Description
(Text)
This essay examines the meaning of freedom of conscience and religion in s. 2 (a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Set within a polyvocal cultural heuristic, the essay uses the voices of dramatists, historians, judges, legal theorists and ordinary people to illustrate and document the development and evolution of the meaning of conscience. In particular, the essay focuses on whether 'freedom of conscience and religion' is one integrated right or whether the notions of 'conscience' and 'religion' are separable, such that it is possible to argue a non-religious, secular claim to conscience on constitutional grounds.
(Author portrait)
Michael Manley-Casimir is Professor of Education at BrockUniversity. Having a long-standing interest in law and policy, hecompleted an LL.M. through the Faculty of Law at the Universityof British Columbia in May 2004, investigating the meaning of'freedom of conscience' in the Canadian Charter of Rights andFreedoms - the subject of this book.
