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Article: Happenings wondrous and strange: an American view of the early years of the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms.
- Article from:
- Textual Studies in Canada
- Article date:
- June 22, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Thompson Rivers University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"Our primary objection to the Charter Revolution is that it is deeply and fundamentally undemocratic.... The growth of courtroom rights talk undermines perhaps the fundamental prerequisite of decent liberal democratic politics: the willingness to engage those with whom one disagrees in the ongoing attempt to combine diverse interests into temporarily viable governing majorities" (Morton & Knopff 149).
"An emphasis on individual conscience and individual judgment ... lies at the heart of our democratic political tradition. It is because of the centrality of the rights associated with freedom of individual conscience ... that American jurisprudence has emphasized ...