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Spectral theorem

In mathematics, particularly linear algebra and functional analysis, a spectral theorem is a result about when a linear operator or matrix can be diagonalized (that is, represented as a diagonal matrix in some basis). This is extremely useful because computations involving a diagonalizable matrix can often be reduced to much simpler computations involving the corresponding diagonal matrix. The concept of diagonalization is relatively straightforward for operators on finite-dimensional vector spaces but requires some modification for operators on infinite-dimensional spaces. In general, the spectral theorem identifies a class of linear operators that can be modeled by multiplication operators, which are as simple as one can hope to find. In more abstract language, the spectral theorem is a statement about commutative C*-algebras. See also spectral theory for a historical perspective.

Examples of operators to which the spectral theorem applies are self-adjoint operators or more generally normal operators on Hilbert spaces.

The spectral theorem also provides a canonical decomposition, called the spectral decomposition, of the underlying vector space on which the operator acts.

Augustin-Louis Cauchy proved the spectral theorem for symmetric matrices, i.e., that every real, symmetric matrix is diagonalizable. In addition, Cauchy was the first to be systematic about determinants. The spectral theorem as generalized by John von Neumann is today perhaps the most important result of operator theory.

This article mainly focuses on the simplest kind of spectral theorem, that for a self-adjoint operator on a Hilbert space. However, as noted above, the spectral theorem also holds for normal operators on a Hilbert space.

Hermitian maps and Hermitian matrices
We begin by considering a Hermitian matrix on $$\mathbb{C}^n$$ (but the following discussion will be adaptable to the more restrictive case of symmetric matrices on $\mathbb{R}^n$). We consider a Hermitian map $A$ on a finite-dimensional complex inner product space $V$ endowed with a positive definite sesquilinear inner product $$\ \langle \cdot, \cdot \rangle ~.$$ The Hermitian condition on $$\ A\ $$ means that for all $x, y ∈ V$, $$\ \langle\ A x, y\ \rangle = \langle\ x, A y\ \rangle ~.$$

An equivalent condition is that $A* = A$, where $A*$ is the Hermitian conjugate of $A$. In the case that $A$ is identified with a Hermitian matrix, the matrix of $A*$ is equal to its conjugate transpose. (If $A$ is a real matrix, then this is equivalent to $AT = A$, that is, $A$ is a symmetric matrix.)

This condition implies that all eigenvalues of a Hermitian map are real: To see this, it is enough to apply it to the case when $x = y$ is an eigenvector. (Recall that an eigenvector of a linear map $A$ is a non-zero vector $v$ such that $A v = λv$ for some scalar $λ$. The value $λ$ is the corresponding eigenvalue. Moreover, the eigenvalues are roots of the characteristic polynomial.)

$$

We provide a sketch of a proof for the case where the underlying field of scalars is the complex numbers.

By the fundamental theorem of algebra, applied to the characteristic polynomial of $A$, there is at least one complex eigenvalue $V$ and corresponding eigenvector $V$, which must by definition be non-zero. Then since $$\ \lambda_1\ \langle\ v_1, v_1\ \rangle = \langle\ A (v_1), v_1\ \rangle = \langle\ v_1, A(v_1)\ \rangle = \bar\lambda_1\ \langle\ v_1, v_1\ \rangle\ ,$$ we find that $A$ is real. Now consider the space $$\ \mathcal{K}^{n-1} = \text{span}\left(\ v_1\ \right)^\perp\ ,$$ the orthogonal complement of $A$. By Hermiticity, $$\ \mathcal{K}^{n-1}\ $$ is an invariant subspace of $A$. To see that, consider any $$\ k \in \mathcal{K}^{n-1}$$ so that $$\ \langle\ k, v_1\ \rangle = 0\ $$ by definition of $$\mathcal{K}^{n-1} ~.$$ To satisfy invariance, we need to check if $$\ A(k) \in \mathcal{K}^{n-1} ~.$$ This is true because $$\ \langle\ A(k), v_1\ \rangle = \langle\ k, A(v_1)\ \rangle = \langle\ k, \lambda_1\ v_1\ \rangle = 0 ~.$$ Applying the same argument to $$\ \mathcal{K}^{n-1}\ $$ shows that $λ1$ has at least one real eigenvalue $$\lambda_2$$ and corresponding eigenvector $$\ v_2 \in \mathcal{K}^{n-1} \perp v_1 ~.$$ This can be used to build another invariant subspace $$\ \mathcal{K}^{n-2} = \text{span}\left(\ \{v_1, v_2\}\ \right)^\perp ~.$$ Finite induction then finishes the proof.

The matrix representation of $v1$ in a basis of eigenvectors is diagonal, and by the construction the proof gives a basis of mutually orthogonal eigenvectors; by choosing them to be unit vectors one obtains an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors. $λ1$ can be written as a linear combination of pairwise orthogonal projections, called its spectral decomposition. Let $$\ V_{\lambda} = \{\ v \in V\ :\ A\ v = \lambda\ v\ \}\ $$ be the eigenspace corresponding to an eigenvalue $$\ \lambda ~.$$ Note that the definition does not depend on any choice of specific eigenvectors. In general, $v_{1}$ is the orthogonal direct sum of the spaces $$\ V_{\lambda}\ $$ where the $$\ \lambda\ $$ ranges over the spectrum of $$\ A ~.$$

When the matrix being decomposed is Hermitian, the spectral decomposition is a special case of the Schur decomposition (see the proof in case of normal matrices below).

Spectral decomposition and the singular value decomposition
The spectral decomposition is a special case of the singular value decomposition, which states that any matrix $$\ A \in \mathbb{C}^{m \times n}\ $$ can be expressed as $$\ A = U\ \Sigma\ V^{*}\ ,$$ where $$\ U \in \mathbb{C}^{m \times m}\ $$ and $$\ V \in \mathbb{C}^{n \times n}\ $$ are unitary matrices and $$\ \Sigma \in \mathbb{R}^{m \times n}\ $$ is a diagonal matrix. The diagonal entries of $$\ \Sigma\ $$ are uniquely determined by $$\ A\ $$ and are known as the singular values of $$\ A ~.$$ If $$\ A\ $$ is Hermitian, then $$\ A^* = A\ $$ and $$\ V\ \Sigma\ U^* = U\ \Sigma\ V^*\ $$ which implies $$\ U = V ~.$$

Normal matrices
The spectral theorem extends to a more general class of matrices. Let $A$ be an operator on a finite-dimensional inner product space. $A$ is said to be normal if $A$.

One can show that $A$ is normal if and only if it is unitarily diagonalizable using the Schur decomposition. That is, any matrix can be written as $V$, where $A$ is unitary and $A$ is upper triangular. If $A* A = A A*$ is normal, then one sees that $A$. Therefore, $A = U T U*$ must be diagonal since a normal upper triangular matrix is diagonal (see normal matrix). The converse is obvious.

In other words, $U$ is normal if and only if there exists a unitary matrix $T$ such that $$\ A = U\ D\ U^*\ ,$$ where $A$ is a diagonal matrix. Then, the entries of the diagonal of $T T^{*} = T* T$ are the eigenvalues of $T$. The column vectors of $A$ are the eigenvectors of $U$ and they are orthonormal. Unlike the Hermitian case, the entries of $D$ need not be real.

Compact self-adjoint operators
In the more general setting of Hilbert spaces, which may have an infinite dimension, the statement of the spectral theorem for compact self-adjoint operators is virtually the same as in the finite-dimensional case.

$$

As for Hermitian matrices, the key point is to prove the existence of at least one nonzero eigenvector. One cannot rely on determinants to show existence of eigenvalues, but one can use a maximization argument analogous to the variational characterization of eigenvalues.

If the compactness assumption is removed, then it is not true that every self-adjoint operator has eigenvectors. For example, the multiplication operator $$M_{x}$$ on $$L^2([0,1])$$ which takes each $$\psi(x) \in L^2([0,1])$$ to $$x\psi(x)$$ is bounded and self-adjoint, but has no eigenvectors. However, its spectrum, suitably defined, is still equal to $$[0,1]$$, see spectrum of bounded operator.

Possible absence of eigenvectors
The next generalization we consider is that of bounded self-adjoint operators on a Hilbert space. Such operators may have no eigenvectors: for instance let $D$ be the operator of multiplication by $A$ on $$L^2([0,1])$$, that is, $$ [A \varphi](t) = t \varphi(t). $$

This operator does not have any eigenvectors in $$L^2([0,1])$$, though it does have eigenvectors in a larger space. Namely the distribution $$\varphi(t)=\delta(t-t_0)$$, where $$\delta$$ is the Dirac delta function, is an eigenvector when construed in an appropriate sense. The Dirac delta function is however not a function in the classical sense and does not lie in the Hilbert space $U$ or any other Banach space. Thus, the delta-functions are "generalized eigenvectors" of $$A$$ but not eigenvectors in the usual sense.

