Charter Rights and Freedoms
The catalogue
Section 2 protects fundamental freedoms: conscience and religion, thought, belief, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly, and association. Section 7 protects life, liberty and security of the person, but only against deprivations inconsistent with fundamental justice. Section 8 protects against unreasonable search and seizure. Sections 9-14 protect against arbitrary detention, guarantee rights on arrest and trial, and protect against cruel and unusual treatment. Section 15 guarantees equality before and under the law and equal protection and benefit of the law, subject to section 1.
Key tests
Section 7 requires a deprivation of life, liberty or security and a breach of fundamental justice, which includes overbreadth and arbitrariness. Section 15 requires a distinction based on an enumerated or analogous ground that creates a disadvantage. Section 2(b) protects expression unless it is violent. Section 2(d) protects collective bargaining in some contexts.
Traps
Questions often treat section 7 as protecting economic rights or property, or apply section 15 without a comparator. Another trap is assuming every distinction is discriminatory; disadvantage must be shown.
Worked example
A law banning peaceful protest outside a legislature engages section 2(b) and 2(c). The state must justify the limit under section 1, showing minimal impairment and proportionality.