The passage provides evidence to suggest that the author would be most likely to assent to which one of the following...

Mehran on May 16, 2017

Hi @knoxygirl, thanks for your question. This is a difficult question, and your reasons for liking answer choice (E) make sense. But a close read of the passage indicates why (E) is not correct.

Look at lines 12-16: "But this decision has placed on provincial courts the enormous burden of interpreting and translating the *necessarily* general constitutional language into specific rulings."

The key word here is "necessarily," which indicates to us that this author believes that constitutional language will always (necessarily) be somewhat general.

More indirectly, the final paragraph of this passage " in which the author looks to the Supreme Court of Canada to solve the problems outlined in the passage " indicates that the author thinks the real problem here is how courts are interpreting the constitutional reforms, rather than the language of the reforms themselves.

If the solution was a textual one--that is, if the only real solution was that the Canadian constitution's text be more specific--then the forum in which a case was heard and decided (provincial court vs. Supreme Court) would be irrelevant (because ultimately the text would dictate the outcome). The fact that the author here is asserting that a move from the provincial to the Supreme Court might be the only hope for indigenous success is telling: the author is not advocating for a clearer constitutional text, but rather arguing that the courts should undertake a more thoughtful application of the "necessarily" general constitutional language to each case.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.

sharpen7 on November 10, 2017

Does line 38 help us to pick C? How do we know to pick C?

Mehran on November 13, 2017

Hi @sharpen7, thanks for your post. Yes, answer choice (B) is supported by lines 28-39, a range which includes Line 38, which you identified. Hope this helps!

Ceci on October 8, 2018

So is the answer B or c?

Kath on October 21, 2019

Your explanation for E is extremely helpful! Appreciate it.