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Article
How the Charter Has Failed Non-Citizens in Canada – Reviewing Thirty Years of Supreme Court of Canada Jurisprudence
McGill Law Journal
  • Catherine Dauvergne, Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia
Faculty Author Type
Current Faculty [Catherine Dauvergne]
Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Subjects
  • Canada; Human rights; Migrants; Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Abstract

This paper presents a study of all of the Supreme Court of Canada’s Charter-era jurisprudence addressing the rights of non-citizens. It traces the jurisprudential evolution from early decisions strongly supportive of non-citizens’ rights claims, to more recent rulings where non-citizens’ rights claims are rejected, sidelined or even ignored. Patterns in decision making are discernible and the decline in protections for non-citizens follows logically enough from a series of interpretive stances made relatively early on. There is evidence here of what I have termed ‘Charter hubris.’ This is a leading factor in explaining the current state of affairs, which works alongside other explanations such as the traditionally broad ambit of discretion in immigration matters and the securitization of all immigration matters in the early twenty-first century.

Citation Information
Catherine Dauvergne, "How the Charter Has Failed Non-Citizens in Canada: Reviewing Thirty Years of Supreme Court of Canada Jurisprudence" ([forthcoming in 2013]) 58:3 McGill LJ 663.