We’ve learned there is a balance of decision-making power between government and the people. Protections exist in our government documents to ensure government cannot overreach their authority. It also requires they protect the rights of all citizens, though it is not an equal level of protection.

The following videos explain further the background behind several important parts of our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

While you watch, you’re asked to develop the following in the given handout:

• summarize the important elements of each section of the Charter, per video
• create a list of terms or concepts that are significant, possibly new to you
• develop at least one thoughtful question related to each video section. (Remember to aim for questions that require a fair amount of thinking and cannot easily be answered by a specific moment in the video.)

Engaging with the Charter:

Some of the fundamental parts of the Charter are worth looking into a bit, including the following:

1. Limitations of a Charter right
   1. Keegstra – restriction on freedom of thought
   2. R. v. Big M Drug Mart Ltd (Calgary) – unconstitutional restriction on freedom of religion
   3. 1986 Oakes decision (test) (pg 4) – Narcotics Act violates Section 11d Canadian Charter – but not a reasonable infringement/violation, so Act struck down
      1. Section 11(d) Charter – presumed innocent
2. Fundamental Freedoms Section 2:
   1. Review Four Freedoms
   2. Debate: Does Section 2 protect your right to do each of the following or is that right limited?
      1. recite the Lord’s Prayer at the start of school in a public school
      2. a student refusing to stand during the Canadian national anthem
      3. denying social benefits for same-sex couples
      4. a newspaper publishing an anti-Jewish letter
      5. a Jehovah’s Witness parent refusing a blood transfusion that would save the life of their child
      6. a retail store firing an employee who, for religious reasons, refuses to work on Sundays
3. Democratic Rights:
   1. Section 4(1) of the Charter restricts a federal or provincial government from being in office longer than 5 years without an election for voters, but does not limit the length of time a politician can lead their party (if re-elected). The American constitution includes that restriction – the President can only be in power for a max of 8 years, whereas P.M. Stephen Harper was in power for 9 years. Should Canada have a max time like the Americans? Why or why not?
   2. Consider whether convicts should be allowed to vote, or expats – people who haven’t lived in Canada for at least 5 years.
   3. Should voting be compulsory or by choice in Canada? Countries where voting in elections is a requirement – is this democratic? 
4. Mobility Rights:
   1. Section 6: each citizen has the right to enter, remain, and leave the country, or move/live in any province. Many countries restrict that type of mobility freedom. Ex: Myanmar
   2. Consider whether a Canadian accused of a capital punishment crime in the United States should be extradited (apprehended by Canadian police and turned over to American authorities) for trial.
5. Legal Rights:
   1. Many cases of miscarriages of justice in Canadian history, including Donald Marshall. Should it matter what someone is accused of when judging whether their legal rights have been violated?
6. Notwithstanding Clause:
   1. Quebec’s ban on religious coverings

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Canada is considered one of the best societies in the world with high quality of living. Part of that measurement is because there are strong individual rights protected by law in Canada. Their source is Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This section explores that and what it means to Canadians.

