Looking Back on Magna Carta: 800 Years Wiser by Jocelyn B. Hunt

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Looking Back on Magna Carta: 800 Years Wiser by Jocelyn B. Hunt

Newspapers and historical groups have presented much fanfare in the lead-up to 15 June for the 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta (Latin for ‘the Great Charter’). The collective applause for the enduring memory of the Great Charter stands to be challenged as with any other remembered historical document or event. Unlike many revisions which fundamentally alter our modern understanding, such as the tartan (1), the history of Magna Carta can further strengthen its importance in our history and for us today. Today’s post will provide the historical context of Magna Carta’s creation and development as well as investigate the difference between the spirit and letter of the charter’s clauses.

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Indigenous-Settler Relations in Canada: Historicizing Tsilhqot’in by Madeline Knickerbocker

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Clio’s Current regularly uses historical perspective to draw attention to the contentious side of contemporary issues in Canada and abroad. Although we have commented on Indigenous-settler relations, we have done so from a general standpoint and with the intention of introducing our readers to the contested history of colonialism. In today’s guest post, Madeline Knickerbocker provides a focused and detailed discussion behind the legal process that led to the Tsilhqot’in decision in British Columbia.

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Judicial Supremacy and the Right of the Individual in Canada

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 A series of recent Supreme Court cases have ruled against the Canadian government. The rejection of their chosen appointee to the Court, Marc Nadon, on constitutional grounds has angered the government in Ottawa. Rumours and allegations of interference by the Chief Justice, Beverely McLachlin, have swirled over the last week. Ultimately, the Conservatives do not like that an unelected judiciary can supersede the democratically elected Canadian government. The place of the Supreme Court in Canada gives it constitutional authority and stems directly from the 1982 Constitution Act. Its section 52 gave the Supreme Court power to strike down legislation that did not align with the new Canadian constitution. To better understand the position of today's government, today we briefly examine how judiciary authority became supreme in Canada.

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Fifteen Years of Nunavut: A Look at Canada's History with the Inuit

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Tuesday marked the fifteenth anniversary of the creation of Nunavut, Canada's newest territory, and the largest land claim in Canadian history. At least, by territory – there are some 33,000 people spread over 2 million square kilometres in Nunavut. On April 1, 1999, the federal government finished a decades long process over the recognition of Inuit peoples as an indigenous group by the Canadian government. Nunavut was split off from the Northwest Territories as the Canadian government as a negotiation over land ownership. Part of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement that gave Inuit the ability to govern themselves was that they also had to “cede,release and surrender ... all their aboriginal claims, rights, title and interests.” This post looks at part of the process that gave them those rights.

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A Brief History of CSIS - National Security in a Liberal Democracy

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In the ever-changing world of digital society, national security apparatuses have continuously expanded their scope and capabilities. New ways of tracking and collecting information has pushed the legal limits of current legislation, while often ambiguous threats from home and abroad has forced our security agencies to use any means at their disposal. Though all in the attempt to keep Canadian citizens and values secure, the result has been a precarious mixture of surveillance of Canadians and inappropriate government oversight. Senator Hugh Segal (retiring this year) wrote an article in the National Post last week demanding that a commission be held to sort out these serious issues. His call for the “modernization of our national security culture” is timely and echoes some of the concerns that led to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service's (CSIS) creation nearly thirty years ago.

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