What is Section 24 of the Charter?

Section 24 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the remedies clause. Section 24(1) reads: 'Anyone whose rights or freedoms, as guaranteed by this Charter, have been infringed or denied may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction to obtain such remedy as the court considers appropriate and just in the circumstances'. Section 24(2) reads: 'Where, in proceedings under subsection (1), a court concludes that evidence was obtained in a manner that infringed or denied any rights or freedoms guaranteed by this Charter, the evidence shall be excluded if it is established that, having regard to all the circumstances, the admission of it in the proceedings would bring the administration of justice into disrepute'.

Section 24(1) gives courts broad discretion to fashion remedies. The Supreme Court of Canada has approved damages (Vancouver (City) v. Ward, 2010, awarding damages to a man strip-searched without justification), declarations of unconstitutionality, stays of proceedings (R. v. Babos, 2014, in cases of abuse of process), structural injunctions (Doucet-Boudreau v. Nova Scotia, 2003, ordering progress reports on minority-language schools), and many other remedies. R. v. Conway (2010) confirmed that administrative tribunals can award Charter remedies within their statutory jurisdiction.

Section 24(2) is the evidence-exclusion remedy. The current test is set out in R. v. Grant (2009), which directs courts to weigh three factors: the seriousness of the Charter-infringing conduct (the Crown side of the equation), the impact on the Charter-protected interests of the accused (the defence side), and society's interest in the adjudication of the case on its merits (the public side). Where a balance favours exclusion, the evidence must be excluded. R. v. Cole (2012) addressed work-computer searches, R. v. Fearon (2014) addressed cell-phone searches incident to arrest, and R. v. Le (2019) addressed racial profiling.

Section 24 is distinct from the section 52(1) remedy in the Constitution Act, 1982, which renders unconstitutional laws of no force and effect to the extent of the inconsistency. Section 24 provides personal remedies; section 52 provides constitutional declarations. Schachter v. Canada (1992) set out the framework for choosing between reading down, severing, reading in, and striking down. Vriend v. Alberta (1998) read in 'sexual orientation' to the Alberta Individual's Rights Protection Act under section 52, and section 24 remedies were not separately ordered.