Tuesday, June 1. 2021

Today's classes are:

9:15 - 11:50 C Block Legal Studies

12:30 - 3:05 B Block Human Geography

C Block Legal Studies - Today we'll start by looking at R. v. Nette (2001) and answer questions 1-4 on the case together. In terms of the Nette case and causation the citation states:

A 95-year-old widow who lived alone was robbed and left bound with electrical wire on her bed with a garment around her head and neck. Sometime during the next 48 hours, she died from asphyxiation. During an RCMP undercover operation, the accused told a police officer that he had been involved in the robbery and death. The accused was charged with first degree murder under s. 231(5) of the Criminal Code -- murder while committing the offence of unlawful confinement -- and tried before a judge and jury. At trial, he claimed that he had fabricated the admission. He testified that he had gone alone to the victim’s house only with intent to break and enter, that the back door to the house was open as though someone already had broken into the home, and that he left after finding the victim already dead in her bedroom. The trial judge charged the jury on manslaughter, second degree murder and first degree murder under s. 231(5) of the Code. In response to a request from the jury that he clarify the elements of first degree murder and the “substantial cause” test, the trial judge essentially reiterated his charge. Overall, he charged that the standard of causation for manslaughter and second degree murder was that the accused’s actions must have been “more than a trivial cause” of the victim’s death while, for first degree murder under s. 231(5), the accused’s actions also must have been a “substantial cause” of her death. On two occasions, however, once in the main charge and once in the re-charge, he described the standard of causation for second degree murder as “the slight or trivial cause necessary to find second degree murder” instead of “more than a trivial cause”. The jury found the accused guilty of second degree murder and the Court of Appeal upheld that verdict. The only ground of appeal both before the Court of Appeal and this Court concerned the test of causation applicable to second degree murder.

The Nette case deals with "causation" and murder which helps with questions 3-4-5 on p. 221 that I'll have you work on for me. After, we'll finish up the violent crimes section of this unit. First we'll review assault and sexual assault. In Canada, there are three levels of assault, based on the level of severity and corresponding penalties:

Level One: assault (max penalty 5 years)
Level Two: assault causing bodily harm (max penalty 10 years)
Level Three: aggravated assault (max penalty 14 years)

These levels are identified in section 265 of the Criminal Code. All assaults have two common elements:

1. The accused must have intent to carry out the attack and cause harm.
2. There must be no consent by the victim (for example, as in a boxing match).

Now, legally speaking, parents have rights to use corrective measures in order to discipline children. This issue was raised in the Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada (Attorney General) 2004 case. In its decision, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld Section 43 of the Criminal Code which "provides that a parent, teacher, or person acting in the place of a parent is justified in using force to correct a child’s behaviour that is under his or her care provided that the force used is reasonable in all of the circumstances". So what is "force"? The force must be used for educative or corrective purposes (not as a form of punishment) relating to restraining, controlling, or expressing disapproval of the actual behaviour of a child capable of benefiting from that correction; the force cannot result in harm or the prospect of harm.

My question is "Should parents have the full authority to discipline their children as they see fit or should parents never be allowed to use physical force on their children"?

After our discussion I'll have you work on questions 2, 3 and 4 on page 231 of the text. To help...

CC 264 Uttering Threats

Implying death ( bodily harm or burning property (burn/destroy) *Must be believable and Must be imminent
CC 265 Assault
Any unwanted application of force against another person
Level 1 simple assault
Level 2 assault causing bodily harm
Level 3 aggravated assault
CC 273 Sexual Assault 

Any unwanted sexual contact
Level 1 any touching (molestation).
Level 2 with a weapon
Level 3 aggravated (endanger life or wound/maim/disfigure)

Spanking children could soon be illegal in Canada

To end the morning, you will get a "Key Components of Criminal Code Offenses" worksheet and I would like you to work on this activity in partners. For the Elements that Must be Proven section you will need to identify both the Actus Reus (yes that means explain what the physical act or omission that it is which constitutes the crime) and the type of Mens Rea (yes that means explain what the Intent, Knowledge, Recklessness or Willful Blindness is for the crime - you have this in your text but you do not need to worry about general intent or specific intent for this activity) in each scenario you're given. For the Maximum Penalty section feel free to use the Wikibooks Canadian Criminal Sentencing/Appendix/Offence Charts.

B Block Human Geography - Today and tomorrow we'll look at the key question "Where Are Religions Distributed"? To that end, today I'll have you divided up into six groups (groups of four/five) and each group will be responsible for discovering as much as they can about one of: Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam or Christianity. You'll need to find out:

1. how many followers there are,
2. where the followers are distributed,
3. beliefs and teachings (including books and or scriptures),
4. Founders / Symbols / Holy days,
5. branches (or subdivisions), and
6. Holy locations and Places of Worship. 

I'll give you some chart paper and smelly felts and your group will be responsible for creating and presenting a poster fact sheet for the class (remember think geographically with this activity). You may also use the website religionfacts.com or the BBC links above.