View cases - Stewart McKelvey

given a generous and purposive interpretation. While the practice of courts pre-Charter mayassist in interpreting Charter guarantees, it does not freeze them forever in a pre-Charter vice.(xi) The Argument on International Law[91] Rothstein J. takes issue with the majority’s conclusion in Health Services thatinternational law supports a finding that s. 2(d) includes a right to collective bargaining.2011 SCC 20 (CanLII)[92] The majority in Health Services discussed both “Canada’s current international lawcommitments and the current state of international thought on human rights” (para. 78(underlining added)). Charter rights must be interpreted in light of Canadian values andCanada’s international and human rights commitments. In Dunmore, Bastarache J. emphasizedthe relevance of these in interpreting s. 2(d) in the context.[93] The fundamental question from the perspective of s. 2(d) is whether Canada’sinternational obligations support the view that collective bargaining is constitutionally protectedin the minimal sense discussed in Health Services. The majority in Health Services relied onthree documents that Canada has endorsed: the International Covenant on Economic, Social andCultural Rights, 993 U.N.T.S. 3, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999U.N.T.S. 171, and the International Labour Organization’s (“ILO’s”) Convention (No. 87)concerning freedom of association and protection of the right to organise, 68 U.N.T.S. 17(“Convention No. 87”).