# Charter clause behind Canada's wackiest court decisions

> Section 7 of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been used to create unusual legal rights, including the right to traffic in illicit drugs.
- Title: Charter clause behind Canada's wackiest court decisions
- Summary: Section 7 of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been used to create unusual legal rights, including the right to traffic in illicit drugs.
- Keywords: charter, section 7, canada, court decisions, illicit drugs, constitutional law, news, politics, clause, behind, Canada's, wackiest
- Source: Nationalpost — https://nationalpost.com/opinion/first-reading-the-seven-words-in-the-charter-yielding-all-of-canadas-wackiest-court-decisions
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: charter, section 7, canada, court decisions, illicit drugs, constitutional law, news, politics
## Section 7 of Charter
Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right to life, liberty and security of the person.

> Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees the right to "life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof."
## Section 7's origin
Section 7 was written 44 years ago to ensure fair trials and prevent unreasonable detention.

> Like the rest of the Charter, Section 7 is only 44 years old.
## Section 7's role
Section 7 has been used to strike down laws that might affect life, liberty or personal security.

> But particularly over the past 15 years, Section 7 has wound up doing the heaviest lifting of any other section of the Constitution.
## Section 7's impact
Section 7 challenges are a third of Supreme Court cases each year, creating unusual rights.

> In any given year, roughly one third of cases on the Supreme Court docket are challenging some aspect of civil society deemed to be a violation of "life, liberty and security of the person."
## Recent Section 7 decision
A recent B.C. court ruled Canadians have a Charter-protected right to traffic in illicit drugs.

> When a B.C. court declared this week that Canadians had a Charter-protected right to traffic in illicit drugs
## Key takeaway

Section 7 of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been used to create unusual legal rights, including the right to traffic in illicit drugs.