SS9 PAT Review Session: Individual & Collective Rights

Unit #3 Review: Individual & Collective Rights

Overview

  • This review session covers individual and collective rights in Canada.
  • Topics include:
    • Individual Rights
      • Charter Overview & the Five Types of Rights in Canada
      • Rights & Responsibilities
      • Rights Today
      • Charter Challenges
      • Rights in History
      • Workplace Rights
    • Collective Rights
      • Overview of Collective Rights & the Groups in Canada that have Collective Rights
      • Language Rights & Language Education Rights
      • The Numbered Treaties
      • The Indian Act
      • Métis Rights

Ground Rules

  • Active participation is expected and valued.
  • Disruptive behavior will result in a warning, followed by being asked to leave.
  • Completing review notes during the session is essential.
  • The session should be interactive and enjoyable.

What are Rights Again?

  • What are Freedoms?

Individual vs. Collective Rights

  • There are two categories of rights in Canada:
    • Individual Rights
    • Collective Rights

Individual Rights in Canada

  • Individual rights are guaranteed to every citizen.
  • These rights are protected by law in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

  • The Charter is part of Canada’s constitution.
  • All other laws must align with the Charter.
  • Canadians can challenge laws that they believe infringe upon their rights.
  • The judicial branch interprets these challenges and determines how rights can be restricted.

Fundamental Freedoms

  • Freedom of Expression:
    • The right to express thoughts and opinions through speech, dress, and actions.
  • Freedom of Conscience:
    • The right to choose beliefs, religion, or no religion.
  • Freedom of Association:
    • The freedom to connect with any person or group.
  • Freedom of Peaceful Assembly:
    • The freedom to organize peaceful meetings and demonstrations.

Democratic Rights

  • The right to vote for members of the House of Commons and provincial legislatures.
  • The right to a new government at least every five years.
  • The right to run for office.
  • Permanent Residents do not have the right to vote or hold public office.

Mobility Rights

  • The freedom to move and work anywhere in Canada.
  • The right to enter, stay in, or leave Canada.
  • Applies to Permanent Residents as well.

Legal Rights

  • The right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.
  • The right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned.
  • Upon arrest or detention, individuals have the right:
    • (a) To be informed promptly of the reasons for the arrest.
    • (b) To have a lawyer without delay and to be informed of that right.

Legal Rights - Continued

  • Any person charged with an offence has the right:
    • (a) To be informed without unreasonable delay of the specific offence.
    • (b) To be tried within a reasonable time.
    • (c) Not to be forced to be a witness against themselves.
    • (d) To be presumed innocent until proven guilty in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial court.
  • A party or witness who doesn't understand the language or is deaf has the right to an interpreter.

Equality Rights

  • Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination, especially based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability.
  • The government should protect its citizens from discrimination.

Rights & Responsibilities

  • Rights come with responsibilities.
  • Citizenship responsibilities include:
    • Obeying the law
    • Taking care of oneself and family
    • Serving on a jury
    • Voting in elections
    • Helping others in the community
    • Protecting the country’s heritage and environment

Rights Today

  • Issues can arise when new laws conflict with Charter rights.
  • The No Fly List is a recent example:
    • It lists individuals who are not allowed to board an airplane.
    • The list is secret, so individuals may not know they are on it until they try to fly.
    • It mainly includes individuals charged with or suspected of terrorism or aviation-related crimes.

Charter Challenges

  • A Charter Challenge is a court case to determine if an individual’s rights have been restricted or violated.
  • The Supreme Court of Canada assesses whether and how rights have been impacted.

Charter Challenges - Big M Drug Mart & The Lord’s Day Act

  • R. V. Big M Drug Mart:
    • A drug store (pharmacy) in Calgary, AB was charged with violating the Lord’s Day Act, which required businesses to close on Sundays.
    • The Supreme Court found that the Lord's Day Act restricted the drug store owner’s Freedom of Conscience (religion).
    • The Lord’s Day Act was repealed in Alberta due to the court’s ruling.

Rights in History

  • Canada’s government has historically restricted or violated rights, especially before the Charter.
  • Such issues still occur today.

Rights in History – Indian Act

  • A law for Indigenous people who had made treaties with the federal government.
  • It was passed without consulting Indigenous people, at a time when people of European descent generally viewed European ways as superior to the ways of other cultures.
  • At points in its history, the Indian Act:
    • Required First Nations people to obtain government permission to wear traditional clothing.
    • Banned traditional ceremonies
    • Prevented First Nations from taking political action.

Rights in History – Women’s Suffrage

  • For over fifty years after Canada became a country, the Elections Act barred women from voting and running as candidates in federal elections.
  • The women's suffrage movement began in 1876 and in 1918 women finally gained the right to vote.
  • Suffrage is the right to vote.

Rights in History – Japanese Internment

  • During WW2, roughly 22,000 Japanese Canadians had their rights restricted.
  • The government feared they might support the Empire of Japan.
  • Japanese Canadians were forcibly relocated into internment camps in the B.C. mountains, allowed only one suitcase, and their other belongings/house/businesses were sold off.
  • After the war, they were not allowed to return to their original homes; most moved to Alberta. The government formally apologized in the 1980s and compensated the victims.
  • Violated rights include:
    • Freedom of Expression
    • Freedom of Association
    • Mobility Rights
    • Legal Rights
    • Equality Rights

Rights in History – Ukrainian & Italian Internment

  • During WW1 (Ukrainian) and WW2 (Italian), Ukrainian and Italian Canadians were also interned.
  • Fewer people were interned compared to Japanese internment.
  • Violated rights also include:
    • Freedom of Expression
    • Freedom of Association
    • Mobility Rights
    • Legal Rights
    • Equality Rights

Workplace Rights

  • Rights issues can arise in the workplace.
  • An employer or coworker might restrict individual rights, either on purpose or accidental.

