What is the relationship between rights and responsibilities?

Rights and responsibilities in Canada are linked rather than separate. Discover Canada describes them together for a reason: the rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms can be sustained only if Canadians fulfil the responsibilities that support the institutions guaranteeing those rights. The right to vote requires the responsibility of informed participation. The right to a fair trial requires the responsibility to serve on juries. The right to public services requires the responsibility to pay taxes. The right to a healthy environment requires the responsibility to protect Canada's natural heritage.

The rights side of this balance is constitutionalised in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982), section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 (Indigenous rights), and the Constitution Act, 1867 (division of powers). The federal Canadian Bill of Rights of 1960 (predecessor to the Charter), the Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977, and provincial human-rights codes provide additional statutory protection. Provincial codes such as the Ontario Human Rights Code, the British Columbia Human Rights Code, and Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms operate alongside federal law.

The responsibilities side is set out in Discover Canada and in many specific statutes: the Income Tax Act (paying taxes), the Canada Elections Act and provincial elections statutes (voting), the provincial jury statutes (jury service), the Criminal Code (obeying the law), the Volunteers' Act and charitable-giving rules (helping others), and environmental statutes (protecting Canada's heritage). Some responsibilities are legally enforceable; others are civic expectations.

The Oath of Citizenship taken at every citizenship ceremony binds new citizens explicitly to both sides of the balance. The current oath, updated in 2021, reads: 'I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, King of Canada, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada including the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples, and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen'. The oath is administered by a citizenship judge or by a senior IRCC official authorised to preside, and is the legal moment at which Canadian citizenship is acquired by naturalisation.