v. Keegstra (1990) upheld hate-propaganda limits as a justified section 1 limit, while R. v. Sharpe (2001) struck down child-pornography provisions only narrowly.

Section 2(c), freedom of peaceful assembly, protects the right to gather publicly. Section 2(d), freedom of association, protects the right to form and join organisations including labour unions. The Supreme Court has expanded section 2(d) in cases including Health Services and Support v. British Columbia (2007), Mounted Police Association of Ontario v. Canada (2015), and Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan (2015), all of which protected the right of workers to engage in meaningful collective bargaining and the right to strike.

All four freedoms are subject to section 1 limits that are reasonable and demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. The notwithstanding clause in section 33 allows legislative override of section 2 freedoms for five-year periods. Quebec invoked section 33 to insulate Bill 21 (the Act respecting the laicity of the State, 2019) from section 2(a) challenge, and Bill 96 (the French-language law of 2022) from section 2 challenge. The Federal Court of Appeal upheld the federal Emergencies Act invocation against the Freedom Convoy in February 2022 against section 2(b) and 2(c) challenges (Canadian Civil Liberties Association v. Canada, 2024).