What does Section 6 of the Charter say about entering and leaving Canada?

Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects mobility rights including the right of every Canadian citizen to enter, remain in, and leave Canada. Section 6(1) reads: 'Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada'. This right is one of the few Charter rights immune from override under section 33's notwithstanding clause, putting it alongside democratic rights (sections 3 to 5), language rights (sections 16 to 23), and section 28 gender equality.

The right to enter Canada is unconditional for Canadian citizens. The Customs Act allows Canada Border Services Agency officers to examine Canadians at the border for goods, but cannot deny a Canadian citizen entry into Canada. The right has been tested in extradition cases (United States v. Burns, 2001, prohibiting extradition without assurances against the death penalty), in denial-of-passport cases (Kamel v. Canada (Attorney General), 2009), and in pandemic-era travel restrictions. The right does not extend to non-citizens, including permanent residents (whose rights are governed by the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and section 7 of the Charter).

The right to leave Canada is also broad but not absolute. Federal Passport Canada can refuse or revoke a passport in narrow circumstances under sections 9 and 10 of the Canadian Passport Order (and under the Prevention of Terrorist Travel Act of 2015), and the Criminal Code includes terrorism-related offences for leaving or attempting to leave Canada to participate in terrorist activity. Provincial child-support enforcement programmes can ask the federal government to deny passports to parents in significant arrears in some provinces.

Section 6(2) extends mobility rights to permanent residents as well as citizens, guaranteeing the right to move to and take up residence in any province and to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province. Section 6(3) allows laws of general application that do not discriminate primarily on the basis of province of residence, and reasonable residency requirements for publicly provided social services. Section 6(4) preserves provincial affirmative-action programmes for residents in less prosperous provinces. The Canadian Free Trade Agreement of 2017 operationalises section 6 by reducing non-tariff barriers between provinces. Pandemic-era federal travel restrictions of 2020 to 2022 generated section 6 litigation including Spencer v. Canada (Attorney General) (2021), with most restrictions upheld as section 1 justified limits.