The Manitoba government is planning to ensure judges can weigh in any time the province invokes the notwithstanding clause to override rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
A bill before the legislature would require future legislation that invokes the clause to be referred immediately to the province’s Court of Appeal.
Judges would not have the authority to strike down the legislation but could comment on it and say whether it would be unconstitutional if not for the notwithstanding clause.
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Manitoba has never invoked the clause, and Premier Wab Kinew says his government never will.
But he says the bill would ensure if future governments do, voters will know what judges think.
Kinew says other provinces have invoked the clause to limit the rights of religious and other minorities.
Manitoba has intervened in a Supreme Court of Canada case over Quebec’s use of the clause to prohibit some public sector workers from wearing religious symbols while on the job.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
