What Makes Canada Great?

By Frits Verhoeven

The 25th anniversary of the Charter provides a good occasion to reflect upon the place of the law in Canadian culture and society, and the role of Canada’s legal profession in that respect.

What makes a country great? We know that a wealth of natural resources does not lead to happiness for the population. There are many countries having an abundance of resources, yet the people are impoverished and oppressed. There are many other countries where the opposite is true: they have limited natural blessings, yet there is material prosperity and a healthy democratic government. To lawyers, the answer is obvious: without respect for the rule of law, respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, and an effective justice system, a country cannot succeed.

Our 1867 constitution places “Peace, Order and Good Government” as one of its central objects. Canadians would overwhelmingly agree that there can be no peace, order and good government without the rule of law and an effective justice system. Our material prosperity and the well-being of our citizens depends upon the maintenance of these principles.

When compared with “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” or “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness,” the POGG goal seems modest and uninspiring. But the POGG goal is in fact a grand one, when one considers how infrequently the nation-states of the world have achieved and maintained it. Canada is exceptional in that, although there have been many glaring exceptions, for the past 140 years most Canadians most of the time have enjoyed the benefits of peace, order and good government. When there have been failures, Canadians have worked to correct them, over time.

Canadians continue to believe that injustices should be made right. Crucially, we have faith that our political and legal institutions are capable of doing so. Canada has long been one of the best countries in the world to live. Canadians have an unspoken confidence that this will always be so.

Respect for the law is part of our culture. In her 1985 book, The Wacousta Syndrome, sociologist Gaile McGregor wrote: “In Canada the culture hero is not the gunslinger, triumphing over opposition by a demonstration of natural powers and anarchistic individual will, but rather the Law itself: impersonal, all embracing, pre-eminently social.”

Canada is known internationally as a country that respects the rule of law, human rights, and the fundamental rights and freedoms set out in the Charter.

As lawyers, we can take pride in the role the legal profession plays in building and maintaining that respect, and in constantly seeking to improve the law.

Lawyers volunteering their time through the Canadian Bar Association are doing outstanding advocacy work on behalf of the profession. The last issue of BarTalk included a copy of the brochure “Canadian Bar Advocacy,” which provides a snapshot of national CBA advocacy efforts. CBA advocacy centers on themes such as the independence of the profession and the judiciary, solicitor-client privilege, lawyers’ professional interests, access to justice, and fairness in the legal system.

During 2006, CBA made 66 submissions to the federal government touching on these topics. CBA intervened in several cases at the Supreme Court of Canada.

The legal profession in Canada has great influence on public policy issues. We may not often be thanked for that, but all Canadians receive the benefit.

This article was published in the June 2007 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2007, all rights reserved.