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The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Charter is intended to protect certain political and civil rights of people in Canada from the policies and actions of all levels of government. It is also supposed to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights. The Charter was preceded by the Canadian Bill of Rights, which was introduced by the government of John Diefenbaker in 1960. However, the Bill of Rights was only a federal statute, rather than a constitutional document, and therefore limited in scope and easily amendable. Hence, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's government enacted the Charter in 1982. One of the most notable effects of the adoption of the Charter was to greatly expand the scope of judicial review. The Court system of Canada, when confronted with violations of Charter rights, have struck down unconstitutional statutes or parts of statutes. However, the Charter granted new powers to the courts to enforce more creative remedies and to exclude more evidence in trials. As a result, the Charter has attracted both passionate support from liberals and criticisms by opponents of increased judicial power.
