n. — Politics, Law
Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Gives Parliament or provincial legislatures the power to override certain portions of the Charter.
Type: 4. Culturally Significant — This controversial section of the Canadian Charter has the general purpose of protecting legislatures from judicial review. It can only be used with certain parts of the Charter's rights and freedoms, including fundamental freedoms, legal rights and equality rights. Democratic, mobility, language and minority language education rights cannot be affected by the notwithstanding clause. A notwithstanding declaration has a maximum duration of five years, but a legislature may extend the five-year period by re-invoking the notwithstanding clause, since there are no limits to the number of times it can be applied.
One of the the most notable uses of the notwithstanding clause was by the Quebec legislature in 1988 on Bill 101, when the government protected its commercial sign laws by prohibiting the use of languages other than French on exterior signs (see the 1988 quotations). The clause was used to protect the amended legislation from any further judicial review under the Charter.
See also Maple Leaf Web reference, "The Notwithstanding Clause: Section 33 of the Charter".
See also COD-2, s.v. "notwithstanding clause", which is marked "Cdn".
See also: Charter sign law non-confidence Bill 101
- Officially, this part of the Charter is known as Section 33, but it is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause or, more rarely, as the "override clause".