The Supreme Court of Canada has now pronounced on the applicability of the Charter or specific aspects of it in specific prison law cases. In Gould v AG Canada and Solicitor General of Canada, the court declined to decide a question involving a section of the Canadian Elections Act in relation to s3 of the Charter where the proceedings involved an appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal reversing a decision of the Trial Division, which had granted an interlocutory mandatory injunction granting a prisoner the right to vote in a federal election. The Supreme Court agreed with the Federal Court of Appeal that a serious issue had been raised which required a trial and that the trial court's decision amounted to a determination that the prisoner was entitled to act and be treated as though he had already won without having his action tried. The interim declaration of right was held not to be a declaration that could properly be made before trial.

    Most of the decisions involving the Charter and prison law Issues have emanated from the provincial superior courts or the Federal Court Trial Division and a few of these have proceeded on appeal to provincial appellate courts, and more often, to the Federal Court of Appeal. Many of these cases were decided prior to the decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada that, have since provided more definitive guidance for the interpretation and application of the Charter and consequently, many of them will have to be considered and reconsidered in that light. What follows is a summary of some of those decisions of the courts in relation to prison law matters and the Charter.

Section 1 - Guaranteed rights subject to reasonable limits prescribed by law and demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society