Through my research I found that Canada’s provinces and territories act in a similar way to the individual states within the United States. The provinces enact government responsibilities, properties, and task. Some of their responsibilities include establishing healthcare and educational system for their residents. All provinces are unicameral, utilize a parliamentary, and have officials who are elected using first-past-the-post electoral system. The provinces include: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Labrador, Prince Edward Islands, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. There are three territories which are the Northwest territories, Nunavut and Yukon which all include their own legislatures but …show more content…
The Charter applies to governmental laws and actions including common law, but excludes private activity. I have observed that within the Charter of Rights & Freedoms are the right to freedom of religion, expression, press, the right to a democratic government and political participation, the freedom to live in and freely leave Canada, the right to life, security, liberty, and peaceful assembly. The Charter also includes protections against discrimination based on race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, and ethnicity; as well as the right to be educated in French or English.
Does the system work effectively? Explain how it works to benefit its citizens? Throughout my extensive research, I argue that Canada’s system does work effectively. Representation within the House of Commons is by population which in turn allows for every district and individual interest to utilize this platform to make their voices heard. Taking this a step forward, I found that question-periods take place in the House where the members of the opposition from various parties are allowed to question the Prime Minister and his cabinet on
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The rights of the people are clearly stated in the Charter of Rights & Freedoms and there are protections if these certain rights are violated. The Charter provides protections based on an individual’s race, nationality/ethnic group, sex, disability, and sexual orientation. Similarly to the United States’ Bill of Rights, the Charter gives citizens the right to freedom of speech, religion, and protest as long as these acts do not infringe on the rights of other citizens. The Charter also provides language rights that allow minority language education, which gives citizens the right to attend schools of their native language, in and outside of Quebec. This means French speakers retain the right to be educated in French even when not in the Quebec province, as well as English speakers retaining the right to be taught in English within the Quebec province. In the chance that an individual’s rights are being violated or limited, citizens can challenge these limitations. The Charter establishes three remedies for when rights violations can be challenged: if no “appropriate or just circumstances” have been declared, if the law is found invalid or takes away someone’s rights, or if the authorities violate a person’s right during an investigation.
This charter means that everyone no matter what race, religion, sex, national origin, age or mental and physical abilities they have they are protected. The charter allows people to have basic human fundamental rights that most government rules and regulations were restricting before it came into act. The freedom of speech, religion and to associate yourself with whoever you want are just some of those rights that are being offered with the entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Finally the last achievements that Pierre Trudeau did that assisted in making Canada better are the legalization of laws on abortion, homosexuality and lotteries.
Now that you are up to date with currents events I will briefly touch on some strong point of the Canadian democratic system. Citizens in Canada indirectly hold power in a free electoral system and are given better representation and more freedoms for their citizens than other systems of government. The freedom of speech, freedom of political expression, and the freedom of the media allow citizens to vote in favour of their own interest. Democracy in Canada is rooted on the grounds of equal rights; this gives people equality before the law, human rights, free and fair elections and so on. In comparison to the Third World, power is in the hands of the “Big Men”, the police and army are the ones who hold control not the people and where corruption is a norm, Canada may look like a utopia. Another strong point in the Canadian political system is everyone no matter race or sex has the right to vote as long as you are a Canadian citizen over the age of eighteen. Until the 60s/70s parties would make up electoral boundaries this was done to increase the number of votes in that location this is called gerrymander, this was unfair because certain parties had an advantage over others. However, now under the Electoral Boundaries Commissions this problem does not occur and no party has the upper hand over another. Interestingly the
Canada is the second largest land mass of any country and is composed of 10 provinces, and three territories; However, Quebec and Ontario make up the majority of the seats in the house of commons. Political parties must gain the support of either Quebec or Ontario if they want to win a federal
Three major classes of rights are protected by both the Canadian and United States constitutions. Freedom of expression, religion, and assembly are safeguarded in part I section 2 of the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, and in the First Amendment of the American Constitution. The Legal Rights listed in sections 7-14 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, protecting criminal suspects and defendants by various procedural safeguards, are paralleled by American rights to have counsel against
To define the term “nation” is quite a challenging task. The Student’s Oxford Canadian Dictionary defines a nation as, “a community of people forming a state or inhabiting a territory” (Barber, et al., 2007). In contrast to many other resources, this definition is an extremely simple one. The same dictionary defines a state as “an organized political community under one government” (Barber, et al., 2007). By these definitions, Canada clearly
The Canadian Charter of Rights has been entrenched in the Constitution Act of 1982 since 1982 and affected the lives of countless Canadians ever since it was passed, with most if not all of the effects being positive. This can be proven by the fact that the act that the act has only faced two amendments in the 35 years it has been in effect. Furthermore, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has five components; Fundamental Freedoms, Democratic Rights, Mobility Rights, Legal Rights, and Equality Rights. All of these were designed to make sure that Canadians face no discrimination, and are not denied any basic rights. This can be seen by seeing how much the quality of life for Canadians has increased over the time the Charter has been embedded in the Constitution, by how much the Charter actually does protect the rights of Canadians.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms upholds the individual rights of all Canadians. Agree or disagree with the following statement.
