Section (12-17)

Auswah Imaan
Jan 27, 2021
3 min read

Updated: Jan 29, 2021

Section 12 - Cruel and unusual treatment or punishment

Section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as part of the Constitution of Canada, is a legal rights section that protects an individual's freedom from cruel and unusual

punishments in Canada. The section has generated some case law, including the essential case R. v. Smith (1987), in which it was partially defined, and R. v. Latimer (2001), a famous case in which Saskatchewan farmer Robert Latimer protested that his long, mandatory minimum sentence for the murder of his disabled daughter was cruel and unusual.

Section 13 - Protection against self-incrimination

Rights against self-incrimination had existed in Canadian law even before the Charter, but these applied to cases in which an individual might incriminate him or herself while giving testimony in another person's trial. Since the enactment of the Charter, the right has been extended in case law in regard to retrials, to exclude from one's retrial self-incriminating evidence if it had been obtained during cross examination in the last trial.

This section serves a similar purpose as the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, but does not provide witnesses the same opportunity to excuse themselves from testifying.

Section 14 - Right to interpreter

Section 14 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the last section under the "Legal rights" heading in the Charter. It provides anyone in a court the right to an interpreter if the person does not speak the language being used or is deaf.

Before the Charter was enacted in 1982, the right to an interpreter in a trial existed under the common law, because it was believed to be necessary for natural justice. The right was incorporated into the Canadian Bill of Rights in 1960. Section 2(g) of this Act read that a person has a right to "the assistance of an interpreter in any proceedings in which he is

party or a witness, before a court, commission, board or other tribunal, if he does not understand or speak the language in which such proceedings are conducted."

Unlike the Charter, the Bill of Rights was a statute and not part of the Constitution of Canada. The Bill of Rights also did not guarantee this right to the deaf community. The language right was included in an early draft of the Charter, and the rights belonging to the deaf later appeared in April 1981.

The Supreme Court of Canada has said the right also has a basis in Canada's multiculturalism. Canadians' "multicultural heritage" is recognized in section 27 of the Charter.

Section 15 - Equality Rights

Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms contains guaranteed equality rights. As part of the Constitution of Canada, the section prohibits certain forms of discrimination perpetrated by the governments of Canada with the exception of ameliorative programs (e.g. employment equity).

Rights under section 15 include racial equality, sexual equality, mental disability, and physical disability. In its jurisprudence, it has also been a source of LGBT rights in Canada. These rights are guaranteed to "every individual", that is, every natural person. This wording excludes "legal persons" such as corporations, contrasting other sections that use the word "everyone", where "legal persons" were meant to be included. Section 15 has been in force since 1985.

Section 16 and 16.1 - Official Languages of Canada

Section 16 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the first of several sections of the Constitution dealing with Canada's two official languages, English and French. Section 16 declares that English and French are the official languages of Canada and of the province of New Brunswick.

Section 17 - Proceedings of Parliament and in New Brunswick legislature

Section 17 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is one of the provisions of the Charter that addresses rights relating to Canada's two official languages, English and French. While the section 17 right to use either language within the Parliament of Canada repeats a right already anchored in section 133 of the Constitution Act, 1867, section 17 also guarantees the right to use both languages in the legislature of New Brunswick, the only officially bilingual province section 16 of the Charter.

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