Spectral subspaces and projection-valued measures
In the absence of (true) eigenvectors, one can look for a "spectral subspace" consisting of an almost eigenvector, i.e, a closed subspace $$V_E$$ of $$H$$ associated with a Borel set $$E \subset \sigma(A)$$ in the spectrum of $$A$$. This subspace can be thought of as the closed span of generalized eigenvectors for $$A$$ with eigenvalues in $$E$$. In the above example, where $$ [A \varphi](t) = t \varphi(t), \;$$ we might consider the subspace of functions supported on a small interval $$[a,a+\varepsilon]$$ inside $$[0,1]$$. This space is invariant under $$A$$ and for any $$\varphi$$ in this subspace, $$A\varphi$$ is very close to $$a\varphi$$. Each subspace, in turn, is encoded by the associated projection operator, and the collection of all the subspaces is then represented by a projection-valued measure.

One formulation of the spectral theorem expresses the operator $A$ as an integral of the coordinate function over the operator's spectrum $$\sigma(A)$$ with respect to a projection-valued measure. $$ A = \int_{\sigma(A)} \lambda \, d \pi (\lambda).$$

When the self-adjoint operator in question is compact, this version of the spectral theorem reduces to something similar to the finite-dimensional spectral theorem above, except that the operator is expressed as a finite or countably infinite linear combination of projections, that is, the measure consists only of atoms.

Multiplication operator version
An alternative formulation of the spectral theorem says that every bounded self-adjoint operator is unitarily equivalent to a multiplication operator. The significance of this result is that multiplication operators are in many ways easy to understand.

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The spectral theorem is the beginning of the vast research area of functional analysis called operator theory; see also the spectral measure.

There is also an analogous spectral theorem for bounded normal operators on Hilbert spaces. The only difference in the conclusion is that now $D$ may be complex-valued.

Direct integrals
There is also a formulation of the spectral theorem in terms of direct integrals. It is similar to the multiplication-operator formulation, but more canonical.

Let $$A$$ be a bounded self-adjoint operator and let $$\sigma (A)$$ be the spectrum of $$A$$. The direct-integral formulation of the spectral theorem associates two quantities to $$A$$. First, a measure $$\mu$$ on $$\sigma (A)$$, and second, a family of Hilbert spaces $$\{H_{\lambda}\},\,\,\lambda\in\sigma (A).$$ We then form the direct integral Hilbert space $$ \int_\mathbf{R}^\oplus H_{\lambda}\, d \mu(\lambda). $$ The elements of this space are functions (or "sections") $$s(\lambda),\,\,\lambda\in\sigma(A),$$ such that $$s(\lambda)\in H_{\lambda}$$ for all $$\lambda$$. The direct-integral version of the spectral theorem may be expressed as follows: $$

The spaces $$H_{\lambda}$$ can be thought of as something like "eigenspaces" for $$A$$. Note, however, that unless the one-element set $$\lambda$$ has positive measure, the space $$H_{\lambda}$$ is not actually a subspace of the direct integral. Thus, the $$H_{\lambda}$$'s should be thought of as "generalized eigenspace"—that is, the elements of $$H_{\lambda}$$ are "eigenvectors" that do not actually belong to the Hilbert space.

Although both the multiplication-operator and direct integral formulations of the spectral theorem express a self-adjoint operator as unitarily equivalent to a multiplication operator, the direct integral approach is more canonical. First, the set over which the direct integral takes place (the spectrum of the operator) is canonical. Second, the function we are multiplying by is canonical in the direct-integral approach: Simply the function $$\lambda\mapsto\lambda$$.

Cyclic vectors and simple spectrum
A vector $$\varphi$$ is called a cyclic vector for $$A$$ if the vectors $$\varphi,A\varphi,A^2\varphi,\ldots$$ span a dense subspace of the Hilbert space. Suppose $$A$$ is a bounded self-adjoint operator for which a cyclic vector exists. In that case, there is no distinction between the direct-integral and multiplication-operator formulations of the spectral theorem. Indeed, in that case, there is a measure $$\mu$$ on the spectrum $$\sigma(A)$$ of $$A$$ such that $$A$$ is unitarily equivalent to the "multiplication by $$\lambda$$" operator on $$L^2(\sigma(A),\mu)$$. This result represents $$A$$ simultaneously as a multiplication operator and as a direct integral, since $$L^2(\sigma(A),\mu)$$ is just a direct integral in which each Hilbert space $$H_{\lambda}$$ is just $$\mathbb{C}$$.

Not every bounded self-adjoint operator admits a cyclic vector; indeed, by the uniqueness in the direct integral decomposition, this can occur only when all the $$H_{\lambda}$$'s have dimension one. When this happens, we say that $$A$$ has "simple spectrum" in the sense of spectral multiplicity theory. That is, a bounded self-adjoint operator that admits a cyclic vector should be thought of as the infinite-dimensional generalization of a self-adjoint matrix with distinct eigenvalues (i.e., each eigenvalue has multiplicity one).

Although not every $$A$$ admits a cyclic vector, it is easy to see that we can decompose the Hilbert space as a direct sum of invariant subspaces on which $$A$$ has a cyclic vector. This observation is the key to the proofs of the multiplication-operator and direct-integral forms of the spectral theorem.

Functional calculus
One important application of the spectral theorem (in whatever form) is the idea of defining a functional calculus. That is, given a function $$f$$ defined on the spectrum of $$A$$, we wish to define an operator $$f(A)$$. If $$f$$ is simply a positive power, $$f(x) = x^n$$, then $$f(A)$$ is just the $$n$$-th power of $$A$$, $$A^n$$. The interesting cases are where $$f$$ is a nonpolynomial function such as a square root or an exponential. Either of the versions of the spectral theorem provides such a functional calculus. In the direct-integral version, for example, $$f(A)$$ acts as the "multiplication by $$f$$" operator in the direct integral: $$[f(A)s](\lambda) = f(\lambda) s(\lambda).$$ That is to say, each space $$H_{\lambda}$$ in the direct integral is a (generalized) eigenspace for $$f(A)$$ with eigenvalue $$f(\lambda)$$.

Unbounded self-adjoint operators
Many important linear operators which occur in analysis, such as differential operators, are unbounded. There is also a spectral theorem for self-adjoint operators that applies in these cases. To give an example, every constant-coefficient differential operator is unitarily equivalent to a multiplication operator. Indeed, the unitary operator that implements this equivalence is the Fourier transform; the multiplication operator is a type of Fourier multiplier.

In general, spectral theorem for self-adjoint operators may take several equivalent forms. Notably, all of the formulations given in the previous section for bounded self-adjoint operators—the projection-valued measure version, the multiplication-operator version, and the direct-integral version—continue to hold for unbounded self-adjoint operators, with small technical modifications to deal with domain issues. Specifically, the only reason the multiplication operator $$A$$ on $$L^2([0,1])$$ is bounded, is due to the choice of domain $$[0,1]$$. The same operator on, e.g., $$L^2(\mathbb{R})$$ would be unbounded.

The notion of "generalized eigenvectors" naturally extends to unbounded self-adjoint operators, as they are characterized as non-normalizable eigenvectors. Contrary to the case of almost eigenvectors, however, the eigenvalues can be real or complex and, even if they are real, do not necessarily belong to the spectrum. Though, for self-adjoint operators there always exist a real subset of "generalized eigenvalues" such that the corresponding set of eigenvectors is complete.

title: Spectral theorem


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Tremelo

Tremelo is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Baal and Tremelo proper. On January 1, 2006, Tremelo had a total population of 13,725. The total area is 21.57 km² (5330 acres) which gives a population density of 636 inhabitants per km² (1647 per sq. mi.).

Located in the arrondissement or administrative district of Leuven, the official language is Dutch. Tremelo is most famous for having been the hometown of Father Damien, SS.CC. whom Pope Benedict XVI canonized on October 11, 2009, as Saint Damien of Molokai. Father Damien is locally known as Pater Damiaan, and was a legendary martyr of charity who had tended to the lepers in the Hawaiian Islands.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Tremelo


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Senate of Canada

The Senate of Canada (Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they compose the bicameral legislature of Canada.

The Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords with members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. The appointment is made primarily by four divisions, each having twenty-four senators: the Maritime division, the Quebec division, the Ontario division, and the Western division. Newfoundland and Labrador is not part of any division, and has six senators. Each of the three territories has one senator, bringing the total to 105 senators. Senate appointments were originally for life; since 1965, they have been subject to a mandatory retirement age of 75.

Although the Senate is the upper house of parliament and the House of Commons is the lower house, this does not imply the former is more powerful than the latter. It merely entails that its members and officers outrank the members and officers of the Commons in the order of precedence for the purposes of protocol. In fact, the opposite is true; as a matter of practice and custom, the House of Commons is the dominant chamber. The prime minister and Cabinet are responsible solely to the House of Commons and remain in office only so long as they retain the confidence of that chamber. Parliament is composed of the two houses together with the "Crown-in-Parliament" (i.e. the monarch, represented by the governor general as viceroy).

The approval of both houses is necessary for legislation to become law, and thus the Senate can reject bills passed by the House of Commons. Between 1867 and 1987, the Senate rejected fewer than two bills per year, but this has increased in more recent years. Although legislation can normally be introduced in either chamber, the majority of government bills originate in the House of Commons, with the Senate acting as the chamber of "sober second thought" (as it was called by John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister).