Collective rights are what makes Canada uniquely different from the other countries. These rights have grown more equal over time to shape Canada to become a fair and equitable governed society. Collective rights are rights given to specific groups for historical and constitutional reasons for groups such as the First Nations, Inuit, Francophones and Anglophones. As great as it sounds, back in Canadian history back when collective rights were just starting off as treaties and laws, First Nations and the Metis were faced with assimilation. Francophones and Anglophones were given collective educational rights when put in a minority setting. Without collective rights shifting to become better, historical groups who found Canada would have either
Apart from the other laws in Canada’s constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is an important law that affects every Canadian’s rights and freedoms. It was created in 1981 by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to provide legal protection for the most important rights and freedoms. These rights include fundamental freedoms, democratic rights, mobility rights, and legal rights. Most but not all articles included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are protected in the constitution. However, if a Canadian feels that their rights are violated, they can challenge laws and unfair actions using the justice system. In my opinion, I believe the Canadian Charter of Human Rights somewhat protects Canadians’ rights and
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was signed into law by Queen Elizabeth II April 17, 1982. Often referred to as the Charter, it affirms the rights and freedoms of Canadians in the Constitution of Canada. The Charter encompasses fundamental freedoms, democratic rights, mobility rights, legal rights, language rights and equality rights. The primary function of the Charter is to act as a regulatory check between Federal, Provincial and Territorial governments and the Canadian people. Being a successor of the Canadian Bill of Rights that was a federal statute, amendable by Parliament, the Charter is a more detailed and explicit constitutional document that has empowered the judiciary to render regulations and statutes at both the
government is not the only government that has power; provincial governments have a role in
Canada adopted multiculturalism as an official policy, which allows the value and dignity of all Canadians, regardless of their racial origins, language or religious affiliations. Plus the status of two official languages, French and English. Canada promotes multiculturalism by encouraging Canadians to participate in all aspects of life. Regardless of their background, anyone can participate in social, cultural, economic, and political affairs. Everyone is equal to one another. Everyone has the right to be heard. These rights are provided to us through our Canadian constitution and our charter of rights and freedoms. Some people come to Canada and have a history of hate towards an ethnic group. Promoting hatred is not permitted in Canada. You have the right to have your own ethnicity in Canada but you must also respect others right to do the same. Canada has experienced racial and ethnic tensions. But the majority of Canadians are fair minded. We will accept and respect them that will accept and respect us. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects the freedom of religious expression. For those who are new comers to Canada, you may contribute to this country’s diversity. But you need to be prepared to live in a
As we know from section two of the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms everyone has certain fundamental freedoms, and among those rights is the freedom of conscience and religion. Secularism comes as a shock to Canadians because of how many people immigrate to Canada because of its positive attitudes towards multiculturalism. After presenting opposing arguments with concern to the promotion of a secular state through a device such as the Québec Charter, I will that the Charter because it violates basic human rights and forces secularism onto the Quebecois.
In theory, the Parliament is the most important institution in the Canadian government and all members of the parliament are equal. The Prime Minister is supposed to be primus inter pares, meaning first among equals. But over the years, the cabinet has become more institutionalized and less departmentalized. Hence the Prime Minister’s power has increased over the years. Canada is the one of the most decentralized federations in the
Today, Ontario and Quebec have maintained their 24 member senatorial status. The four Western provinces have 6 members each. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick both have 10 seats. Prince Edward Island was given 4 out of the original 24 Maritime senators. Together, Newfoundland and Labrador have a total of 6 members. Finally, Nunavut, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories stand in the equation with 1 senator apiece. Along with the Senate`s original intentions, the principle of equality between the provinces is evidently lost. The Senate primarily fails because it was formerly created to balance out the representation by population which lies in the House of Commons however currently only seems to reinforce it. In fact, Canada’s central provinces, Ontario and Quebec, account for 60 percent of the seats in the House of Commons and almost half of the seats in the Senate at 46 percent.5 The inadequacy of regional representation is emphasized as the Canada West Foundation clearly states: “Canada is the only democratic federal system in the world in which the regions with the largest populations dominate both houses of the national legislature.“6 With an unelected Senate that no longer fulfills its role of equal regional representation and a House of Commons grounded on the representation of provinces proportional to their population, the legitimacy of Parliament has become a