The Queen v. Drybones

taylor — Wed, 15 May 2024 16:35:48 +0000

The Queen v. Drybones taylor Wed, 05/15/2024 - 13:35

The R v. Drybones case is a famous Supreme Court of Canada decision that used the Canadian Bill of Rights to strike down federal legislation.
This case emerged when an Indigenous man, Joseph Drybones, was arrested in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in 1967 for being intoxicated off his reserve.
Under section 94(b) of the Indian Act, it was illegal for Indigenous peoples to be intoxicated off their reserve land, however, Drybones' lawyer argued this section of the Act violated the Bill of rights.
Since other racial groups did not experience the same legal penalty for this conduct, the Supreme Court ruled the section 'inoperative' as it stood in conflict with the Bill of Rights.
Parliament later repealed this section of the Indian Act (Section 94(b)) and this marked the only successful case that used Bill of Rights to change the law.

Citation

The Queen v. Drybones [1970] S.C.R. 282, 1969. https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2722/index.do

Overlapping Topics

Federal Government Affairs

Policy Sub-Topic

Bill of Rights (Human Rights)

Policy Type

Supreme Court Case

Canadian Bill of Rights

taylor — Wed, 15 May 2024 16:33:00 +0000

Canadian Bill of Rights taylor Wed, 05/15/2024 - 13:33

Canadian Bill of Rights

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The War Measures Act was completely repealed and replaced by the Emergencies Act in July 1988.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).

Citation

Canadian Bill of Rights, Statutes of Canada 1960, c. 44. https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-12.3/page-1.html