This is a draft prepared by one contributor, published for public discussion. Nothing here is an adopted position of the project or a proposal it endorses. The purpose is to learn where Albertans agree, disagree, and want changes.
Freedom of Conscience, Expression, Assembly, and Religion
Alberta alone
Alberta can adopt this now under its own authority (Constitution Act, 1982, s.45).
Current Law
Freedom of conscience, expression, peaceful assembly, and religion are protected across Canada by s.2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Provincial human rights statutes, including the Alberta Human Rights Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. A-25.5, add further protection within the provincial sphere.
Proposed
All persons shall be free to think, believe, speak, write, and worship according to the dictates of their own conscience. The right to peaceful assembly and to petition the government for redress of grievances shall not be infringed.
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
What Alberta can do now
Alberta controls the administration of justice within the province under Constitution Act, 1867 s.92(14). The province can direct provincial police and prosecutors on enforcement priorities, including deprioritizing enforcement of specific federal firearms regulations. This is an instruction to provincial agencies on priorities, not a displacement of federal criminal law.
Current Law
Firearms in Canada are regulated under the federal Firearms Act, S.C. 1995, c. 39, and Part III of the Criminal Code (offences and prohibitions). Criminal law is exclusively federal under Constitution Act, 1867 s.91(27). The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not include a right to bear arms.
Proposed
All law-abiding citizens of Alberta have the right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, including personal protection, hunting, sport, and the defense of liberty. This right shall not be infringed by provincial law, nor shall provincial agencies enforce federal laws that unreasonably restrict this right1.
Classification note1Direction not to enforce federal firearms law. The clause directing that provincial agencies not enforce federal firearms laws conflicts with federal paramountcy and with the federal criminal law power under Constitution Act, 1867 s.91(27). A province controls the administration of justice within the province under s.92(14) and may direct provincial prosecutors and provincial police on enforcement priorities, but it cannot constitutionally invalidate federal criminal law within its borders. Resolution path: no single Part V procedure reaches federal paramountcy or the federal criminal law power. As drafted, this clause functions as a political signal and an instruction to provincial agencies on enforcement priorities, not a rule that displaces federal law.
Security of Person, Property, and Home
Alberta alone
Alberta can adopt this now under its own authority (Constitution Act, 1982, s.45).
Current Law
Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure. Search warrants in Canada must meet the standard of reasonable and probable grounds, set out in case law (Hunter v. Southam Inc., [1984] 2 SCR 145) and codified in the Criminal Code.
Proposed
Every person shall be secure in their person, dwelling, communications, and effects against unreasonable search or seizure. Warrants shall require probable cause, supported by oath, and shall describe the place and items to be searched or seized.
Due Process and Equal Justice
Alberta alone
Alberta can adopt this now under its own authority (Constitution Act, 1982, s.45).
Current Law
Due process and equal protection are guaranteed by ss.7, 11, and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A fair and timely trial is part of s.11(b), and the right to an independent and impartial tribunal is part of s.11(d).
Proposed
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. All persons shall have the right to a fair and timely trial, equal protection under the law, and access to an independent judiciary.
Property Rights
Alberta alone
Alberta can adopt this now under its own authority (Constitution Act, 1982, s.45).
Current Law
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not protect property rights. Property and civil rights in the province are exclusively provincial under Constitution Act, 1867 s.92(13). Expropriation in Alberta is governed by the Expropriation Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. E-13, which requires compensation.
Proposed
Every person has the right to acquire, possess, enjoy, and dispose of private property. No property shall be taken for public use without just compensation and due process.
Free Enterprise and Economic Liberty
Alberta alone
Alberta can adopt this now under its own authority (Constitution Act, 1982, s.45).
Current Law
There is no express constitutional right to free enterprise in Canada. Economic regulation is divided: trade and commerce in general is federal under Constitution Act, 1867 s.91(2), while property and civil rights in the province (including most regulation of business and contracts) is provincial under s.92(13).
Proposed
Every person shall have the right to pursue lawful trade, contract freely, and operate enterprises without arbitrary interference.
Parental Rights and Education
Alberta alone
Alberta can adopt this now under its own authority (Constitution Act, 1982, s.45).
