Happy Anniversary, Charter

Today is the 25th anniversary of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter, which is entrenched in the Canadian Constitution, guarantees Canadians civil and political rights including:

• freedom of association, belief, conscience, expression, peaceful assembly, the press, religion, and thought;
• democratic rights;
• equality rights;
• language rights;
• legal rights;
• minority language education rights;
• and, mobility rights.

The purpose of the Charter, at least to the government of Pierre Trudeau that created it, was to be the basis for a set of national values. I suppose it has succeeded in this aim, although I am sure that many of my more conservative compatriots would disagree with me on that. However, I am happy that we have a government that is based on the concept of rights and freedoms.