Article III · Revision 1 · 2026-05-20 rights

Rights of the People

Full Text

Summary

Background

Revisions

Discussion

Freedom of Conscience, Expression, Assembly, and Religion

Protects freedom of thought, belief, speech, worship, and peaceful assembly for everyone in Alberta. These freedoms largely restate what the Canadian Charter already guarantees, but would be entrenched in a provincial constitution enforceable under provincial law.

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Gives law-abiding Albertans a constitutional right to own and carry firearms for lawful purposes, and directs provincial agencies not to enforce federal firearms laws seen as unreasonable. The Canadian Charter has no equivalent right. Alberta can lawfully set its own enforcement priorities for provincial police and prosecutors, but it cannot displace federal criminal law, so a full directive of this kind would read as a statement of provincial priorities rather than an override of federal law.

Security of Person, Property, and Home

Protects Albertans from unreasonable searches and seizures, requiring warrants supported by probable cause. This largely restates rights already guaranteed by the Canadian Charter, but would be entrenched provincially with specific warrant requirements.

Due Process and Equal Justice

Guarantees that no one loses life, liberty, or property without a fair legal process, and that every person gets a timely trial before an independent court. These protections largely restate rights already in the Canadian Charter, entrenched here at the provincial level.

Property Rights

Gives every person a constitutional right to own and deal with private property, and requires fair compensation if government takes that property for public use. This goes beyond the Canadian Charter, which contains no property rights; Alberta's Expropriation Act already requires compensation but only as ordinary statute law.

Free Enterprise and Economic Liberty

Gives every person a constitutional right to pursue lawful business, enter contracts, and operate enterprises free from arbitrary government interference. There is no equivalent right in the Canadian Charter; this would be a new entrenched protection within provincial jurisdiction.

Parental Rights and Education

Gives parents and guardians a constitutional right to direct their children's upbringing, education, and moral development, with the province required to respect that right. Canadian courts recognise parental authority in common law, but it is not separately entrenched in the Canadian Charter; this would elevate it to constitutional status in Alberta.

Speech and Academic Freedom in Public Institutions

Prohibits public institutions from suppressing lawful speech, research, or inquiry based on political or ideological content. Academic freedom in Canadian universities today rests on contracts and institutional policy, not constitutional protection; this would make it a provincial constitutional right.

Right to Self-Defense

Recognises a constitutional right to defend oneself, others, and property against unlawful aggression, subject to reasonable limits. The underlying law of self-defence is federal (Criminal Code), so this section functions mainly as a provincial directive principle rather than changing what conduct is actually lawful.

Rights Reserved to the People of Alberta

States that listing specific rights in the constitution does not mean those are the only rights Albertans hold; people retain other natural rights not written down. This is a residual clause modelled on the U.S. Ninth Amendment and has no direct equivalent in the Canadian Charter.

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 1 2026-05-20

major

Initial draft of Article III from the v2 draft constitution, with per-section classification, current-law context, and editorial notes.

Loading comments...