Workplace Rights – Religious Discrimination

  • The story of Baltej Singh:
    • Challenged regulations concerning religious attire (turban) in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
    • Despite initial resistance, his efforts led to policy changes allowing officers to wear turbans.
    • The rights at play here are Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Expression.

Workplace Rights – Age Discrimination

  • Professor Olive Dickason challenged the University of Alberta's mandatory retirement age of 65.
  • She argued it was discrimination based on age, violating the Charter’s guarantee of “equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination.”
  • The Supreme Court disagreed because she had agreed to retire at 65 before she took her teaching position.
  • Since the Supreme Court ruling, provinces in Canada have reexamined their legislation concerning retirement. Some provinces, including Alberta, have made it illegal for employers to force employees to retire because of their age.

Collective Rights in Canada

  • Collective rights are different from individual rights.
  • Every Canadian citizen and permanent resident has individual rights.
  • Collective rights are rights Canadians have for belonging to one of several, specific groups in Canadian society.

Why Does Canada Have Collective Rights?

  • Collective rights set Canada apart from other nations.
  • Collective rights recognize the founding peoples of Canada.
  • Canada would not exist today without the contribution of these peoples.
  • Collective rights come from the roots of Indigenous peoples, Francophones, and Anglophones in the land and history of Canada

Laws Recognizing Collective Rights

  • Indigenous Peoples:
    • Numbered Treaties
    • The Indian Act
    • Canada's Constitution
  • Anglophones and Francophones:
    • Canada's Constitution
  • Inuit:
    • Modern Treaties
    • Canada's Constitution
  • Métis:
    • Modern Treaties
    • Canada's Constitution
    • The Manitoba Act

Language Rights & History

  • Language Rights protect Canada’s two official languages: English and French.
  • Anglophone = Person whose first language is English
  • Francophone = Person whose first language is French
  • Since English is the most spoken language in Canada, it is often French that is protected by law.
  • Language Rights exist because the rights of the French to speak their language have not always been respected in the past.
  • Both the British North America Act (the law that created Canada as an independent country from Britain) and the Charter guarantee language rights to Anglophones and Francophones.

Language Rights – Official Bilingualism

  • Sections 16 & 20 of the Charter established French and English as Canada’s official languages.
  • Official Bilingualism means that Canadian citizens have the right to interact with the federal government in either English or French. For example, if an RCMP officer pulls you over for speeding, you have the right to respond in either French or English.

Language Rights – Official Bilingualism Cont.

  • In Canada, Quebec is the only province where the majority of people speak French. All other provinces in Canada are predominantly English speaking.
  • New Brunswick is Canada’s only officially bilingual province.
  • Nunavut is unique in Canada because Inuktitut is the province’s most common language.

Language Rights – Education Rights

  • Under Section 23 of the Charter, Francophone or Anglophone minority populations of sufficient size in any province have the right to publicly funded (paid for by the government) schools in their language.
  • For example, Francophones living in Alberta have the right to schooling in French if their community is of a sufficient size.

Language Rights – Bill 101

  • In the 1970’s, Francophones in Quebec began to feel threatened by the growth of English in the province so they passed a law called Bill 101. It made French the official language of Quebec.
  • The goal of Bill 101 is to protect French in Quebec.
  • The law makes it mandatory for French to be used in government buildings, schools and workplaces.

The Treaties & Treaty Rights

  • The Treaties are historic agreements that affect the rights of Indigenous people in Canada.
  • They have roots in the Royal Proclamation of 1763.
  • There are 11 treaties in total, signed between 1871 and 1921, covering a vast area of Central and Western Canada.

Why Were the Treaties Signed?

  • The British wanted to settle the West and build a railway to attract more European immigrants.
  • Indigenous people were facing hardship because of starvation and disease.
  • Both sides wanted to avoid conflict.
  • Each treaty is an agreement regarding land and resources.

The Nature of the Treaties

  • Today, because of the treaties, the Canadian government provides education, healthcare, reserve land and annuities (annual payments) to many Indigenous people in Canada.

Interpreting the Treaties

  • Over time, problems have arisen because of different interpretations of the treaties.
  • The Canadian government and Indigenous people do not see the treaties the same way.
  • Both sides have different understandings of ownership, and there is disagreement between the oral and written versions of the treaties.
  • Indigenous people view the treaties as agreements to share the land peacefully.
  • In contrast, Canada’s government has traditionally viewed the treaties as an agreement that transferred ownership to the government and European settlers. In other words, the settlers bought the land from the Indigenous people.

Modern Treaties

  • Modern agreements or treaties between Indigenous people and governments in Canada also establish collective rights. For example:
    • Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (1993):
      • Established Inuit title to more than 350,000 square kilometers in Nunavut.
    • Nisga’a Final Agreement (2000):
      • Established the rights of the Nisga’a Nation to more than 1900 square kilometers in British Columbia and to govern themselves.

Indian Act

  • The federal law that covers the status and rights of First Nations people.
  • First passed in 1876 and has been amended several times since.
  • The Indian Act created:
    • Indian Reserves
    • Indian “Status”
    • Indian Agents (Government Officials who ran and controlled Reserves).

Goal of the Indian Act

  • The original goal of the Indian Act was assimilation.
  • Assimilation is the process of being integrated into the culture of the dominant group in a society.