Hello dear readers. Today's blog post is going to be a comparison between two major charters that would impact the country of Canada as part of the Commonwealth and our relationship to the Crown. Episode 7 of the Rachel Z Project Podcast is about the Charter of the Forest in the context of the freedom to travel. This article is going to be more about a compare and contrast between these two documents so that we as a human family can arm ourselves with linguistic verbiage so that we can continue to protect ours and our loved ones freedoms.
Let's start with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, because that one I didn't touch upon in the podcast and it deserves a little background. It is important to note that when I was conducting research on the Charter there were a lot of articles about how protestors to the lockdowns "didn't understand" what the Charter really means. My argument here is that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a lesser document to the Great Charter and the Charter of the Forest that was passed over 800 years ago. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was passed in 1982; and was also known as the Constitution Act.
When Canada was created in 1867 under the British North America Act; which included provisions and unwritten rules that could not be changed by Canadians or the Canadian government. In 1931, with the Statute of Westminster , Britain was willing to grant full autonomy to the self-governing parts of its empire, including Canada. Once this happened; there were decades of infighting between the provinces and the federal Government about how to create a Canadian Constitution.
Now this part is important.
When Trudeau Senior (ok we all know who Justin's real dad is I think and it's not him but I digress) took office in 1980; he set upon "patriarch Ing" the constitution from Britain. When I looked up the definition of this word; it looks as though it is a term that was created for the very purpose of pushing this charter forward. 6 of the provinces were fiercely opposed to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and Quebec especially was upset at being left out of the conversations. Eventually 8 of the provinces including Manitoba, Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland were fiercely opposed to this so-called patriarch Ing from Britain because Trudeau was also trying to federalize the economy.
On 2 October, following consultations with his caucus and Cabinet, Trudeau announced, to little surprise, that Ottawa would make a unilateral request to the British Parliament. Trudeau would recall Parliament early and press the resolution through by Christmas before significant opposition could be mounted.
The above is significant because although most of the provinces (all provinces except for Ontario and New Brunswick) were strongly AGAINST the Charter. And due to a request to the British Parliament; Trudeau was able to steamroll the Charter forward without official approval from the provinces.
So how does this relate to the Charter of the Forest?
Well the Charter of the Forest is the companion document to the GREAT Charter: The Magda Carta. After the Magda Carta was passed; regular folks were still getting completely abused by the monarchy and the ruling class. As a result, two years later the Charter of the Forest was passed to protect FREE men to make their stead in the free forest. This is precisely where you get the stories of Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest. There are a number of fantastic statements in the Charter of the Forest about the freedoms of free men to leverage the resources of the forest without fear of punishment.
In fact, the Charter of the Forest makes me question the main government parks and the land that exists - especially here in resource rich Canada. Why is so much land "Crown" land if we are free from the British Empire? Why did Trudeau senior have to petition the British Government to pass something that supposedly freed us from British rule?
In a world where language itself is a powerful technology; it is key for us to take the responsibilities of the terms and NLP that we take on. I encourage you to take a look at the Charter of the Forest; which passed its 800ths anniversary in 2015. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is just 40 years old and has not been amended. Perhaps its time.
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