The nothwithstanding clause (or override power) is the name of the legislative power under section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The federal Parliament or a provincial legislature may declare a law or part of a law to apply temporarily "notwithstanding" certain sections of the Charter. Essentially, using it to negate any federal, provincial or judicial review by overriding the rights enuciated in the Charter for a limited period of time. This is done by including a section in the law specifically specifying which rights have been overridden. Such a declaration lapses after five years or a lesser time specified in the clause, although it may be re-enacted indefinitely. The rationale behind having a five year expiry date is that it is also the maximum amount of time that the Parliament or legislature may sit before an election must be called. Therefore, if the people wish for the law to be repealed they have the right to elect representatives that will carry out the wish of the electorate. Although, if fundamental rights such as - freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of association - can be overridden, then this begs the question of whether or not the people do have the right to do so.

The use of this clause is most noted for its inclusion in the Quebec language law, known as Bill 101, after sections of that law was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in Ford v. Quebec (A.G.). On December 21, 1989 the Premier of the Province of Quebec employed the "notwithstanding clause" to override freedom of expression (section 2b), and freedom equality (section 15). This allowed the Province of Quebec to continue the restriction against the posting of any commercial signs in languages other than French.

The only other use of the notwithstanding clause to date was with respect to a labor law passed by the Province of Saskatchewan. In this case the law was later ruled to be consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, making the use of the clause unnecessary. Recently, Ralph Klein, Premier of the Province of Alberta has declared that he will implement the nothwitstanding clause to prevent any Supreme Court of Canada order that allows marriage between same sex partners.