History
The Senate came into existence in 1867, when the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British North America Act 1867 (now entitled the Constitution Act, 1867), uniting the Province of Canada (as two separate provinces, Quebec and Ontario), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into a single federal Dominion. The Canadian parliament was based on the Westminster system (that is, the model of the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, described the Senate as a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons and provide regional representation. He believed that if the House of Commons properly represented the population, the upper chamber should represent the regions. It was not meant to be more than a revising body or a brake on the House of Commons. Therefore, it was deliberately made an appointed house, since an elected Senate might prove too popular and too powerful and be able to block the will of the House of Commons.

In 2008 the Canadian Heraldic Authority granted the Senate, as an institution, a coat of arms composed of a depiction of the chamber's mace (representing the monarch's authority in the upper chamber) behind the escutcheon of the Arms of Canada.

Senate reform
Discussion of Senate reform dates back to at least 1874, but to date there has been little meaningful change.

In 1927, The Famous Five Canadian women asked the Supreme Court to determine whether women were eligible to become senators. In the Persons Case, the court unanimously held that women could not become senators since they were not "qualified persons". On appeal, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled that women were persons, and four months later, Cairine Wilson was appointed to the senate.

In the 1960s, discussion of reform appeared along with the Quiet Revolution and the rise of Western alienation. The first change to the Senate was in 1965, when a mandatory retirement age of 75 years was set. Appointments made before then were for life.

In the 1970s, the emphasis was on increased provincial involvement in the senators' appointments. Since the '70s, there have been at least 28 major proposals for constitutional Senate reform, and all have failed, including the 1987 Meech Lake Accord, and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord.

Starting in the 1980s, proposals were put forward to elect senators. After Parliament enacted the National Energy Program Western Canadians called for a Triple-E (elected, equal, and effective) senate. In 1982 the Senate was given a qualified veto over certain constitutional amendments. In 1987 Alberta legislated for the Alberta Senate nominee elections. Results of the 1989 Alberta Senate nominee election were non-binding.

Following the Canadian Senate expenses scandal Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared a moratorium on further appointments. Harper had advocated for an elected Senate for decades, but his proposals were blocked by a 2014 Supreme Court ruling that requires a constitutional amendment approved by a minimum of seven provinces, whose populations together accounted for at least half of the national population.

In 2014, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau expelled all senators from the Liberal caucus and, as prime minister in 2016, created the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointment, both of which were attempts to make the Senate less partisan without requiring constitutional change. Members of the board include members from each jurisdiction where there is a vacancy. The board provides a short list of recommended candidates to the Prime Minister, who is not bound to accept them. Some provinces refused to participate, stating that it would make the situation worse by lending the Senate some legitimacy. Since this new appointments process was launched in 2016, 66 new senators, all selected under this procedure, were appointed to fill vacancies. All Canadians may now apply directly for a Senate appointment at any time, or nominate someone they believe meets the merit criteria.

Chamber and offices
The original Senate chamber was lost to the fire that consumed the Parliament Buildings in 1916. The Senate then sat in the mineral room of what is today the Canadian Museum of Nature until 1922, when it relocated to Parliament Hill. With the Centre Block undergoing renovations, temporary chambers have been constructed in the Senate of Canada Building, where the Senate began meeting in 2019.

There are chairs and desks on both sides of the chamber, divided by a centre aisle. A public gallery is above the chamber. The dais of the speaker is at one end of the chamber, and includes the new royal thrones, made in part from English walnut from Windsor Great Park. Outside of Parliament Hill, most senators have offices in the Victoria Building across Wellington Street.

Qualifications

Senators are appointed by the governor general via the recommendation of the prime minister. Traditionally, members of the prime minister's party were chosen. The constitution requires that a person be a subject of the King, between 30 and 75 years of age and a resident of the province or territory for which they are appointed, to become a senator. Senators must also own property worth at least $4,000 above their debts and liabilities, a rule introduced to ensure senators were not beholden to economic vagaries and turmoil. There is a mandatory retirement age of 75. A sitting senator is disqualified from holding office if they:

 * fail to attend two consecutive sessions of the Senate;
 * become a subject or citizen of a foreign power;
 * file for bankruptcy;
 * are convicted of treason or an indictable offence; or
 * cease to be qualified in respect of property or of residence (except where required to stay in Ottawa because they hold a government office).

Representation
Each province and territory is entitled to its number of Senate seats specified in section 22. That section divides most of the provinces of Canada geographically among four regions, with one province and all three territories remaining outside any division. The divisions have equal representation of 24 senators each: Western Canada, Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes. The Western division comprises British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, each having 6 seats. The Maritimes division comprises New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, who each have 10 seats, and Prince Edward Island, which has 4 seats. Newfoundland and Labrador is represented by six senators. The Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut have one senator each.

Quebec senators are the only ones to be assigned to specific districts within their province. This rule was adopted to ensure that both French- and English-speakers from Quebec were represented appropriately in the Senate.

Like most other upper houses worldwide, the Canadian formula does not use representation by population as a primary criterion for member selection, since this is already done for the House of Commons. Rather, the intent when the formula was struck was to achieve a balance of regional interests and to provide a house of "sober second thought" to check the power of the lower house when necessary. Therefore, the most populous province (Ontario) and two western provinces that were low-population at their accession to the federation and that are within a region are under-represented, while the Maritimes are over-represented. For example, British Columbia, with a population of about five million, sends six senators to Ottawa, whereas Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, both with populations under one million, are entitled to 10 senators each. Only Quebec has a share of senators approximate to its share of the total population.

Senators must possess land worth at least $4,000 and have residency in the province or territory for which they are appointed. In the past, the residency requirement has often been interpreted liberally, with virtually any holding that met the property qualification, including primary residences, second residences, summer homes, investment properties, and undeveloped lots, having been deemed to meet the residency requirement; as long as the senator listed a qualifying property as a residence, no further efforts have typically been undertaken to verify whether they actually resided there in any meaningful way.

Residency has come under increased scrutiny, particularly as several senators have faced allegations of irregularities in their housing expense claims. In 2013, the Senate's internal economy committee required all senators to provide documents proving their residency in the provinces.

There exists a constitutional provision—section 26 of the Constitution Act, 1867—under which the sovereign may approve the appointment of four or eight extra senators, equally divided among the four regions. The approval is given by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister, and the governor general is instructed to issue the necessary letters patent. This provision has been used only once: in 1990, when Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sought to ensure the passage of a bill creating the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The appointment of eight additional senators allowed a slight majority for the Progressive Conservative Party. There was one unsuccessful attempt to use Section 26, by Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie in 1874. It was denied by Queen Victoria, on the advice of the British Cabinet. The clause does not result in a permanent increase in the number of Senate seats, however. Instead, an attrition process is applied by which senators leaving office through normal means are not replaced until after their province has returned to its normal number of seats.

Since 1989, the voters of Alberta have elected "senators-in-waiting", or nominees for the province's Senate seats. These elections, however, are not held pursuant to any federal constitutional or legal provision; thus, the prime minister is not required to recommend the nominees for appointment. Only three senators-in-waiting have been appointed to the Senate: the first was Stan Waters, who was appointed in 1990 on the recommendation of Brian Mulroney; the second was Bert Brown, elected a senator-in-waiting in 1998 and 2004, and appointed to the Senate in 2007 on the recommendation of Prime Minister Stephen Harper; and the third was Betty Unger, elected in 2004 and appointed in 2012.

The base annual salary of a senator was $150,600 in 2019, although members may receive additional salaries in right of other offices they hold (for instance, the title of Speaker). Most senators rank immediately above Members of Parliament in the order of precedence, although the speaker is ranked just above the speaker of the House of Commons and both are a few ranks higher than the remaining senators.

Parliamentary groups
While for much of the Senate's history, most senators were affiliated with the same federal political parties that seek seats in elections to the House of Commons, this has changed in the 21st century and the large majority of current senators have no formal partisan affiliations. From 1867 to 2015, prime ministers normally chose members of their own parties to be senators, though they sometimes nominated non-affiliated senators or members of opposing parties. Since November 4, 2015, all newly appointed Senators have not been affiliated with a political party and there has been no government caucus in the Senate. On December 6, 2016, for the first time in Canadian history the number of senators without a partisan affiliation exceeded that of the largest parliamentary group of senators with a partisan affiliation, and on October 17, 2017, the largest parliamentary group became one composed of senators unaffiliated with a political party. By the end of the 43rd Parliament, only 20 per cent of senators were affiliated with a political party, all members of the Conservative caucus.

Senators are organized into one of four recognized parliamentary groups (or caucuses), or are described as non-affiliated if they are members of none. Three of the parliamentary groups have weak to nonexistent patterns of party discipline and in lieu of a whip designate an individual to serve as a liaison; they have accordingly been compared to technical groups or crossbenchers in other jurisdictions. By contrast, the Conservative group remains affiliated with the federal party with its members attending caucus meetings with its members of the House of Commons; they follow the party whip as a condition of continued affiliation.

Gender
A majority of sitting senators are women. , there are 51 women in the Senate out of 94 sitting members (54.4%).

The Senate has generally had a higher level of female representation than the House of Commons throughout history. The number of female senators equalled males for the first time ever on November 11, 2020, and surpassed males for the first time on October 2, 2022.

 * Notes

Vacancies
There is some debate as to whether there is any requirement for the prime minister to advise the governor general to appoint new senators to fill vacancies as they arise. In 2014, Leader of the Opposition Tom Mulcair argued that there is no constitutional requirement to fill vacancies. Constitutional scholar Peter Hogg has commented that the courts "might be tempted to grant a remedy" if the refusal to recommend appointments caused the Senate to be diminished to such a degree that it could not do its work or serve its constitutional function.

Vancouver lawyer Aniz Alani filed an application for judicial review of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's apparent refusal to advise the appointment of senators to fill existing vacancies in 2014, arguing that the failure to do so violates the Constitution Act, 1867.

On July 24, 2015, Harper announced that he would not be advising the governor general to fill the 22 vacancies in the Senate, preferring that the provinces "come up with a plan of comprehensive reform or to conclude that the only way to deal with the status quo is abolition". He declined to say how long he would allow vacancies to accumulate. Under the Constitution Act, 1867, senators are appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. If no such advice is forthcoming, according to constitutional scholar Adam Dodek, in "extreme cases, there is no question that the Governor General would be forced to exercise such power [of appointment] without advice".

On December 5, 2015, the new Liberal government announced a new merit-based appointment process, using specific new criteria as to eligibility for the Senate. Independent applicants, not affiliated with any political party, will be approved by a new five-member advisory board (to be in place by year end), a reform that was intended to begin eliminating the partisan nature of the Senate. At the time, there were 22 vacancies in the Senate. On April 12, 2016, seven new senators were sworn in, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's hand-picked Representative of the Government in the Senate, Peter Harder.

A series of additional appointments were announced for October and November 2016 that would fill all vacancies. Once these senators were summoned, the independent non-aligned senators became more numerous than either of the party caucuses for the first time in the Senate's history. The independent senator group also grew to include over half the total number of senators.

On December 12, 2018, the four remaining vacancies were filled in Nova Scotia, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Ontario. With these appointments, the Senate had a full complement of senators for the first time in over eight years. Since December 2018, additional senators have retired, resigned or died so the Senate currently has fewer than 105 members again, with 9 vacancies as of 2023-12-29.

Officers
The presiding officer of the Senate is the speaker, who is appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. The speaker is assisted by a speaker pro tempore ("Current Speaker"), who is elected by the Senate at the beginning of each parliamentary session. If the Speaker is unable to attend, the speaker pro tempore presides instead. Furthermore, the Parliament of Canada Act authorizes the speaker to appoint another senator to temporarily serve. Muriel McQueen Fergusson was the Parliament of Canada's first female speaker, holding the office from 1972 to 1974.

The speaker presides over sittings of the Senate and controls debates by calling on members to speak. Senators may raise a point of order if a rule (or standing order) has been breached, on which the speaker makes a ruling. However, the speaker's decisions are subject to appeal to the whole Senate. When presiding, the speaker remains impartial, while maintaining membership in a political party. Unlike the speaker of the House of Commons, the speaker of the Senate does not hold a casting vote, but, instead, retains the right to vote in the same manner as any other. As of the 44th Parliament, Senator Raymonde Gagné presides as Speaker of the Senate.

The senator responsible for steering legislation through the Senate is the representative of the Government in the Senate, who is a senator selected by the prime minister and whose role is to introduce legislation on behalf of the government. The position was created in 2016 to replace the former position of leader of the Government in the Senate. The opposition equivalent is the leader of the Opposition in the Senate is selected by the leader of the Official Opposition. However, if the Official Opposition in the Commons is a different party than the Official Opposition in the Senate (as was the case from 2011 to 2015), then the Senate party chooses its own leader.

Officers of the Senate who are not members include the clerk, the deputy clerk, the law clerk, and several other clerks. These officers advise the speaker and members on the rules and procedure of the Senate. Another officer is the Usher of the Black Rod, whose duties include the maintenance of order and security within the Senate chamber. The Usher of the Black Rod bears a ceremonial black ebony staff, from which the title "black rod" arises. This position is roughly analogous to that of the sergeant-at-arms in the House of Commons, but the Usher's duties are more ceremonial in nature. The responsibility for security and the infrastructure lie with the director general of Parliamentary Precinct Services.

Committees
The Parliament of Canada uses committees for a variety of purposes. Committees consider bills in detail and can make amendments. Other committees scrutinize various government agencies and ministries.

The largest of the Senate committees is the Committee of the Whole, which, as the name suggests, consists of all senators. The Committee of the Whole meets in the chamber of the Senate, but proceeds under slightly modified rules of debate. (For example, there is no limit on the number of speeches a senator may make on a particular motion.) The presiding officer is known as the chairman. The Senate may resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole for a number of purposes, including to consider legislation or to hear testimony from individuals. Nominees to be officers of Parliament often appear before Committee of the Whole to answer questions with respect to their qualifications prior to their appointment.

The Senate also has several standing committees, each of which has responsibility for a particular area of government (for example, finance or transport). These committees consider legislation and conduct special studies on issues referred to them by the Senate and may hold hearings, collect evidence, and report their findings to the Senate. Standing committees consist of between nine and fifteen members each and elect their own chairmen.

Special committees are appointed by the Senate on an ad hoc basis to consider a particular issue. The number of members for a special committee varies, but, the partisan composition would roughly reflect the strength of the parties in the whole Senate. These committees have been struck to study bills (e.g., the Special Senate Committee on Bill C-36 (the Anti-terrorism Act), 2001) or particular issues of concern (e.g., the Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs).

Other committees include joint committees, which include both members of the House of Commons and senators. There are currently two joint committees: the Standing Joint Committee on the Scrutiny of Regulations, which considers delegated legislation, and the Standing Joint Committee on the Library of Parliament, which advises the two speakers on the management of the library. Parliament may also establish special joint committees on an ad hoc basis to consider issues of particular interest or importance.

Legislative functions
Although legislation may be introduced in either chamber, most bills originate in the House of Commons. Because the Senate's schedule for debate is more flexible than that of the House of Commons, the government will sometimes introduce particularly complex legislation in the Senate first.

In conformity with the British model, the Senate is not permitted to originate bills imposing taxes or appropriating public funds. Unlike in Britain but similar to the United States, this restriction on the power of the Senate is not merely a matter of convention but is explicitly stated in the Constitution Act, 1867. In addition, the House of Commons may, in effect, override the Senate's refusal to approve an amendment to the Canadian constitution; however, they must wait at least 180 days before exercising this override. Other than these two exceptions, the power of the two Houses of Parliament is theoretically equal; the approval of each is necessary for a bill's passage. In practice, however, the House of Commons is the dominant chamber of parliament, with the Senate very rarely exercising its powers in a manner that opposes the will of the democratically elected chamber. Although the Senate has not vetoed a bill from the House of Commons since 1939, minor changes proposed by the Senate to a bill are usually accepted by the Commons.

The Senate tends to be less partisan and confrontational than the Commons and is more likely to come to a consensus on issues. It also often has more opportunity to study proposed bills in detail either as a whole or in committees. This careful review process is why the Senate is still today called the chamber of "sober second thought", though the term has a slightly different meaning from what it did when used by John A. Macdonald. The format of the Senate allows it to make many small improvements to legislation before its final reading.

The Senate, at times, is more active at reviewing, amending, and even rejecting legislation. In the first 60 years after Confederation, approximately 180 bills were passed by the House of Commons and sent to the Senate that subsequently did not receive Royal Assent, either because they were rejected by the Senate or were passed by the Senate with amendments that were not accepted by the Commons. In contrast, fewer than one-quarter of that number of bills were lost for similar reasons in the sixty-year period from 1928 to 1987. The late 1980s and early 1990s was a period of contention. During this period, the Senate opposed legislation on issues such as the 1988 free trade bill with the US (forcing the Canadian federal election of 1988) and the Goods and Services Tax. In the 1990s, the Senate rejected four pieces of legislation: a bill passed by the Commons restricting abortion (C-43), a proposal to streamline federal agencies (C-93), a bill to redevelop the Lester B. Pearson Airport (C-28), and a bill on profiting from authorship as it relates to crime (C-220). From 2000 to 2013, the Senate rejected 75 bills in total.

In December 2010, the Senate rejected Bill C-311, involving greenhouse gas regulation that would have committed Canada to a 25 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020 and an 80 per cent reduction by 2050. The bill was passed by all the parties except the Conservatives in the House of Commons and was rejected by the majority Conservatives in the Senate on a vote of 43 to 32.

Divorce and other private bills
Historically, before the passage of the Divorce Act in 1968, there was no divorce legislation in either Quebec or Newfoundland. The only way for couples to get divorced in these provinces was to apply to Parliament for a private bill of divorce. These bills were primarily handled by the Senate, where a special committee would undertake an investigation of a request for a divorce. If the committee found that the request had merit, the marriage would be dissolved by an Act of Parliament. A similar situation existed in Ontario before 1930. This function has not been exercised since 1968 as the Divorce Act provided a uniform statutory basis across Canada accessed through the court system.

However, though increasingly rare, private bills usually commence in the Senate and only upon petition by a private person (natural or legal). In addition to the general stages public bills must go through, private bills also require the Senate to perform some judicial functions to ensure the petitioner's request does not impair rights of other persons.

Investigative functions
The Senate also performs investigative functions. In the 1960s, the Senate authored the first Canadian reports on media concentration with the Special Senate Subcommittee on Mass Media, or the Davey Commission, since "appointed senators would be better insulated from editorial pressure brought by publishers"; this triggered the formation of press councils. More recent investigations include the Kirby Commissions on health care (as opposed to the Romanow Commission) and mental health care by Senator Michael Kirby and the Final Report on the Canadian News Media in 2006.

Relationship with the Government of Canada
Unlike the House of Commons, the Senate has no effect in the decision to end the term of the prime minister or of the government. Only the House of Commons may force prime ministers to tender their resignation or to recommend the dissolution of Parliament and issue election writs, by passing a motion of no-confidence or by withdrawing supply. Thus, the Senate's oversight of the government is limited.

The Senate does however, approve the appointment of certain officials and approves the removal of certain officials, in some cases only for cause, and sometimes in conjunction with the House of Commons, usually as a recommendation from the Governor in Council. Officers in this category include the auditor general of Canada, and the Senate must join in the resolution to remove the chief electoral officer of Canada.

Most Cabinet ministers are from the House of Commons. In particular, every prime minister has been a member of the House of Commons since 1896, with the exception of John Turner. Typically, the Cabinet includes only one senator: the leader of the Government in the Senate. Occasionally, when the governing party does not include any members from a particular region, senators are appointed to ministerial positions in order to maintain regional balance in the Cabinet. The most recent example of this was on February 6, 2006, when Stephen Harper advised that Michael Fortier be appointed to be both a senator representing the Montreal region, where the minority government had no elected representation, and the Cabinet position of Minister of Public Works and Government Services. Fortier resigned his Senate seat to run (unsuccessfully) for a House of Commons seat in the 2008 general election.

Broadcasting
Unlike the House of Commons, proceedings of the Senate were historically not carried by CPAC, as the upper house long declined to allow its sessions to be televised. On April 25, 2006, Senator Hugh Segal moved that the proceedings of the Senate be televised; the motion was referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament for consideration; although the motion was approved in principle, broadcast of Senate proceedings was not actually launched at that time apart from selected committee meetings.

Full broadcast of Senate proceedings began on March 18, 2019, concurrent with the Senate's temporary relocation to the Senate of Canada Building.

title: Senate of Canada


text:
Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is part of the Constitution of Canada. It is commonly known as the notwithstanding clause (clause dérogatoire, clause nonobstant, or, as prescribed by the Quebec Board of the French Language, disposition de dérogation ). Sometimes referred to as the override power, it allows Parliament or provincial legislatures to temporarily override sections 2 and 7–15 of the ''Charter.

Text
The section states: "Section 33.

 * (1) Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15.

 * (2) An Act or a provision of an Act in respect of which a declaration made under this section is in effect shall have such operation as it would have but for the provision of this Charter referred to in the declaration.

 * (3) A declaration made under subsection (1) shall cease to have effect five years after it comes into force or on such earlier date as may be specified in the declaration.

 * (4) Parliament or the legislature of a province may re-enact a declaration made under subsection (1).

 * (5) Subsection (3) applies in respect of a re-enactment made under subsection (4)."

Function
The Parliament of Canada, a provincial legislature or a territorial legislature may declare that one of its laws or part of a law applies temporarily ("notwithstanding") countermanding sections of the Charter, thereby nullifying any judicial review by overriding the Charter protections for a limited period of time. This is done by including a section in the law clearly specifying which rights have been overridden. A simple majority vote in any of Canada's 14 jurisdictions may suspend the core rights of the Charter. However, the rights to be overridden must be either a "fundamental right" guaranteed by Section 2 (such as freedom of expression, religion, and association), a "legal right" guaranteed by Sections 7–14 (such as rights to liberty and freedom from search and seizures and cruel and unusual punishment) or a Section 15 "equality right". Other rights such as section 6 mobility rights, democratic rights, and language rights are inviolable.

Such a declaration ends after five years or a lesser time specified in the clause, although the legislature may re-enact the clause any number of times. The rationale behind having a five-year expiry date is that it is also the maximum amount of time the Parliament or legislature may sit before an election must be called. Therefore, if the people so desire, they have the right to elect new representatives who could choose to repeal the law or let the declaration expire. (The provisions of the Charter that deal with elections and democratic representation (§§3–5) are not among those that can be overridden with the notwithstanding clause (§§2,7–15).)

The notwithstanding clause reflects the hybrid character of Canadian political institutions. In effect, it protects the British tradition of parliamentary supremacy under the American-style system of written constitutional rights and strong courts introduced in 1982. Former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien also described it as a tool that could guard against a Supreme Court ruling legalizing hate speech and child pornography as freedom of expression.

History
The idea for the clause was proposed by Peter Lougheed as suggested by Merv Leitch. The clause was a compromise reached during the debate over the new constitution in the early 1980s. Among the provinces' major complaints about the Charter was that it shifted power from elected officers to the judiciary, giving the courts the final word. Section 33, along with the limitations clause, in section 1, was intended to give provincial legislators more leverage to pass law. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau at first strongly objected to the clause, but eventually consented to its inclusion under pressure from the provincial premiers.

The clause was included as part of what is known as "The Kitchen Accord". At the end of a conference on the constitution that was poised to end in deadlock, Jean Chrétien, the federal justice minister, and Roy McMurtry and Roy Romanow, both provincial ministers, met in a kitchen in the Government Conference Centre in Ottawa and sowed the seeds for a deal. This compromise caused two major changes to the constitution package: the first was that the Charter would include the "notwithstanding clause", and the second was an agreed-upon amending formula. They then worked through the night with consultations from different premiers, and agreement from almost everybody. However, they excluded from the negotiations René Lévesque, the premier of Quebec. He refused to agree to the deal, and the Quebec government declined to endorse the constitutional amendment. Chrétien would later say, of the notwithstanding clause, "Canada probably wouldn't have had any Charter without it."

In exchange for agreeing to the Notwithstanding Clause, Trudeau declined to remove the federal powers of disallowance and reservation from the draft Constitution.

When it was introduced, Alan Borovoy, general counsel to the Canadian Civil Liberties Association at the time, addressed concerns that the override was susceptible to abuse by stating that "[p]olitical difficulty" would be a "reasonable safeguard for the Charter".

According to Chrétien, in 1992, Trudeau blamed him for the notwithstanding clause, saying "you gave them that". Chrétien replied, "Sorry, Pierre. I recommended it. You gave it."

During the January 9, 2006, party leaders' debate for the 2006 federal election, Prime Minister Paul Martin unexpectedly pledged that his Liberal government, if returned, would support a constitutional amendment to prevent the federal government from invoking section 33, and challenged Conservative leader Stephen Harper to agree. This sparked a debate about how the notwithstanding clause could be amended. Some argued that the amending formula required the federal government to gain the approval of at least seven provinces with at least half the national population (the standard procedure). Others argued that, because the proposal would limit only the federal Parliament's powers, Parliament could make the change alone.

Comparison with other human rights instruments
Constitutional scholar Peter Hogg has remarked that the notwithstanding clause "seems to be a uniquely Canadian invention". The United States Constitution gives no such powers to the states (see: nullification), but Article III, sect. 2 does authorize the Congress to remove jurisdiction from the federal courts. Not since World War II has Congress mustered the requisite majority.

However, the concept of the notwithstanding clause was not created with the Charter. The presence of the clause makes the Charter similar to the Canadian Bill of Rights (1960), which, under section 2, states that "an Act of the Parliament" may declare that a law "shall operate notwithstanding the Canadian Bill of Rights". A primary difference is that the Bill of Rights' notwithstanding clause could be used to invalidate "any" right, not just specified clauses as with the Charter. The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code (1979), the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms (1977), and the Alberta Bill of Rights (1972) also contain devices like the notwithstanding clause.

Outside Canada, Israel added a device similar to the notwithstanding clause to one of its Basic Laws in 1992. However, this power could be used only in respect of the freedom of occupation.

In Victoria, Australia, section 31 of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities fulfils a similar purpose.

The uncodified constitution of the United Kingdom has an implicit equivalent of a notwithstanding clause: following the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty, the courts have no power to declare primary legislation invalid on constitutional grounds, including on grounds of incompatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. The Human Rights Act 1998 requires legislation to be interpreted in a way compatible with the Convention if possible, but they must nonetheless enforce any primary legislation that they cannot so interpret. This does not apply to secondary legislation or devolved legislation, which may be ultra vires if incompatible.

Uses
Four provinces and one territory have passed laws invoking the notwithstanding clause. The clause has been invoked most frequently by Quebec, including the blanket application of the clause to every law from 1982–1985, a French-only sign law in 1988, a law prohibiting state-affiliated employees from wearing religious symbols in 2019, and a law strengthening the use of French in 2022. Saskatchewan passed a back-to-work law invoking the clause in 1986, and passed a law in 2018 (never brought into force) invoking the clause to permit the government to pay for non-Catholics to attend publicly-funded Catholic schools. Alberta passed a law invoking the clause in 2000 to define marriage as "between a man and a woman"; this law was effectively declared ultra vires by the Supreme Court of Canada because only the federal Parliament can define marriage. In 2021, Ontario passed a law invoking the clause to increase the time period during which third-party groups must limit their activities in the lead-up to an election. Yukon invoked the clause in 1982, but this law was never brought into force.

