On April 7, 2025, CUPE joined human rights advocates and legal scholars in signing the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s, CCLA, joint letter to federal political party leaders calling for a public consultation on the use of the notwithstanding clause within six months of forming government.
The notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives lawmakers the ability to disregard certain rights and freedoms protected under the Charter such as freedom of expression, freedom of religion, the right to life, and the right to be treated equally under the law. Since the Charter was adopted nearly forty years ago, governments have refrained from using the notwithstanding clause.
However, recently we have seen provincial governments frequently use or threaten to use the notwithstanding clause to limit the rights of many CUPE workers, for example: preventing K-12 education workers from striking, banning provincial government employees from wearing religious symbols, and preventing trans and gender diverse youth from using the name and pronouns that best fit their gender at school without parental consent, to name a few. The increasing use of the notwithstanding clause to override fundamental constitutional rights and freedoms is a direct threat to our democracy.
CUPE and the CCLA are asking federal political party leaders to commit to holding a public consultation. At the heart of those consultations should be equity-deserving and worker voices, because they have been disproportionately targeted by the use of the notwithstanding clause. This consultation should be solutions-oriented, with stakeholders such as CUPE members involved to weigh-in on ways to address this crisis, whether through repealing the notwithstanding clause in the Charter or introducing new safeguards to limit its use.
We will reach out with further calls to action on the consultation as we await the response from federal political party leaders.