Canadian Bill of Rights | The Brian Mulroney Institute of Government

The Bill of Rights was the first federal law protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms and was enacted under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's government in 1960.
The Bill of Rights protects freedom of religion, speech, the press, and of assembly and association and guarantees legal rights including equality before the law and protection of the law.
The Bill of Rights also amended the War Measures Act, however, Section 2 of the Bill stated that Parliament could override the rights afforded by the bill by inserting a 'notwithstanding' clause in the applicable statute passed by Parliament (such as the War Measures Act).
This exception was only used once, by former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau during the 1970 October Crisis.
The War Measures Act was completely repealed and replaced by the Emergencies Act in July 1988.
While the Bill of Rights was revolutionary at the time, it was less effective because it only applied to the federal statutes.
However, it was the first Canadian statute to explicitly prohibit sex discrimination (alongside race, religion, and national origin), even though the statute was largely ineffective in practice.
Although many of Bill's provisions were superseded by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982, the Bill of Rights still remains today.
The Bill is remembered today as a national symbol of Canadian history dedicated to protecting civil liberties.
The Bill was utilized several times in court cases between 1960-1982, however, only one case was successful in changing federal law (R v. Drybones 1970).