Q. How will a Canadian Health Charter protect us?

A. The Charter of Health Freedom in effect creates a bill of rights for health that would take precedence over other legislation, unless the other legislation specifically exempted itself from the Charter of Health Freedom.

With the exception of actual constitutional documents that bind Parliament, there is a constitutional principle that Parliament cannot bind its own hands. So for example, they cannot pass a law that says the law cannot be changed or repealed.

The Charter of Health Freedom is written like our Canadian Bill of Rights in this way. It would take precedence over all other laws unless the other laws exempt themselves from the application of the Charter. Our hope is that, if passed, the optics of circumventing the Charter would act as a brake on any law that would undermine the rights in it. Short of a constitutional document, however, that is the most protection we can get in any law.

Q. Will a Canadian Health Charter protect us from international harmonization?

A. Not necessarily. Let's say Parliament passes a law that simply said that the government of Canada cannot adopt any trade law that restricts access to natural health products. This law would not stop the adoption of trade agreements like CETA (Canada-European Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) or Codex Alimentarius (guidelines to harmonize international food trade). All Parliament would have to do is pass a law adopting the trade agreements.

If CETA and Codex are adopted, it may be game over. It could well be that our natural health product regulations are simply designed to shrink the industry so that there is less opposition to the trade agreements when they come.

Q. Does a Canadian Health Charter guarantee our safe access to natural health products?

A. The Charter of Health Freedom is our best legal protection against all perils, including trade agreements like CETA and Codex. But even with the Charter we will never be "safe." Like any law short of a constitutional amendment, it cannot stop a determined
Parliament from imposing trade deals on us.

Our only safety lies in waking people up and getting them to make sacrifices to regain their freedom. The Charter is proving to be a lightning rod for this. If we can get enough of a popular movement going to force the government to pass the Charter, then we will also have enough of a movement going to keep the government from exempting trade deals from the application of the Charter.
        --SB

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