A legal , moral, or social
entitlement due to all people
because they are human
beings.
The ability to conduct one’s
affairs without being
hampered
or frustrated.
QUOTES
Freedom is anarchy.
Rights are freedoms expressed with responsibility
Rights are something you are entitled to.
Freedom is being able to express your entitlements
Residential Schools
THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT
Human rights became a global issue after WW II
UNIVERSAL DECLARATION
OF HUMAN RIGHTS
-backed by the UN after
-“all human beings are born free & equal in
dignity & rights”.
-Most countries have agreed to these principles.
-Problem – the only power the UN has is
‘world attention.’
-Not part of binding international law.
Stalin’s Purges
Apartheid
Protest in China
INTERNATIONAL COURTS
AND TRIBUNALS
1946 International Court of Justice (Both parties had to agree)
2002 a more permanent International Criminal Court established.
USA, China & others opposed (internal courts sufficient)
World Abuses
1870-1996Canada’s Indian Act &
Residential Schools
1900-69 Australia ‘Stolen Generation’
1924-53 Stalin
1939-45 Holocaust
1948-94 Apartheid
1959-? Chinese occupied Tibet
1971-79 Dictatorship in Uganda
1989 Tiananmen Square China
1991-99 Civil War Sierra Leone
1992-95 Bosnian War
1994 Rwandan Genocide
2004 Darfur genocide
Rwandan Genocide



CANADIAN BILL OF RIGHTS – 1960
Diefenbaker
Formally recognized Can. Rights held by common law.
 Problem – ‘No teeth’ -> Could be changed like any other law.
 Did not override Fed. Or Prov. laws.

THE SUPREME COURT
& THE RULE OF lAW
CANADIAN CHARTER OF RIGHTS & FREEDOM
‘The Bill of Rights with teeth’ -> Trudeau included in Constitution.
Trudeau
 Limiting The Charter –

 Reasonable Limits (Keegstra’s teachings on Holocaust)
 Notwithstanding Clause – Fed. & Prov. Leg. have final say (Bill 101)
THE CHARTER IN ACTION

association.
Mobility Rights (Free movement)
 No extradition for death penalties, Effects of 9-11.

Delwin Vriend
School teacher fired
for being gay by a
religious private,
school in Alberta
Equality Rights
 Race, origin, colour, religion, sex, age, disability.
 Exceptions – Affirmative action – protects minority rights &
disadvantaged.

Gurbaj Singh
Kirpan in
school issue
Fundamental Freedoms
 Conscience, religion, thought, belief, opinion, expression, assembly, &

James Keegstra
Alberta teacher
who taught hatred
(Holocaust)
Legal Rights
 Arrest procedures, questioning, search & seizure.
TRUANT’S GOLDEN RULE – “Life, Liberty, & Security”
Do airport
scanners violate
your rights?
Other Issues
Concert goers Abortion
Public cameras Pregnacy
Radar cameras Gay Marriage
REASONABLE LIMITS CLAUSE
“Charter must be reasonable”
The Oakes Test
- Oakes had 8 vials of hash & $600.
- Charged with trafficking; Onus was
on him to prove innocence.
- Supreme said small amounts is
unreasonable for reverse onus.
Violates “Presumption of Innocence”
NOTWITHSTANDING
CLAUSE
Provinces wanted an assurance to
protect local issues.
Quebec - Bill 101 / 178
French only signs / language
“Life, Liberty, Security.” The Oakes Test 1928-72 Alberta Sterilization Program
1.
2.
3.
Must be important
Must be rational
Limits must be
as minimal as
possible.
Oakes possessed 8 vials of hash oil
4. Must fit societies
& $600 cash.
objectives.
Trafficking??? Personal Use???
Innocence???
Klein tried used clause to protect
provinces from civil
suit based on
previous gov’t.
FAILED!!!!!
JURISDICTION & ENFORCEMENT
JURISDICTION
- Applies to all gov’t organizations
- Ex. Gov’t Branches, corporations, banks.
- Private individuals will look to Fed. & Prov. Human Rights Codes
- Ex. Discrimination renting or hiring
ENFORCEMENT
- People can challenge gov’t positions through the Supreme Court
- Charter is written in general terms so judges can interpret individual cases.
- Questions to be asked by Supreme Courts:
1. Is the right covered by Charter?
2. Were these rights infringed upon by gov’t?
3. Is the violation within reasonable limits?
EXAMPLE – Polygamy – Bountiful
1. Freedom of Religion
2. Arresting practicing members
3. Under-aged (forced???) marriages
Video - Bountiful
CANADA’S HISTORICAL BLACK EYES
Banning Potlatch
Illegal to hire lawyers
1960 = Right to vote
Residential Schools
Slavery banned
in 1833
Alberta
Sexual
Sterilization
Act
Chinese Head Tax
1900s
1929
Psychiatric
Hospital
Patients
Women = Vote
1918
1928
Komogata Maru
1914
Women not
Considered
“Persons”
WW II
War Measures Act
Enemy Aliens (Deported, No land)
Internment Camps
Jews = No Land
SUE RODRIGUEZ
(August 2, 1950 – February 12, 1994)
ADVOCATE FOR ASSISTED SUICIDE.
- lived in Victoria, British Columbia
- diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in early 1991.
- fought to legalize assisted suicide; under the Criminal Code of Canada,
- assisted suicide is punishable by a maximum sentence of 14 years in
prison.
- Her cause went to the Supreme Court of Canada, but lost. (5-4 against her.)
- On September 30, 1993, she decided to take her own life with the help of an
- Anonymous physician.
- would become a landmark decision, Rodriguez v. British Columbia (Attorney General),
- In 1994, she decided to take her own life with the help of an anonymous
physician.
- Svend Robinson, a New Democratic Party MP
who had campaigned her cause, was also
present.