Constraining the Court

James B. Kelly is a professor in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University. He is the author of Governing with the Charter: Legislative and Judicial Activism and Framers’ Intent, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Donner Prize. He served as the 2006–07 Seagram Chair in Canadian Studies at the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, where he coedited Contested Constitutionalism: Reflections on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms with Christopher P. Manfredi. With Janet L. Hiebert, he is also a coauthor of Parliamentary Bills of Rights: The Experiences of New Zealand and the United Kingdom. He has been a visiting fellow at the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at Melbourne Law School; a visiting professor at the Faculty of Law of Bar-IIan University, Israel; and an editor of the Canadian Journal of Political Science.

Introduction: Constraining the Court

1 Judicial Power and Policy Implementation in the Charter Era

2 Quebec and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: Une province pas comme les autres

3 Minority Language Education Rights and the Charter of French Language: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose

4 Bridging Schools and the "Major Part Requirement": Designing and Implementing the 2010 Charter of the French Language

5 Quebec’s "Sign Law" and Freedom of Expression: Ford, Devine, and the Bourassa Government’s Response

6 Supervised Consumption Sites and the Respect for Communities Act: How the Harper Government Outflanked the McLachlin Court

7 The Opioid Crisis and Canadian Federalism: From Supervised Consumption to Overdose Prevention Sites

8 Physician-assisted Suicide to Medical Assistance in Dying: When Carter Met Federalism

Conclusion: Legislative Disagreements and Policy Implementation in the Charter Era

Appendix: Remedial Activism, 1982–2022 (Statutes, Ministerial Discretion, and Administrative Decisions)

Notes; Bibliography; Index