Reference re Secession of Quebec [1998] 2 SCR 217 (Supreme Court of Canada)

Summary

The Supreme Court of Canada's landmark advisory opinion on whether Quebec could unilaterally secede. The SCC held: (1) Quebec had no right to unilateral secession under Canadian constitutional law; (2) Quebec had no right to unilateral secession under international law; BUT (3) where a people's right to internal self-determination has been frustrated and the people denied meaningful access to government, a right to external self-determination (secession) may arise as a last resort. The SCC's articulation of the remedial secession threshold is the most authoritative common-law judicial statement on the doctrine.

Relevance to the diaspora

Tamil diaspora legal advocates closely study the SCC's three-part remedial secession framework: (i) a defined people; (ii) whose pursuit of internal self-determination has been denied or frustrated; (iii) such that external self-determination is the only meaningful exercise of the right. Sri Lanka's treatment of Tamils is argued by diaspora advocates to satisfy all three criteria.

Key provisions

• Para 112–125 — self-determination under international law
• Para 132–135 — remedial secession doctrine and threshold
• Para 136 — necessity of 'a people' being defined
• Para 154 — internal self-determination as primary right
• Para 155 — exceptional external self-determination 'at least where the territorial state fails to represent the whole of its population'

Primary source

Related entries

• → ICJ Advisory Opinion on Kosovo — Accordance with International Law of Declaration of Independence (2010) (UN)
• → UNGA Resolution 2625 (XXV) 1970 — Friendly Relations Declaration (UN)
• → ICCPR Article 1 — Right of Self-Determination (UN)
• → Remedial Secession Doctrine (Academic/Customary International Law) (UN)

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