Current Law
Education in Alberta is exclusively provincial under Constitution Act, 1867 s.93. The right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children is recognised in Canadian common law and case law (B. (R.) v. Children's Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto, [1995] 1 SCR 315) but is not separately entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Proposed
Parents and guardians have the right to direct the upbringing, education, and moral development of their children. The Province shall respect and protect this right.
Speech and Academic Freedom in Public Institutions
Alberta alone
Alberta can adopt this now under its own authority (Constitution Act, 1982, s.45).
Current Law
Academic freedom in Canadian universities is generally a contractual right under collective agreements and institutional policy, not an entrenched constitutional right. Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects freedom of expression as against state action.
Proposed
Public institutions shall not suppress lawful speech, research, or inquiry on the basis of political or ideological content.
Right to Self-Defense
Needs other governments7/50
Requires a negotiated agreement with other provinces and/or the Government of Canada.
Current Law
Self-defence in Canada is governed by ss.34 and 35 of the Criminal Code, which are federal law under Constitution Act, 1867 s.91(27). The defence is available where the response was reasonable in the circumstances.
Proposed
All persons have the inherent right to protect themselves1, others, and their property against unlawful aggression, subject to reasonable limits under law.
Legal accuracy note1Scope of provincial entrenchment of self-defence. The section as drafted entrenches the right to self-defence in a provincial constitution. The substantive law of self-defence is federal under Constitution Act, 1867 s.91(27); a province cannot redefine the criminal-law standard. The clause is best read as a directive principle for provincial enforcement and education and as an additional bar to provincial restrictions that go beyond federal law.
Rights Reserved to the People of Alberta
Alberta alone
Alberta can adopt this now under its own authority (Constitution Act, 1982, s.45).
Current Law
Canadian constitutional law recognises unwritten constitutional principles (Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 SCR 217) and a residual approach to rights interpretation, though there is no express Canadian analogue to the U.S. Ninth Amendment.
Proposed
The enumeration of specific rights in this Constitution shall not deny or disparage other natural rights retained by the people.
Provincial entrenchment of expression, conscience, assembly, and religion within Alberta's sphere
Right to keep and bear arms, with a direction not to enforce certain federal firearms laws
Property rights and just compensation entrenched beyond the Canadian Charter
Parental rights in education and academic freedom in public institutions
A residual unenumerated-rights clause modelled on the U.S. Ninth Amendment
Why this article is proposed
Most of the rights in this article are already protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or by Alberta statute. The article proposes to entrench them in a provincial constitution, which adds two new things: a higher amendment bar than ordinary law, and a parallel set of rights enforceable in provincial courts under provincial standards.
What it would change
Several sections restate Charter or statutory rights in Alberta-specific language: conscience and expression, search and seizure, due process and equal justice. Three sections go further than the Charter:
Section 2 entrenches a right to keep and bear arms. The Canadian Charter has no analogue. The direction that provincial agencies refuse to enforce certain federal firearms laws goes past what a province can lawfully do, because federal criminal law prevails over conflicting provincial direction.
Section 5 entrenches property rights. The Canadian Charter omits property; a provincial entrenchment is allowed within provincial jurisdiction.
Section 6 entrenches economic liberty as a stand-alone right, which has no Charter equivalent.
Sections 7 (parental rights and education), 8 (academic freedom in public institutions), and 9 (self-defence) restate rights that exist in Canadian law but are not constitutionally entrenched.
The legal basis
Provinces may entrench rights that overlap with the Canadian Charter as long as they remain within provincial jurisdiction under Constitution Act, 1867 ss.92, 92A, and 93. Constitution Act, 1982 s.45 lets the province write these protections into its own constitution. What a provincial constitution cannot do is displace federal law on federal subjects, which is why section 2's direction not to enforce federal firearms law is flagged as a conflict.
Open questions
Three questions for Albertans: whether to entrench a right to keep and bear arms at all, knowing that the question of enforcement of federal firearms law is contested and not finally resolvable by Alberta alone; whether to entrench property rights and economic liberty as full constitutional rights or to leave them at the statutory level where they sit today; and how to phrase parental rights in education so that they protect lawful parental authority without displacing the province's existing child-protection regime.
Revision 12026-05-20
major
Initial draft of Article III from the v2 draft constitution, with per-section classification, current-law context, and editorial notes.