The End of Constitutional Exemptions

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Keywords

Section 12, R v Ferguson, Mandatory Minimum Sentence, Constitutional Exemption, Supreme Court of Canada, Charter Violations

Abstract

In R. v. Ferguson (reported ante p. 197) the Supreme Court decided that constitutional exemptions are not available as a remedy when a mandatory minimum sentence is said to violate section 12 of the Charter. This is a well reasoned and sensible decision. As mandatory minimum sentences are the context in which the possibility of the constitutional exemption as a Charter remedy has most frequently arisen, as a practical matter Ferguson largely disposes of the issue. Nonetheless, a further clarification at some point that constitutional exemptions are not available in any context, for other violations of section 12 or of any other Charter right, would be a laudable follow-up.

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