Canadian Bar Association calling for withdrawal of proposed Quebec constitution

After the Quebec Bar Association, it is now the turn of the Canadian Bar Association (ABC) to denounce the proposed Quebec constitution of the CAQ government.

In a brief filed Wednesday, the Quebec section of the ABC is simply asking for the withdrawal of Bill 1.

The previous evening, Tuesday, the Quebec Bar Association had argued that this bill compromised “the protection of fundamental rights”.

For its part, ABC-Québec argues that the process that led to the introduction of the bill undermines its legitimacy, and therefore, it is better to withdraw it and start the work from scratch.

The organization accuses the government of having drafted its proposed constitution in isolation without any prior consultation, and consequently, it does not receive sufficient support and lacks consensus. 

Like the Quebec Bar, the Quebec wing of the Canadian Bar Association asserts that the protection of fundamental individual rights and freedoms will be weakened, including freedom of religion, particularly through the enactment of collective rights of the Quebec nation.

Abortion 

Also, like several other organizations, the Quebec division of the ABC opposes the text protecting women’s freedom to have a voluntary termination of pregnancy. 

The courts have ruled that reproductive autonomy is a protected right, the brief recalls.

“Legislation could indeed weaken this right,” the text reads. “Enshrining it in law (…) can prove risky since it then becomes susceptible to being circumscribed or altered.”

Furthermore, ABC-Québec also harshly criticizes article 5, which would prohibit organizations from using public funds to finance challenges to laws considered fundamental, such as the law on French as the official language of Quebec, and the law on state secularism.

The Quebec division of the CBA is calling for the withdrawal of this provision, because it is part of a “set of political actions likely to undermine the rule of law” and which “significantly hinder the ability of citizens to assert their rights and opinions.”

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews