Presentation Transcript

1. How does the Charter affect law making in Canada?
2. Let’s Start with an Example: Imagine you’re in a hospital, and none of the doctors or nurses speak your language What would you do? Do you think that would be unfair to you, the patient? Up until 1990, Robin Eldridge and John and Linda Warren (all from BC) could go to a hospital and have someone who could translate the doctor’s advice to them in sign language , as they had all been born deaf However, in 1990, cutback on hospital funds took away this service and when Linda went to the hospital to give birth, she could not understand anything she was told by the healthcare staff
3. What rights were being violated in the case of Linda Warren? She took her case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, stating that by failing to provide interpreters, the BC provincial government was violating their equality rights under the Charter She won her case
4. How the Charter has changed laws in Canada Have you ever spent a Sunday afternoon shopping? For many of your parents and grandparents, this was not an option as businesses were required to be closed on Sundays due to the “Lord’s Day Act” The “Lord’s Day Act” was a law that upheld the Christian Sabbath or day of rest* Could the “Lord’s Day Act” be considered a violation by itself?
5. Continued.... Three months after the Charter of Rights and Freedoms became part of Canada’s constitution in 1982, Calgary’s Big M Drug Mart deliberately broke the law and opened on a Sunday in order to make a point When the challenge came before the Supreme Court, it overturned the Lord’s Day Act because it was felt it violated Canadians’ fundamental right to freedom of conscience and religion Do you agree with the Supreme Court’s decision?
6. Flying Restrictions In June 2007, Canada’s government banned certain people from travelling by air for security reasons http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/ID=1334436708 Read article on pg. 107 Why do people disagree with this no-fly list? Do you agree or disagree? Why?
7. How does the Charter affect the workplace? In 2001, four Ontario women and five labour unions launched a “Charter Challenge”, arguing that the province was discriminating against them based on gender They argued that the province was not paying men and women equally for performing the same jobs This issue is called “pay equity” They claimed that they and their female co-workers were owed millions of dollars in lost wages, and eventually won their case, receiving $414 million paid to them by the Ontario government Based on what you know about the Charter and the rights of Canadians, why did they win their case?
8. Do people have the right to work without facing discrimination based on their age? In the early 1990s, Professor Olive Dickason challenged whether the University of Alberta could force her to retire at age 65 The Charter entitles everyone to “equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination” Dickason argued that forced retirement was discrimination based on age However, the Supreme Court disagreed with her, because she had agreed to retire at age 65 before she took her position at the University of Alberta Another example: http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/ID=1372184780 Do you think a required age of retirement for Canadians is necessary and fair? Or do you agree with Olive Dickason?