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Legality of Age Restrictions on Voting: A Canadian Perspective

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Exploring Children's Suffrage

Part of the book series: Studies in Childhood and Youth ((SCY))

Abstract

This chapter explores the legality of voting age restrictions, focusing on Canada, which guarantees the right to vote to all citizens under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and drawing on international examples of lowered voting ages. It examines the history of the Canadian franchise and the constitutional law principles of democracy and equality that have been enunciated by the Supreme Court of Canada, along with the international human rights obligations found in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. International law and legal practices, principles of equality and democracy, and the current social sciences all inform whether the current age restriction in Canada is legally justified, and if it can continue to be justified elsewhere.

Why do I want to lower the voting age? Because I value being Canadian. To me, that means upholding the values of freedom in all its forms. Working to lower the voting age and give more people a voice is how I am trying to do just that. I started fighting to lower the voting age more than two years ago because I wanted to become more politically engaged and learn how to use my voice. Today I want to lower the voting age because the voice of youth is still unfairly and unconstitutionally restricted.

—Diego Christiansen-Barker (Christiansen-Barker is one of the applicants in the constitutional challenge to the Canada Elections Act filed in 2021 (Christianson-Barker, 2022). Quote used with permission of Diego Christiansen-Barker)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Cheryl Milne

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  1. Cheryl Milne
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Correspondence to Cheryl Milne .

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  1. Childism Institute Department of Philosophy and Religion, Rutgers University Camden, Camden, NJ, USA

    John Wall

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Milne, C. (2022). Legality of Age Restrictions on Voting: A Canadian Perspective. In: Wall, J. (eds) Exploring Children's Suffrage. Studies in Childhood and Youth. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14541-4_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-14541-4_9

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

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