Ottawa urges Supreme Court to set limits on how provinces can override Charter

MONTREAL — The federal government is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to set limits around how provincial governments can override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Ottawa brought forward the request in a factum filed at the court on Wednesday, as part of the landmark case on Quebec’s secularism law, known as Bill 21.

Quebec has invoked the notwithstanding clause of the Charter in its legislation.

The clause can be used by provinces to shield legislation from constitutional challenges, but in it’s filing, the federal government urged the court to set limits on how the notwithstanding clause could be invoked.

It argued repeated use of the clause amounts to “indirectly amending the Constitution,” and that the court should be able to rule on whether it can result in the “irreparable i