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Aficionados of “The Hat", Li have ee signal ‘honour of coy a series
et, articles ‘on the Charter, so. forwarned | vis. forarmed. Never having been a ‘member
sof a self selecting "underground" movement: before, I am both pleased and delighted
to be a "Chartist" (1987 eieaceyS The organization and objectives of our tiny
Chartist cell have been outlined by Gary Park son in the January Sh edition, along
with a sincere and open invitation for al 1 those interested to join. © need not.
“1 belabour the point further, since ol have my own pressing problem: OW i to introduce

the Charter? - ‘ pie a 7 ; se | a el a tT

Frankly, il fi nd it "presumptuous to “introduce! the ee to my colleagues -
for, after all, the topic has been around for years. We have | all seen c copies of
the Charter of Fundamental Rights “and Freedoms, and remember ¢ the endles: ess years
of politi cal debate over the constitution. There is a pert ectly "understandable
tendency on the part of most Canadians simply t to ass um that an charter exists.

: Indeed, some might argue that given the incredible amount of time and energy de V ot ed
to! ‘the constitut tion over the years» it is a positive re lief to. leave ‘the whole
- area_ of rights and freedoms to the lawyers and judges and politicians. i: hesitate
to presume, but I think that there is ‘no longer any ci a ee ir nero

this a this: province. or this country. rr, at eee
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| é om nk that we must continue to examine our Charter and our attitudes: towards”
it. For one of the. first hallmarks of the decay and inevitable decline 0 of a Viberal
democracy is lack of knowledge and TeSpREE. for civil Viberties and sess among
members of the iaearial: population of ‘ar “country. There are other more | blatant
signals, of course, such as the breakdown: of patterns of civil obedience 1 oe tee:
authority figures. But ignorance is Piel a more > subtle form of decay, insidious,

eo meeately just as destructive. ) De

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oe evolutionary development of the Charter” and our | attitude tonards itr tied
to both our public and private experiences. We all know of di: iscriminatory ae
in this country, as they have been ‘reported in the popular press, or even as
have affected ourselves. We ‘remember wie some of our native ve Ss were ‘given

  
 

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