Why Canada has the most activist Supreme Court in the world — and how it’s changed the country

Analysis

Ontario was recently driven into a miniature constitutional crisis due to a Supreme Court decision declaring that striking is a Constitutional right. A series of recent Supreme Court decisions kneecapping bail and sentencing provisions has helped fuel a crisis of “catch and release” justice. And, of course, Canada is now experiencing regular incidents of contentious assisted suicide cases — a regime whose existence is due entirely to Supreme Court order.

It wasn’t too long ago that the Supreme Court of Canada was extremely leery of overruling Parliament or mandating seismic shifts to the status quo. But in just the last 10 years, Canada’s top court has been on an activist streak that has begun to profoundly affect Canadian daily life.