{{Canadian Charter}}
'''Section Sixteen One of the ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms''''' is the newest section of the ''[[Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|Charter]]''.  It was enacted by the '''''Constitution Amendment, 1993 (New Brunswick)''''' and guarantees [[social equality|equality]] between [[English language|English]]-speaking and [[French language|French]]-speaking [[New Brunswick]]ers.

Section 16.1 is not to be confused with ''sub''section 16(1), which is part of [[Section Sixteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|section 16]] and goes back to 1982.  Indeed, constitutional scholar [[Peter Hogg]] treats section 16.1 as a separate section.<ref>Hogg, Peter W. ''Constitutional Law of Canada.'' 2003 Student Ed. (Scarborough, Ontario: Thomson Canada Limited, 2003), p. 1214.</ref>

==Text==
The section reads,

:''16.1 (1)  The English linguistic community and the French linguistic community in New Brunswick have equality of status and equal rights and privileges, including the right to distinct educational institutions and such distinct cultural institutions as are necessary for the preservation and promotion of those communities.''

:''(2)  The role of the legislature and government of New Brunswick to preserve and promote the status, rights and privileges referred to subsection (1) is affirmed.''

==Purpose==
Section 16.1 makes reference to a need for ''[[institutions]]'' for both [[language]] groups, including [[education in Canada|educational]] institutions, and it seemingly gives the provincial government powers to protect the right.  This is not completely revolutionary in that this merely entrenches laws already found in ''An Act Recognizing the Equality of the Two Official Linguistic Communities in New Brunswick'' (1981), as noted in the 2001 [[Court of Appeal of New Brunswick|Court of Appeal]] case ''Charlebois v. Mowat''.  

In said case, the court considered the argument that section 16.1, as well as subsections 16(2) and [[Section Eighteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|18(2)]], require bilingual [[municipal]] laws, particularly when the minority language population of a municipality is significant.  The Court found such bilingualism is required (although primarily by subsection 18(2)), and also defined section 16.1 as "remedial", meaning that it is supposed to fix historical problems. <ref>http://canlii.ca/nb/cas/nbca/2001/2001nbca117.html</ref>  The case has not been ruled on by the [[Supreme Court of Canada|Supreme Court]].

==History==
''An Act Recognizing the Equality of the Two Official Linguistic Communities in New Brunswick'' was enacted by Premier [[Richard Hatfield]], in what was called a "[[separate but equal]]" approach of providing separate [[school board]]s for both linguistic groups.  Its principles were incorporated into the [[Constitution of Canada]], through section 16.1, in response to a shift in provincial politics in the early [[1990s]].  Whereas all parties had supported the rise of bilingualism in New Brunswick, in 1991 a new party called the [[New Brunswick Confederation of Regions Party|Confederation of Regions Party]] gained a presence in the legislature, with a philosophy that was opposed to bilingualism.  The legislation was thus constitutionalized by a pro-bilingualism provincial government, to ensure the survival of the language rights.<ref>Dyck, Rand.  ''Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches.'' Third ed. (Scarborough, Ontario: Nelson Thomson Learning, 2000), p. 95.</ref>

The constitutionalization of the legislation was originally meant to be accomplished as part of a package of amendments known as the [[Charlottetown Accord]] in 1992.  When the Accord was rejected in a national referendum, the amendment was made separately, and Professor Peter Russell refers to this as one of the "encouraging signs that Canadians may be recovering the capacity to accomplish constitutional reform without linking everything together and getting bogged down in the mega constitutional swamp."<ref>Russell, Peter.  ''Constitutional Odyssey,'' 2nd ed. (Toronto:  University of Toronto Press, 1993), p. 231.</ref>

Section 43 of the ''Constitution Act, 1982'' was the part of the [[Amendments to the Constitution of Canada|amending formula]] used to add section 16.1 to the ''Charter''.  This meant the amendment was approved by the province affected (New Brunswick) and the [[Canadian Senate]] and [[Canadian House of Commons]].  The amendment then was signed by [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Brian Mulroney]], [[Attorney General of Canada|Attorney General]] [[Pierre Blais]], and [[Registrar General of Canada|Registrar General]] [[Pierre H. Vincent]], under a proclamation of [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] [[Ray Hnatyshyn]] in [[Ottawa]] on March 12, 1993.

==Footnotes==
<div class="references-small"><references/></div>
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==External links==
*[http://collections.ic.gc.ca/aboriginaldocs/stat/pdf/s-constitution-1993a.PDF Full text of the Constitution Amendment, 1993 (New Brunswick)]
*[http://canlii.ca/nb/cas/nbca/2001/2001nbca117.html Full text of Court of Appeal's ''Charlebois v. Mowat'' decision]

[[Category:1993 in law]]
[[Category:Bilingualism in Canada|Section 16.1]]
[[Category:Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|Section 16.1]]