Rights and responsibilities

Citizenship becomes real at the ceremony. You say the Oath of Citizenship out loud, with everyone else in the room, and the words are the same for every person who says them: “I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles the Third, King of Canada, His Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada, including the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.”

Notice who is on the receiving end of those words. Canadians pledge their loyalty to a person, the Sovereign, who represents every Canadian. The guide puts it this way: Canada is personified by the Sovereign just as the Sovereign is personified by Canada. Through that shared symbol, citizens make the promise to one another.

Two details in the current wording matter on the test. You may swear the oath or affirm it, and the affirmation is the version for people who do not want a religious oath. And the promise to observe the laws of Canada names the Constitution, which recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

The laws you promise to observe come from four sources. Start with the obvious one: Parliament and the provincial legislatures pass laws. The second is English common law, built up over centuries by the decisions of judges. Third comes the civil code of France, which is why Quebec settles private disputes differently from the rest of the country. The fourth is the unwritten constitution Canada inherited from Great Britain, the habits and conventions nobody ever wrote down.

The oldest piece of the inheritance is a document English barons forced on their king in 1215. It is the Magna Carta, also called the Great Charter of Freedoms, and Canadians hold rights that grew out of it. One of them has a Latin name you should know: habeas corpus, the right to challenge unlawful detention by the state. It comes from English common law, and it means the government cannot simply lock a person up and stay silent about it.

For most of Canadian history those rights lived in custom and in court decisions, scattered across centuries. Then they were gathered into one text. In 1982 the Constitution was amended to entrench the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Charter opens with a line worth memorizing: whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.

At the top of the Charter sit four fundamental freedoms, and the test expects the list: freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of speech and of the press; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of association. Learn them in that order and the wording will stay with you.

After the four freedoms, the Charter names rights that answer practical questions. Mobility rights let you live and work anywhere in Canada, enter and leave the country freely, and apply for a passport. Aboriginal peoples' rights are protected by a clause saying that nothing in the Charter will adversely affect the treaty or other rights of Aboriginal peoples.

Two more entries shape daily life. Official language rights and minority language educational rights give French and English equal status in Parliament and throughout the government of Canada. Multiculturalism appears as well, described as a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage and identity.

The guide is blunt about one point. In Canada, men and women are equal under the law, and Canada's openness does not extend to practices that violate that equality. It names them as crimes: spousal abuse, so-called honour killings, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and other gender-based violence.

Rights arrive with a bill attached. The guide lists six responsibilities of citizenship. Obeying the law comes first, because the rule of law is a founding principle of this country: no person and no government is above the law. Taking responsibility for oneself and one's family comes second, which the guide describes as getting a job, taking care of your family and working hard. Serving on a jury is third, and it carries a legal edge the other five do not.

The remaining three are voting in elections, helping others in the community, and protecting and enjoying our heritage and environment. Voting is the responsibility that comes attached to a right: because you may vote, you are expected to vote in federal, provincial or territorial and local elections. Helping others means volunteering, and millions of Canadians donate their time without pay. Protecting our heritage and environment means avoiding waste and pollution and looking after the natural, cultural and architectural heritage the country passes on.

Keep one distinction straight, because the test likes it. Jury duty is a privilege that makes the justice system work, and when you are called you are legally required to serve. Military service is voluntary, as the next section explains.

There is no compulsory military service in Canada. Nothing in the oath commits you to carry a weapon. The guide still treats serving in the armed forces as an honourable way to contribute to the country, and it lists the ways in.

There are three ways to serve in uniform. The regular Canadian Forces take you into the navy, the army or the air force. The reserves are part-time, close to home and alongside a civilian job. Young people can join the Cadets. Beyond the forces, the guide points to the Coast Guard and to emergency services such as a police force or a fire department, where volunteering also contributes to the community.