Overview

• Canada filed a factum urging the Supreme Court to allow courts to declare Charter violations even when Section 33 shields a law and to review sustained use that causes “irreparable impairment” or indirectly amends the Constitution.
• Alberta and Ontario submitted factums opposing limits and called Section 33 a “hard-fought and hard-won compromise” that preserves provincial legislative sovereignty.
• Quebec officials denounced Ottawa’s position as an attack on parliamentary autonomy, insisting the clause reflects the constitutional bargain of 1982.
• The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the challenge to Quebec’s Bill 21, with no hearing date set, in what would be the first extensive review of the clause in decades.
• A leaked Alberta memo says Premier Danielle Smith directed plans to invoke Section 33 this fall for three transgender-related laws, with cabinet consideration targeted for Oct. 21.