1. These rights apply to Canadian citizens, including people with Permanent Resident status. They only lack two “Rights” other Canadians enjoy.
2. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms set out the protections for individuals, but as society changes and our needs so do the laws supporting those protections. The Supreme Court of Canada is the final say for laws in Canada.
   1. Example: Ban on Sikh kirpan overturned by Supreme Court
   2. Example: The 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision giving Nova Scotia Mikmaq peoples their right to fish for a “moderate livelihood” outside of the fishing season.
3. Decision-making power in any country is of primary importance. Who gets that power, how they use it, who is excluded from it: these are all important characteristics that can change what a society looks like. Canada’s Constitution document establishes that process and levels of power for decision-makers.
   1. Example: If a single dictator makes all decisions, it is a very different type of society as a result, than if every citizens has a part in the decision-making power, like we do in Canada.
   2. Example: Court cases are heard at the different levels, all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada. They make legal decisions that affect the law as it’s applied for all Canadians.
4. How is power divided in Canada? By the Canadian Constitution document that first established Canada as a country.
   1. 1. It was first made and named the British North America Act of 1867 (after the British defeated the outnumbered French troops in New France, the area first settled in Canada).
      2. Initially Canada was only made of four provinces
      3. The rest of the land within Canada’s current landmass was held as colonies by the British. Parts of Canada were added to Canada as provinces and territories over time.
      4. The decision-making power was held in Canada by government, but was still under the responsibility and authority of the British Crown, as part of the British colonies.
      5. Canada was later given freedom from the colonies, becoming truly its own country, with autonomy (its own decision-making control).
      6. An essential part of the original BNA Act are two Sections of the document which divide the decision-making responsibilities of the Federal (country-wide) and Provincial (regional) governments.
         1. Section 91 – Federal responsibilities
         2. Section 92 – Provincial responsibilities
      7. The British North America Act was later amended to be called the Constitution Act of 1982 in a big ceremony where the Queen of England came to Canada and brought with her the original BNA document that established Canada’s beginnings.
      8. Now a complete country made up of many provinces and territories, the federal Canadian government and provincial leaders negotiated an adjustment to the new document that would define how Canada as a country and society would function.
      9. A big part or change in that document was the creation/inclusion of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 
      10. Top Five Charter Facts You May Not Know infographic
5. Peace, Order and Good Government: a set of values
   1. The values Canadian laws were built on were different than the values American laws were built on. From their very early beginnings, the two neighbouring countries with similar pasts were already heading in different directions, which 150 years later results in two countries that are quite different to live in.
      1. Canada’s value goals: peace, order, and good government
      2. America’s value goals: life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
6. Review: The steps that got us to this place, this type of society and social contract?
   1. BNA Act creates Canada
   2. Powers set out for Federal (Canadian) government
   3. Powers set out for Provincial (Sask, BC, Manitoba, etc) government
   4. Relationship develops between Canada and its provinces/territories
   5. Bringing home the Constitution document – a British law becomes Canadian-owned
   6. Adding the Canadian Charter of Rights.
7. Not Absolute Rights: Reasonable Limitations of our Charter Rights
   1. It’s well known Canadians have protected rights because of the Charter, but not a lot of people understand those rights aren’t absolute rights.
   2. Your rights end when another person’s rights begin.
   3. Slideplayer: Canadian Rights are not Absolute Rights
   4. Example of Balance of Rights: 12 year old boy given authority to wear his sikh kerpan
   5. Example: Quebec’s reasonable/temporary restriction on religious restrictions
   6. Example: Keegstra’s reasonable limitation on his freedom of expression
   7. Example: New Brunswick uses Notwithstanding Clause to force vaccinations of students attending schools

https://prezi.com/ls5ixydydu30/section-one-of-the-charter-the-reasonable-limits-clause/

All these steps and parts of Canada’s social structure contribute to the reasons why Canadian society looks the way it does today and doesn’t look the way it does in Venezuela with corruption and poverty, or Syria with millions of citizens fleeing the country, or Nigeria with military soldiers firing on and killing civilian protestors.

Structure of Canada’s Court System – layers of decision-making power

Canada began with and is still widely reliant on its agriculture industry. Because of its importance to the country and globally, different initiatives have been developed to help support that industry.

1. Research online to learn about the following topics:
   1. Canada’s National Policy
   2. The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool
   3. The Co-operative/Credit Union movement
   4. The Canadian Wheat Board
2. For each, find information to explain:
   1. why the policy or organization was necessary? (what did it hope to accomplish?)
   2. what effect did it have?

