The Charter of Rights and Freedom is a bill of rights entrenched in the constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the constitution act in 1982. The Charter guarantees certain political rights to Canadian citizens and civil of everyone in Canada from the policies and actions of all areas and levels of government. It is designed to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights. Several instances were witnessed in the film '12 Years a Slave' (2012), where the characters that were involved could have benefitted from this important document. 12 Years a Slave is a 2013 period drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 slave narrative memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery. If Solomon and the rest of the slaves were protected by such powerful document, their experience of life would have been better. Three sections of the charter that would be used to provide solutions for these acts are: Legal Rights, Equality Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
In the movie (12 Years a Slave), Solomon was offered a two week job as a musician but was then drugged and delivered to a slave pen that was owned by James Burch. Solomon is shipped to New Orleans along with others who have been captured. A slave trader named Freeman gives Solomon the identity of "Platt", a runaway slave from Georgia, and sells him to plantation owner William Ford. If Solomon and the other slaves were protected by section 7 of the Charter (Legal rights), which states that "everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived of therefore except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice". They would have been able to seek legal action against the slave masters through the Charter. .