Canadian Citizenship Test: Rights and freedoms practice questions

Learn the four fundamental freedoms (conscience and religion; thought, belief, opinion and expression; peaceful assembly; association), then mobility, equality of women and men, and habeas corpus. When two options both sound like rights, pick the one the Charter actually names.

Question 1

Which of these is a fundamental freedom in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

  1. Freedom of peaceful assembly
  2. Freedom from every tax
  3. Freedom to disobey a court order
  4. Freedom to sit in the Senate without being appointed

Answer: Freedom of peaceful assembly

Section 2 names freedom of peaceful assembly, with freedoms of conscience and religion, of thought, belief, opinion and expression, and of association. Taxes, court orders and Senate appointments are legal duties or other rules, not freedoms in that list.

Question 2

The mobility rights in the Charter include the right to

  1. take a seat in the Senate by walking into the chamber
  2. live and work in any province
  3. write the school curriculum of another province
  4. command the armed forces for a year

Answer: live and work in any province

Mobility rights let a citizen move, live and work anywhere in the country, and enter and leave Canada. They do not confer a Senate seat, control of provincial education, or command of the forces. The tempting extra is to treat mobility as a right to exercise another government's powers.

Question 3

Habeas corpus is the right to

  1. vote by mail in every municipal election
  2. refuse jury duty with no reason given
  3. challenge an unlawful detention by the state
  4. have a private bill passed on demand

Answer: challenge an unlawful detention by the state

Habeas corpus, from English common law, is the right to challenge an unlawful detention. Mail-in voting, skipping jury duty and demanding that a private bill pass are different ideas. The near miss is jury duty, which is a responsibility, not this right.