The federal Parliament has never introduced legislation invoking the clause.

Compensation for forced sterilization (1998)
In 1998, Alberta introduced, but later abandoned, a bill that would attempt to use the notwithstanding clause to limit lawsuits against the government for past forced sterilizations approved by the Alberta Eugenics Board before the Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed.

Same-sex marriage (2000)
In March 2000, the Legislature of Alberta passed Bill 202, which amended the province's Marriage Act to include an opposite-sex-only definition of marriage as well as the notwithstanding clause to insulate the definition from Charter challenges. However, a legislature may use the "notwithstanding clause" only on legislation it would otherwise have the authority to enact, and the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2004 in Reference re Same-Sex Marriage that the definition of marriage is within the exclusive domain of the Parliament of Canada, thus finding Bill 202 ultra vires, or beyond the constitutional powers of the Alberta Legislature.

Other discussions of its use in Alberta
There were also discussions to invoke the notwithstanding clause following the Supreme Court of Canada's 1998 decision in Vriend v Alberta, but were resisted by Premier Ralph Klein at the time.

Mandatory vaccinations (2019)
On November 22, 2019, Education Minister Dominic Cardy introduced a bill in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick to end non-medical exemptions to vaccinations in school children, which includes invoking the notwithstanding clause. Cardy said this was to pre-empt any court and charter challenges to the bill by "an organized, well-financed lobby out there that's intent on derailing efforts to protect vulnerable children". The use of the notwithstanding clause was removed from the bill in June 2020, before the bill was ultimately defeated in a free vote at third reading in the legislature.

Municipal elections (2018)
In August 2018, the government of Ontario passed the Better Local Government Act, which, among other things, ordered the Toronto City Council to change its electoral ward boundaries for the 2018 municipal election to match the boundaries used for federal and provincial electoral ridings, thus reducing the number of wards from 47 to 25. Premier of Ontario Doug Ford stated that the council had "failed to act on the critical issues facing the city", and claimed cost savings of $25 million over the next four years. The bill was controversial for both its intent and its timing, as it came in the midst of a municipal election campaign. The electoral boundaries had already been realigned for the 2018 election to expand it from 44 to 47 wards, by consolidating several existing wards and adding new ones.

On September 10, 2018, the act was struck down by Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba as unconstitutional, ruling that the larger wards infringed voters' rights to an election whose outcome provides "effective representation", and that unilaterally changing electoral boundaries in the middle of a campaign infringed on candidates' freedom of expression. Shortly afterward, Ford announced his intent to table legislation authorizing an invocation of the notwithstanding clause to overturn the ruling, which, if passed, would have been the first use of the notwithstanding clause in Ontario. However, on September 19, the Court of Appeal for Ontario granted a stay of the Superior Court's decision, allowing the province to again implement a 25-ward structure for the City of Toronto. During the oral argument for that case, the counsel for the attorney general stated that the provincial government would not proceed with the legislation to invoke the notwithstanding clause if the stay was granted. Belobaba's ruling was ultimately overturned 3-2 by the Court of Appeal in a full hearing. The Court of Appeal ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2021; in a 5-4 ruling, a majority of the Court ruled that Ontario's Better Local Government Act violated neither freedom of expression nor the unwritten constitutional principle of democracy.

Third-party political advertising (2021)
In early 2021, the Ontario government passed the Protecting Ontario Elections Act, 2021, which restricted the ability of private sector organizations from running political advertisements outside of election periods. In June, The Ontario Superior Court found the law to violate freedom of expression, and struck down those sections of the law. The Ontario government then passed the Protecting Elections and Defending Democracy Act, 2021 to enact the restrictions using the Notwithstanding Clause.

In March 2023, the Court of Appeal for Ontario struck down the law again, this time for violating a section of the charter not protected by the notwithstanding clause relating to voter participation.

Education worker labour rights (2022)
On November 3, 2022, the government of Ontario passed a bill that imposed a contract on Ontario education workers who were part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees to prevent them from striking; the bill used the Notwithstanding Clause in an attempt to prohibit the union from a constitutional challenge regarding the freedom to associate. Despite this, the education workers still went on strike after the bill was passed.

The Ontario government faced heavy backlash from the general public over the law. Other unions also threatened to walk off the job and protest the law in solidarity. As a result, the government made a deal with CUPE where the law was repealed with the provisions and penalties deemed to have never been in effect, and in exchange CUPE ended their strike and contract negotiations resumed.

Blanket application (1982–1985)
After the Charter came into force in 1982, the Parti Québécois government in Quebec inserted wording pursuant to section 33 into every law passed by the National Assembly of Quebec, as well as retroactively amending every existing law, in an attempt to ensure that no provincial law could ever be challenged in the courts on grounds in the relevant Charter sections. This stopped in 1985, when the newly elected Quebec Liberals discontinued the practice. The Quebec Liberals did successfully invoke the notwithstanding clause to apply to a number of pieces of legislation pertaining to education and pensions between 1986 and 1992. Many of these uses of the notwithstanding clause were subsequently re-enacted.

The way the Quebec legislature deployed the clause in the late 1980s diminished public respect in the rest of the country for section 33. Due to the mass opposition that its use, or even threatened use, as in the case of Alberta (listed above), would evoke, the act of invoking the notwithstanding clause would be more politically costly even than had always been apprehended, according to some.

Sign laws (1988)
On December 21, 1988, after the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Ford v Quebec (AG), the National Assembly of Quebec employed section 33 and the equivalent section 52 of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms in their Bill 178. This allowed Quebec to continue to restrict the posting of certain commercial signs in languages other than French. In 1993, after the law was criticized by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Bourassa government had the National Assembly rewrite the law to conform to Supreme Court's interpretation of the right to freedom of expression in section 2(b) Charter, and the notwithstanding clause was removed.

Wearing of religious symbols by public servants (2019)
On March 28, 2019, the recently elected Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government applied the notwithstanding clause in Bill 21 (An Act respecting the Laicity of the State). The bill was passed on June 16, 2019, and prevents public workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols. It also prevents people from receiving public services with their faces covered.

French language requirements for multiple sectors (2021)
The stated goal of Bill 96 was "to affirm that the only official language of Québec is French. It also affirms that French is the common language of the Québec nation." Bill 96 was adopted on May 24, 2022, with 78 MNAs in favour and 29 against (from the Liberal Party and Parti Québécois). Instead of applying the notwithstanding clause only to parts of Bill 96, the Coalition Avenir Québec government applied it to the entire Bill.

The amendment expanded the requirements of businesses to communicate in French. Previously, businesses with more than 50 employees faced additional responsibilities to have the common language be French. The amendment lowered that minimum from 50 employees to 25.

Employers may not require knowledge of a language other than French during "recruitment, hiring, transfer or promotion," unless they can show the that additional language is necessary and they took "all reasonable means to avoid imposing such a requirement."

The amendment also granted search and seizure laws to the Office québécois de la langue française (OQLF) and the Minister Responsible for the French Language. Section 111 gives the OQLF authorization to "enter at any reasonable hour any place, other than a dwelling house," where a business conducts activity or holds documents. The amendment requires that anyone present with access to a device or data must provide that access to the inspectors; the inspectors also may seize devices and data for future examination and reproduction without a warrant.

The amendment also impacted health care and social services, limiting service in English to "historic anglophones" or "ayant droit", immigrants, refugees, or asylum seekers who have been in Quebec for less than 6 months, or "where health, public safety or the principles of natural justice so require." The Minister of Justice and French Language, Simon Jolin-Barrette, said that access would not change for English speakers, but critics suggested that the law is unclear, especially since unlike in the Act respecting the laicity of the State, no special exemption is explicit.

Back-to-work order (1986)
In 1986, the Legislature of Saskatchewan enacted a law, the SGEU Dispute Settlement Act, in which workers were ordered back to work. The Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan had previously held that a similar back-to-work law was unconstitutional because it infringed workers' freedom of association. The government appealed that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. Since the Court of Appeal decision was still the statement of law at the time of the SGEU Dispute Settlement Act, a clause was written into the act, invoking the section 33 override. The earlier law was later found by the Supreme Court to be consistent with the Charter, meaning the use of the clause had been unnecessary.

Catholic school funding (2018)
In May 2018, the Saskatchewan Legislature invoked the notwithstanding clause to overrule the Court of Queen's Bench ruling in Good Spirit School Division No 204 v Christ The Teacher Roman Catholic Separate School Division No 212, 2017 SKQB 109, which stated the government could not provide funding for non-Catholic students to attend Catholic separate schools. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned the decision in March 2020, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined leave to appeal. With the original decision overturned, there was no longer a need for the Notwithstanding Clause.

Parent consent for non-conforming gender identity in school (2023)
In 2023, Premier Scott Moe told reporters that the province would be willing to use the notwithstanding clause to uphold a policy requiring parents be notified of and approve any requested name and pronoun change from their child before it be recognized at school. This came after legal action was initiated by an advocacy group against the provincial government, the province's youth advocate published a report against the policy, and a Regina court granted an injunction to stop the policy.

The bill, titled the "Parents' Bill of Rights", was passed on October 20, 2023.

Other discussions of its use in Saskatchewan
Following a Supreme Court of Canada decision of January 30, 2015, which struck down Saskatchewan essential service legislation, Premier Brad Wall publicly considered using the notwithstanding clause to protect the province's ability to force essential service employees back to work.

Committee appointments (1982)
In 1982, the legislature of Yukon made use of the notwithstanding clause in the Land Planning and Development Act. This was the first use, by any Canadian legislature, of the section 33 override. However, as constitutional scholar Peter Hogg notes, the "statute ... was never brought into force and so scarcely counts as an example".


text:
Troy, Montana

Troy is a city in Lincoln County, Montana, United States. The population was 797 at the 2020 census. It lies at the lowest elevation of any settlement in Montana. The town is on U.S. Route 2, near Montana Highway 56, in the Kootenai River gorge by the Kootenai National Forest.

Originally inhabited by the Kutenai, Salish, and Piegan Blackfeet tribes, the area was settled by miners in the 1880s. Troy was registered as a town in 1892 and grew quickly after the Great Northern Railway built a freight station there, leading to a boom in workers, miners, their families, and associates. The area narrowly missed wildfire damage in 1910 and expanded its services throughout the following years, though its population would drop due to a series of misfortunes in the late 1920s before rebounding in the following decades. Troy suffered from the area's contamination from nearby vermiculite mines contaminated with particularly fragile asbestos, leading to the town's inclusion in the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Priorities List status in 2002 and Public Health Emergency event in 2009. According to the EPA, most risk was reduced by 2015.

Troy is on U.S. Route 2, between Yaak and Libby. Montana Highway 56 is three miles southeast and the Troy Airport is two miles northwest. The town's economy has historically been supported by mining and logging, while in recent times, mining has remained, with the addition of education, retail, and tourism. Local natural features such as the Kootenai Falls have attracted tourism to the area and have been featured in movies such as The River Wild (1994) and The Revenant (2015). There is a public school district (which created ceramic ornaments used to decorate the National Christmas Tree in 2017) and a public library, and the town is in-district for Flathead Valley Community College.

History
Before the westward expansion of the United States, various indigenous peoples lived in the area, with the Kutenai and Salish as the most recent and the Piegan Blackfeet earlier. They lived in base camps and seasonal camps based on the availability of plants and fish: "lower elevations in the winter and... uplands in the summer and fall," with spring camps near camas prairies, which had edible bulbs. Due to the area's geography and settler fears of the Kutenai, the area remained unsettled until gold was discovered in the 1860s and galena and vermiculite in the 1880s. In 1886, the first miners arrived, prospecting on the Kootenai River at a tent camp first known as "Lake Camp, Lake Creek Camp, and Lake City", and making land claims on Grouse Mountain. In 1892, a William O'Brien surveyed the Lake City claim, renaming it Troy.

Post American settlement
Throughout 1892, Troy was filed as a town in then-Missoula County and grew rapidly as the Great Northern Railway chose a nearby site as a "division yard", or freight terminal, which was first renamed "West Troy" before just becoming Troy itself as the Lake City area was abandoned. The town's first hotel, then called the Windsor Hotel, was built. One transplant described the town as such: "Fifteen saloons gaily lit filled to the doors with “wild men and wild women” yelling, singing, dancing, and cursing, with glasses held high, such was Troy. Two large dance halls were in evidence, one grocery store run by John Bowen, several 'beaneries' (called restaurants by some), one drug store owned by 'Doc' Sailey and many shacks and tents where the 'wild women' congregated. Fights and ribaldry were the order of the days and nights." Another grocery store followed in 1893, the first one-room schoolhouse was built in 1894, and more mining companies, land claims, and support services such as ferries sprung up as gold was discovered on the Yaak River in 1895.

The 1910s brought change. After the Windsor Hotel had been destroyed by fire in 1906 and rebuilt in 1907, wildfires during the summer of 1910 narrowly missed Troy by a few miles but raged throughout the area, causing lasting damage to the newly-protected Kootenai National Forest. In 1912, Troy's first bridge across the Kootenai River was built, along with bridges in Libby and Rexford, after a county vote. Previously, crossings were made on horseback – dangerous – or via ferries, which had started operating in 1892. Phone service reached the area in 1913. U.S. Route 2 was proposed and a volunteer fire department was created. The 1918 flu closed the local mill and schools temporarily. By 1920, there was a Chinese restaurant, a church, and an electric plant in town, and World War I increased the town's mining activity; the rapid expansion and labor conditions sometimes led to strikes and labor conflicts.

The town's population reached 1000 residents in 1924, and the same year, the town's Lincoln Theatre opened. The population peaked around 1926, but in March of that year, the Great Northern Railway moved its freight terminal elsewhere, leaving "only three supervisors and [a] small force of Japanese [workers]." Fires destroyed a concentrator in 1927 and a sawmill in 1928, with neither rebuilt, and the region's mines decreased in activity.

The population dropped to as low as 428 during 1930 in the Great Depression. Still, the Lincoln Theatre began playing talking movies and the Windsor Hotel was renamed to the Great Northern Hotel, which stood until it burned down (for the second time) in 1941. A coffee house and cable shop operate on its former location. The Lincoln Theatre was remodeled in 1994.

In 2006, the Troy Jail and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge were added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Vermiculite cleanup
After citizens, media, and local government raised concerns, the United States Environmental Protection Agency began in 1999 to investigate the contamination of the area surrounding Libby and Troy from vermiculite mines in Libby, which were themselves contaminated with a toxic and easily crumbled form of tremolite-actinolite series asbestos, sometimes named Libby Amphibole asbestos (LA). Removal actions began in 2000, and in 2002 the site was moved to the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List. In 2009, the EPA declared a Public Health Emergency (the first in the EPA's history) "to provide federal health care assistance for victims of asbestos-related disease."

In 2015, an EPA review of toxicity and risks found that the cleanups had managed asbestos exposure risk effectively. By the end of 2018, the EPA had removed "more than one million cubic yards of contaminated soil," and area cleanup was completed that year, except for the location of the former mine, which is the disposal site of the contaminated soil. Contaminated construction materials were disposed of "in a specially designed landfill cell." The remaining contamination is limited to the forests and property in or near the former mine, with cleanup plans pending and with controls for higher exposures during wildfire fighting.

The EPA transferred control of the site to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality in 2020.

Geography
Troy lies in a valley along the Kootenai River between the Purcell Mountains to the northeast and the Cabinet Mountains to the southwest.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.78 sqmi, of which 0.76 sqmi is land and 0.02 sqmi is water. Troy has an elevation of approximately 1800 ft above sea level and is the lowest town in elevation in Montana. Troy is 12 mi from the border of Montana and Idaho. Troy's next closest city is Libby, which is 18 mi away.

The Troy Mine, which produced silver and copper, was scheduled for closure in February 2015.

An early worker described the original flora of the city site as "a carpet of velvety green grass, thickly studded with wild flowers of most every hue and color." There are groves of ancient western red cedars nearby, some up to 12 ft in diameter, which are a home for species of wildlife including pikas and flying squirrels.

Troy is located in the Kootenai River Gorge, which is geologically composed of "sandstone and thin layers of shale, with folds from compression that dates back 50 to 100 million years ago. The rock was deposited 1.5 million years ago, when much of Montana was covered by water. Ancient ripple marks and large stromatolites (the remains of algae mats) are visible in the canyon."

Climate
This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Troy has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dsb" on climate maps. Troy's annual mean temperature is 46.4 F and its annual mean precipitation is 24.6 in. Flooding is an issue for the area.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 938 people, 454 households, and 240 families residing in the city. The population density was 1234.2 PD/sqmi. There were 490 housing units at an average density of 644.7 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 94.3% White, 0.2% African American, 1.7% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.1% from other races, and 3.1% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.9% of the population.

There were 454 households, of which 25.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.2% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, 6.2% had a male householder with no wife present, and 47.1% were non-families. 37.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.07 and the average family size was 2.71.

The median age in the city was 46.8 years. 20% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.9% were from 25 to 44; 35.7% were from 45 to 64; and 16.8% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.3% male and 50.7% female.

Economy and recreation
The area is covered by the Lincoln County Port Authority. Troy's modern economy is largely based on "mining, education, retail, and tourism," while its historical economy was based on mining and logging. A train freight yard, a sawmill, and an ore processing facility were the main employers until they were lost to relocation and fires in the late 1920s, just before the Great Depression. Gold, galena, and vermiculite were mined beginning in the late 1800s. During World War I, the town's mines produced lead, zinc, and silver, with much zinc exported to Belgium. In 2020, the Montana Community Solar Project assessed Troy public schools for their solar power potential and found the high school building had good potential. Since 2008, the school and city have been partially fueled by wood pellet waste from nearby lumber mills, replacing fuel oil use.

Notable nearby attractions include the Kootenai Falls and the Kootenai Falls Swinging Bridge, which was rebuilt in 2019 due to its increasing popularity. The Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge in Troy is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Local activities include hiking, snowmobiling, camping, boating, rafting, bird watching, fishing, and geocaching. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation was founded by four Troy hunters to help conserve elk and other wildlife species. There is a disc golf course at the Troy Museum and Visitors' Center, which also hosts art events with the local glass art guild. Nearby parks host various cultural and music festivals.

Education
Troy has a public library, a branch of the Lincoln County Public Libraries. The town's branch opened in 1922 after the Lincoln County's Free County Library expanded.

Troy's first school, a one-room schoolhouse, was built in 1894. In 1937, the Bull Lake School in Bull Lake Valley and Fall Creek School by Schoolhouse Lake were consolidated into the Troy public school district. The public school district includes:

The high school provides adult education classes in the fall and spring. The school has a "school-to-work" program in which students can participate in summer projects based in the local economy and in which an AmeriCorps volunteer serves as a mentor for student college applications/visits and community involvement in student activities. After the Troy Art Club's ceramic ornaments were some of the ones chosen for the US National Christmas Tree in 2017, the club created a business, Wild In Montana, "assisting [the] economically depressed community and offering a class with real-world skills."
 * W.F. Morrison Elementary School (Kindergarten–Sixth grade)
 * Troy Junior-Senior High School (Seventh grade–Twelfth grade)

Other nearby schools with Troy addresses include:

 * McCormick Elementary School (K-8)
 * Yaak Elementary School (K-8)

The area qualifies for in-district tuition at Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC) in Kalispell, Montana, as well as FVCC's Lincoln County Campus in Libby, which has the "Glacier Bank Adult Basic Education Learning Center where students can take free classes in preparation for their GED exams."

Transportation
Troy is on U.S. Route 2, between Yaak to the north and Libby to the southeast. Montana Highway 56 is three miles to the southeast of Troy.

The Troy Airport is one mile northwest of the majority of the town of Troy.

The closest Amtrak stop is Libby station, 18 mi away. The Empire Builder served Troy until February 15, 1973.

Notable people

 * Les Balsiger, religious activist with a Troy office
 * Rachel Dolezal, civil rights activist
 * B. C. Edwards, football coach (died in Troy)
 * Genevieve Pezet, American-French artist
 * Jay Ward, Major League Baseball player who retired in Troy

Popular culture
Troy is featured in Max Brooks' post-apocalyptic zombie novel World War Z as a safe zone for humanity.

2011 novella Train Dreams mentions the town.

The nearby Kootenai Falls and the Swinging Bridge were featured in the 1994 movie The River Wild. The original bridge was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, and the falls are a sacred site to the Kutenai tribes who originally lived in the area.

The Kootenai Falls were featured in the 2015 movie The Revenant.

title: Troy, Montana


text:
Alder, Montana

Alder is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Madison County, Montana, United States. The population was 86 at the 2020 census, down from 103 in 2010. The community takes its name from Alder Creek (named by Henry Edgar in 1863), the site of the second major gold discovery in Montana.

Geography
Alder is located in west-central Madison County at 45.32444°N, -112.10806°W (45.324531, -112.108035), in the Ruby Valley. Alder Creek enters the valley from the east and passes east of the community. Montana Highway 287 passes through town, leading east 9 mi to Virginia City, the county seat, and northwest 10 mi to Sheridan. The Ruby River runs along the western edge of the community, and the Ruby River Reservoir is 7 mi to the south.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Alder CDP has a total area of 2.01 sqmi, all land.

Climate
This climatic region is typified by large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Alder has a humid continental climate, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 116 people, 48 households, and 25 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 57.6 PD/sqmi. There were 69 housing units at an average density of 34.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 100.00% White.

There were 48 households, out of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.8% were married couples living together, 4.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.9% were non-families. 33.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.44.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 26.7% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 27.6% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 12.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 107.3 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $26,458, and the median income for a family was $33,750. Males had a median income of $22,500 versus $30,000 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $16,300. There were no families and 1.8% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and none of those over 64.

Media
The Madisonian is a newspaper serving the Madison and Ruby Valleys, which includes Twin Bridges. It is printed weekly and offers an e-edition.

In popular culture
Alder is mentioned in the song "Myrna Loy", by American songwriter Josh Ritter, from his 2017 album Gathering.

title: Alder, Montana


text:
Ennis, Montana

Ennis is a town in Madison County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The population was 917 at the 2020 census, up from 838 in 2010.

U.S. Route 287 runs through town, following the Madison River as it descends from the town of West Yellowstone.

History

In 1863, gold was discovered in Alder Gulch. This brought on "the rush". Two months later, William Ennis homesteaded the site along the Madison River that was soon to become the town of Ennis, his namesake.

In 1886, a mystery creature was noted for making livestock kills in the Madison Valley. A local rancher, Israel Ammon Hutchins, finally shot and killed the beast, after accidentally shooting one of his cattle, which was on the other side of some brush. A local taxidermist stuffed the canine. Jack Kirby (Hutchins' grandson) tracked the mount to a museum in Pocatello, Idaho, circa 2007.

Avid Aircraft, a manufacturer of homebuilt aircraft, was located in Ennis. The company ceased operations in 2003.

The 2003 Ennis shooting took place on June 14 of that year, when 44-year-old George Harold Davis opened fire outside the Silver Dollar Saloon bar on Main Street. He killed one man and injured six others. He then fled to Missoula County, where he was finally stopped and arrested by police. He was sentenced to eleven life terms for the crime.

The Thexton Ranch is located approximately 7 mi south of Ennis, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Geography
The town is flanked by Tobacco Root Mountains to the northwest, the Gravelly Range to the southwest and the Madison Range to the east. Approximately 12 mi north of town, the Madison Dam creates Ennis Lake at the head of Bear Trap Canyon.

A large "E" has been placed in a hill west of the town at this location: 45.3505°N, -111.7478°W

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.74 sqmi, of which 0.001 sqmi, or 0.14%, are water. The Madison River, one of the three headwater tributaries of the Missouri River, runs along the eastern border of the town.

Climate
According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Ennis has a warm-summer humid continental climate, abbreviated Dfb"" on climate maps.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 838 people, 416 households, and 207 families residing in the town. The population density was 1074.4 PD/sqmi. There were 527 housing units at an average density of 675.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 96.9% White, 0.1% African American, 0.8% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.5% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.9% of the population.

There were 416 households, of which 20.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.8% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.1% had a male householder with no wife present, and 50.2% were non-families. 42.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 20.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.91 and the average family size was 2.60.

The median age in the town was 49.8 years. 15.8% of residents were under the age of 18; 6% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 22.2% were from 25 to 44; 30.7% were from 45 to 64; and 25.3% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the town was 49.4% male and 50.6% female.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 840 people, 367 households, and 219 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,240.2 PD/sqmi. There were 434 housing units at an average density of 640.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 97.98% White, 0.48% from other races, and 1.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.71% of the population.

There were 367 households, out of which 27.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.9% were married couples living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.1% were non-families. 36.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.87.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.3% under the age of 18, 5.7% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 26.3% from 45 to 64, and 20.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 90.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.5 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $30,735, and the median income for a family was $38,542. Males had a median income of $30,956 versus $16,875 for females. The per capita income for the town was $17,310. About 7.7% of families and 11.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.9% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Ennis is the center of a long-standing ranching economy in the Madison River valley. Large cattle and sheep ranches dot the valley north and south of the town along the river. Ennis is also a major tourist attraction and angling destination for fly fishermen targeting rainbow and brown trout. The small town hosts at least three fly shops and numerous resorts that cater to fly anglers with guided fishing trips on the Madison and in nearby Yellowstone National Park. Ennis is home to Willie's Distillery, known for its bourbon and moonshine, and one of the growing number of micro-distilleries in Montana.

Arts and culture

Ennis has a public library, the Madison Valley Public Library.

Events

 * Ennis has an annual July 4 parade, which includes a rodeo event.
 * Ennis on the Madison Fly Fishing Festival occurs in August.
 * The Madison Trifecta is a duathlon held on the 4th of July weekend between Ennis and Virginia City, Montana. A full marathon, the highest elevation run (over 9000 ft) in the United States, is held in July. The Madison Triathlon is held in August between Ennis and Harrison, Montana.
 * In October, the annual Hunters Feed takes place the day before rifle season opens.
 * Tap Into Ennis is Montana's first combined brewery and distillery festival, and includes breweries and distilleries, artists, and local music.
 * Ennis hosts the Madison Valley Arts Festival.

Government
Ennis has a mayor and town commissioners. Nici Haas became mayor in 2022.

Education
Ennis Schools educates students from kindergarten through 12th grade. Ennis High School's team name is the Mustangs.

Media
The Madisonian is a newspaper serving Madison County. It is printed weekly and offers an e-edition.

Infrastructure
Ennis is located on U.S. Highway 287 and Montana Highway 287.

The town is served by the Big Sky Airport. The closest airport with regularly scheduled commercial service is Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, 54 mi away.

The Madison Valley Medical Center provides healthcare to the community.

In popular culture

 * The plot of Steven Seagal's film The Patriot was set in Ennis and was partly filmed in the town.
 * Ennis was featured on an episode of Haunted Highway in 2012.

title: Ennis, Montana