[troutman]

https://livewirecalgary.com/2025/11/...anding-clause/

Calgary’s Criminal Lawyers Defence Association (CDLA), along their colleagues at the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association, Southern Alberta Defence Lawyers’ Association, and Red Deer Criminal Defence Lawyers Association sent an evening statement condemning the province’s use of the notwithstanding clause in Bill 2 on Nov. 4.

“The Alberta government has chosen not only to exempt this legislation from constitutional labour protections, but also from an entirely unjustified, seemingly unrelated, and broad range of other fundamental freedoms and protections guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” said the joint statement.

Among those rights identified by the lawyers as having been preempted by the government included the right to freedom of expression, the right to counsel, the right to equal protection and benefit of the law, the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, and the the fundamental right to life, liberty, and security of the person.

The joint statement also decried the government exempting teachers from the fundamental rights enshrined in the Alberta Human Rights Act and Alberta Bill of Rights.

“As organizations of criminal defence lawyers, whose role is to protect and preserve the rights and freedoms we all cherish and rely on, we are profoundly concerned by the extraordinary use of the notwithstanding clause by the government,” said the statement.

“When governments seek to normalize the removal of robust Charter protections, it imperils all rights, including those that shield citizens from arbitrary or unjust state action within the criminal justice system.”

Alberta teachers no longer feel free to exercise fundamental rights like freedom of expression to challenge the government.

“They’ve got no rights right now. I think many are even afraid to sort of speak out in their private lives, or to attend protests or speak with their MLA anything that looks like job related action,” she said.

A teacher who was caught shoplifting for example would have the full protection of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but a teacher who protested the government would have none under Bill 2.