Mandates, Legal Foundations, Powers and Conduct of Commissions of Inquiry

Abstract

This article explores commissions of inquiry, including their nature and role in shaping Canadian identity within the legal and political landscape of Canada's constitutional democracy. The author also discusses the broad mandate and constitutional limitations that commissions of inquiry face in the Charter era as they engage in the determination of public policy, the review of political judgment, and the determination of guilt or innocence, especially with respect to potential threats to individual rights in the inquiry process.

Keywords: Canadian constitutional law, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, administrative law, administrative state, commissions of inquiry, Donald Marshall Jr