Another good article about it, if anyone is interested:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/04/16/the-charter-of-rights-and-freedoms-celebrating-canadas-righteous-milestone/
Three key characteristics of the Charter explain its attraction to jurisdictions as diverse as Hong Kong, South Africa, Israel and New Zealand: the modern nature of the Charter, Canadas credibility and the Charters accessibility.
On the Charters modern nature, I mean both the Charters age as well as its outlook. The Charter is a late 20th-century bill of rights in a time where the leading competing constitutional visions date back at least two centuries.
The American Bill of Rights is an 18th-century document that reflects its prevailing political philosophy a classical liberal Lockean ethos of individualism. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man dates to the same period. Both documents have been and continue to be highly influential and inspirational as part of a very small and elite group of intellectual progenitors of 20th- and 21st-century rights discourse rather than providing concrete blueprints that speak to the challenges of the constitutional state in the 21st century.
In contrast, the Charter reflects Canadas struggle with the challenges of a modern multicultural and multilingual society. Canada is not unique in facing such issues. The Charter recognizes the existence and the legitimacy of minorities and indigenous groups. While it is a product of our history, the Charter also reflects Canadas vision as a participant in a global world. It draws strength from a universalist conception of human rights rather than any particular Canadian notion of rights, although it emphasizes rights that have special relevance to the Canadian condition such as language rights.
It's too bad our current (Conservative) government doesn't respect the Charter. Or human rights in general, except the right for the rich to get richer, and the rights of gun owners to not have to register their weapons (and we don't have the right to bear arms in our constitution or charter). The Conservatives are an embarassment. I'm sorry, world! I'm going to be trying extra-hard to vote them out in 3 years!
The text of the charter is here, if anyone is curious:
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/charter/page-1.html#l_I