This is a quotation from a Supreme Court of Canada trial decision on the secession of Quebec. It outlines International Law as it pertains to the secession of a group of people and defines the criteria, in myinterpritation, as to what must be met to attain that sovereignty.
In my honest opinion, the Native Peoples fit the bill better then the Quebecois.
"Undoubtedly, one of the key considerations motivating the enactment of the Charter, and the process of constitutional judicial review that it entails, is the protection of minorities. However, it should not be forgotten that the protection of minority rights had a long history before the enactment of the Charter. Indeed, the protection of minority rights was clearly an essential consideration in the design of our constitutional structure even at the time of Confederation: Although Canada's record of upholding the rights of minorities is not a spotless one, that goal is one towards which Canadians have been striving since Confederation, and the process has not been without successes," Justice Lamer wrote.
The court decision then went on to the second question that dealt with international law rather than Canadian internal law.
"[A] right to secession only arises under the principle of self-determination of people at international law where "a people" is governed as part of a colonial empire; where "a people" is subject to alien subjugation, domination or exploitation; and possibly where "a people" is denied any meaningful exercise of its right to self-determination within the state of which it forms a part. Quebec does not meet the threshold of a colonial people or an oppressed people, nor can it be suggested that Quebecers have been denied meaningful access to government to pursue their political, economic, cultural and social development," the court wrote.
The answers to the first two questions made answering the third question unnecessary, the justices decided.
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