Link to Google Doc

Our Social 10 studies have included the following topics:

• necessity of a social contract in society
• the roles of citizens and government in working together
• Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms
• characteristics of Democracy Canada enjoys, but are not equal throughout the world
• personal paradigms compared to political ideologies
• philosophers that influenced political thinking related to needs of people vs government
• Conservatism vs Liberalism ideologies, focused on different goals
  • whether a country is more left or right leaning on the horizontal scale of economy
  • whether a country is more left or right leaning (and up or down) on the vertical scale of social order

Examples from recent current events that connect to these ideas from class are posted below:

• Supreme Court Rules Reporter Must Share ISIS Notes with Police (link)

You’ve done research projects before, where you gathered data on a topic to learn more about it. The end result of that process was learning and possibly a summary of facts.

You’re about to do an Inquiry Project; this is different.

An Inquiry Project:

• begins with a specific question on a topic you want to learn more about
• it can be from a number of question options offered or one you develop on your own
• from your research on that specific question, the goal is to find the answer and form a personal conclusion/judgement on the topic.

We’ve studied the number of ways Canada is a democracy. Your inquiry project will relate to democracy in some way, either related to Canada, in comparison of one country to Canada, or studying another country entirely.

The list of questions offered to help you get started in your thinking:
(The red font indicates someone’s picked this topic.)

1. In comparing qualities of Canada to another country of the world, what makes Canada a better democracy than the other country?
2. Consider whether all countries in the world should be democracies. (Luke) 
3. Democracy is faltering in the international community; it’s weaker now than it’s been in ten years. Why is that?
4. What is changing in Poland (Luke), Turkey, Hungary (Ayslee) or Venezuela (Connor) to jeopardize their democracy rating on the index?
5. Some countries are rated to have lower freedom levels of their citizens. Pick one of these countries and find out what indicators exist to claim those citizens have a lower level of freedom?
6. Is Canada (currently or within the last decade) improving or sliding on the index as a democracy? (Jaxon)
7. Part of being a democracy is protecting the rights of citizens; when and how has Canada failed to protect citizens?(Lexi)
8. Is Canada currently or has it ever violated the human rights of Canadians? (Cameron)
9. What would make Canada more democratic on the index scale? (There are currently 5 other countries listed as more democratic than Canada.)
10. How is the quality of life of a Canadian in a highly democratic nation different from the quality of life of a citizen in a flawed democracy or authoritarian country? (Macey)
11. Myanmar was growing towards a democracy in the last few years, but many believe it has failed and stalled. What was changing in that country and is hope lost for the future of democracy for those people?

Resource Links: 

• Freedom in the World 2018 Table of Country Scores (index)
  Rates on Political Freedom, Civil Liberties, and Overall Freedoms
  
• Freedom in the World 2018 Democracy in Crisis 
  World map of free, partly free, and not free countries
  
• Wikipedia Democracy Index 
  Lists/scores fully democracies, flawed democracies, and authoritarian countries
  

Discussion example: 
In 2004, I lived with teachers in Prince Albert who taught at the Carlton High School. They were Ukranian and I recall them being concerned with an upcoming leadership election in the Ukraine. There were concerns of political corruption or interference, so several people worldwide were selected to go to the Ukraine to “monitor” and be witness to that election to be able to report back to the global community about the fairness of the election. The father of the family I stayed with travelled there to be one of these witnesses. It was around the same time that one political leader of the Ukraine was potentially poisoned – it caused clear damage to his face and body. As someone unfamiliar with stories from other countries, you may be surprised to learn of such corruption. It makes us more appreciative of Canada’s rule of law.
Now, 14 years after his poisoning, this former Ukrainian president has shared his reflections of his experience. 

Links to support the topics in the 05 section. This section covers the safeguards that work together in our Parliamentary system to ensure no one abuses power and it is held accountable.

• House of Commons layout/visual diagram – locations of members
• List of Canadian federal election results
• List of House of Commons Committees and schedule of their upcoming meetings
• CBC video: Canada’s immigration ministers divided on key issues July 2018
• Federal government (Liberal) cabinet ministers/positions 2018 
• Federal government (Conservative) opposition ministers/positions
• Parliament Cabinet Members and their Opposition Critics
• Supreme Court of Canada – 2018 Cases Heard/Decided