CPR Section House

CPR Section House

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Recognizing Basic Rights

"Society will always reward certain people/groups with unequivocal acceptance into the rhythms , laws, views and behaviours of the dominant culture . Constant vigilance and maintenance of this equilibrium is how a society strikes reasonable balance among its social and political groups."

                                       Shannon Thunderbird
                                        http://www.shannonthunderbird.com/







The focus brought to 'rights' in the 1960's began the process of formally entrenching certain rights and freedoms of every citizen into the laws of the land. Convention ( how it always had been done) and case law had to ensure the protection of those rights and freedoms when the Charter was officially added to the Constitution in 1982. 

Corporal punishment was shown to be against human rights. After 1960 , the practice of physical harm and unreasonable threat began a quick decline.

The highest of all corporal punishment - execution - was banned in Canada.

The focus became the development of self-discipline and responsibilities of individuals in schools and prisons. Consequences began to become more suitable to the offence .


Children's rights are directly tied to the rights and freedoms of their caretakers -primarily women. As women's rights improve so do the circumstances in which children find themselves .

Perhaps the greatest freedom given in the Charter is the permission to stand up for those rights and expect fair and equitable treatment without fear of unreasonable punishment . 

The greatest responsibility it places on every person is not to harm others by threatening their rights and freedoms in pursuit of one's own .



Photos from Archives Canada : http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/ 

1 comment:

Unknown said...

From 1749 until 1976 the death penalty was a part of Canadian law. In that time 1481 people were sentenced to death of which 697 men and 13 women were executed by hanging . The last execution took place in 1962. In 1950 , the first attempt to abolish the death penalty led to 20 years of hard work to accomplish it . Fear of wrongful conviction, the questioning of the states right to take a human life and the uncertainty as a deterrent for crime caused Canada to make the death penalty illegal officially in 1976.