Which Charter sections protect democratic rights?

Sections 3 to 5 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protect the democratic rights of Canadian citizens. Section 3 guarantees the right of every Canadian citizen to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a provincial legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein. Section 4 limits the maximum life of any House of Commons or legislative assembly to five years from the date of the most recent general election. Section 5 requires Parliament and each provincial legislature to sit at least once every twelve months.

Sections 3 to 5 are immune from override under the section 33 notwithstanding clause, putting them alongside mobility rights (section 6), language rights (sections 16 to 23), and section 28 gender equality as Charter rights that cannot be displaced by a legislative declaration. The protection makes Canadian democratic rights among the most strongly entrenched in any Westminster democracy.

The Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted section 3 to extend the franchise broadly. Sauvé v. Canada (Chief Electoral Officer) (2002) struck down the prohibition on inmates serving sentences of two years or more from voting. Frank v. Canada (Attorney General) (2019) struck down provisions denying the federal vote to Canadian citizens who had lived abroad for more than five years. Earlier decisions had extended voting rights to judges (Muldoon v. Canada, 1988), to persons with mental disabilities (Canadian Disability Rights Council v. Canada, 1988), and to others previously excluded.

Section 4 was tested in 2008 when Prime Minister Stephen Harper advised the Governor General to dissolve Parliament early despite the federal fixed-election-date law. The Federal Court ruled in Conacher v. Canada (Prime Minister) (2009) that fixed-date legislation did not constrain the Prime Minister's prerogative advice on dissolution. Section 5 is now largely procedural, but it was raised during the 2020 prorogation of Parliament during the COVID-19 pandemic and the WE Charity controversy. Section 4(2) allows extension of a Parliament beyond five years 'in time of real or apprehended war, invasion or insurrection' if not opposed by more than one-third of MPs.