1. What Are Rights and Responsibilities?
Unit 1
What Are Rights and Responsibilities?

2. Where Do Rights and Responsibilities Originate?
Canada has the Canadian Human Rights Act (1977), and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to enshrine individual rights in our nation
Canada also has the “Privacy Act” to help protect individual privacy (it keeps people from being allowed to gather information about you, enter your property, etc)
So.... There’s lots of laws and acts to tell us what our rights are and what our freedoms are.... But not much to tell us about our...RESPONSIBILITIES

3. What are Rights?
Definition: Something that a person is morally or legally entitled.
But if you’ve got all these benefits, shouldn’t you take some responsibility as well?
Well, if you don’t, the system wont last very long
Rights
Freedom of Thought
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of Religion
Responsibilities
Obey the Law
Express your opinions but respect the opinions of others
Eliminate discrimination and injustice

4. Rights in Conflict Sometimes two rights can clash...
Like when a child misbehaves and a parent decides to punish them
The child has a RIGHT to protection, but a parent also has a RIGHT to exercise authority over his/her child
There are limits to your rights as well.
You might have the right to self expression but you cant wear a bikini to school
You might have the right to bear arms (U.S.) but it doesn’t mean you can shoot at people

5. What Are Charter Freedoms?
The Difference Between a Right and a Freedom:
Whenever there is a right, the government has a duty to protect that right
When you are talking about a freedom, it is something you automatically have WITHOUT the government needing to do anything specific to allow it.
You have the RIGHT to vote – The Government has a DUTY to set up voting stations
You have the FREEDOM of the Press – The Government can just stay out of the way

6. Freedom of Religion
Freedom of Religion means that you have the freedom to worship whatever religion you want and that the state cannot impose any religious laws on the people of Canada
Did you know:
Until 1985 retail stores were closed on Sunday?
Until 1992 students began each day in Manitoba with Prayer?
These practices ended after courts ruled that they violated section 2A of the Charter which guarantees freedom of conscience and religion

7. Freedom of Thought and Expression
You are Free to think what you want and express your thoughts as you want
But, as in the case of rights, only to a “Reasonable Limit”
Mr. Kolstad has Freedom of Expression but can he tell you that all Blond haired people are actually robots from the future here to destroy our oceans? (Hint: no)
“Reasonable Limits” mean that you cannot simply do or say anything you want if it is harmful to the general population
School Dress codes are also upheld by these reasonable limits.

8. What Are Our Charter Rights?
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms formalizes your basic rights, but more specific rights are created through a court’s interpretation of the Charter in specific situations.
So, For example, you have the right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment.
But how do we define cruel and unusual?

9. Democratic Rights
You have the right to elect your representatives to Parliament
Franchise has been growing since the beginning of Canada
Used to be only land owning white men could vote
Then women, other races
Now even prisoners can vote...

10. Legal Rights
Legal rights ensure that you are treated fairly when dealing with the legal system
You have the right to be secure against unreasonable search
The right to not be arbitrarily detained
Police officers have the ability to search you because they are in a position of authority and legally able to do so
Same with school officials and teachers who, while you are at school, act in place of your parents under the law
In each of these cases, however, there needs to be reasonable cause for the search– not even a police officer can just arbitrarily search you
Sometimes there is a reasonable situation in which your rights can be infringed upon – Like in the case of drunk driving check points

11. Equality Rights
Everyone has the right to equal treatment under the law regardless of their race, ethnicity, language, colour, sex, religion...
Equality rights are designed to ensure that everyone has the same opportunity no matter what– we try to remove barriers to success and between each other.

12. Same-Sex Marriage, Disability, and Language Rights
Sexual Orientation cannot be discriminated against. As a result they receive the same benefits as any heterosexual couple
Including the right to marry, not be discriminated against when seeking employment, etc.
Disability Rights
Hot button issue – Disability activists worked very hard to build disability rights so that people with disabilities have the same access to buildings, services, and benefits as everyone else
Language Rights
French and English Speaking minorities have the right to education in their own language in any province and territory as long as there are enough to justify it
In 1993 Manitoba had to make a French Language school system because there were more than enough French speakers here to justify having one

13. Ahnald Sayz: Do Dees Qvestions! Or Else...
Review the “Face Off: Freedom of Religion Versus Right to Security” on page 57
Answer questions 1 and 2 completely and put them in your folder.