B Block Legal Studies - Today we'll go through sections 7 - 14 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (legal rights section). We'll look at two cases: Rodriguez v British Columbia (Attorney General), 1993 - which deals with Section 7 of the Charter (life, liberty and security of the person) and R. v. Tessling, 2004 - which deals with Section 8 of the Charter (search and seizure).
For more information on the fight in Canada for the right to die on one's own terms look at the CBC In Depth site on the Sue Rodriguez case. In 2011, Gloria Taylor from Kelowna filed a case in B.C. Supreme Court to grant her the right to a doctor-assisted suicide. More info on this case can be found here.
In February 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Carter v. Canada that parts of the Criminal Code would need to change to satisfy the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The parts that prohibited medical assistance in dying would no longer be valid. So in June 2016, the Parliament of Canada passed federal legislation that allows eligible Canadian adults to request medical assistance in dying. HOWEVER a Quebec court ruling struck down the existing legislation on medically assisted death on the grounds that it was too restrictive. The court gave the government until Dec. 18 (2020) to implement a new regime. Bill C-7, expands the categories of those eligible for the procedure, opening it up to people whose deaths aren't reasonably foreseeable, but imposes strict guidelines for people seeking assisted death as part of that category, including a 90-day waiting period. On March 17, 2021, the Government of Canada announced that changes to Canada’s medical assistance in dying (MAID) law are officially in force. The new law includes changes to eligibility, procedural safeguards, and the framework for the federal government’s data collection and reporting regime.
From the government of Canada's site on the newly revised MAID law...
Section 7 protects the rights to life, liberty and security of the person and prohibits government interference with these interests unless done in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice. These include the principles against arbitrariness, overbreadth and gross disproportionality. An arbitrary law is one that impacts section 7 rights in a way that is not rationally connected to the law’s purpose. An overbroad law is one that impacts section 7 rights in a way that, while generally rational, goes too far by capturing some conduct that bears no relation to the law’s purpose. A grossly disproportionate law is one whose effects on section 7 rights are so severe as to be “completely out of sync” with the law’s purpose.Section 15(1) of the Charter protects equality rights. It provides that every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination, including on the basis of mental or physical disability.
In Carter v. Canada (2015), the Supreme Court of Canada held that a competent adult’s response to a grievous and irremediable medical condition is a matter critical to their dignity and autonomy. A criminal prohibition on MAID for a person in this situation – whom the law would permit to request palliative sedation, refuse artificial nutrition and hydration or request the removal of life-sustaining medical equipment – impacts liberty and security of the person. This is because the criminal prohibition interferes with the ability to make decisions concerning bodily integrity and leads to serious suffering. Broadening the law to permit MAID for persons whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable would promote the liberty and security of the person interests of individuals who seek MAID as a response to a grievous and irremediable illness.
A Block Criminology - To start today, we'll share your opinions about crime trends from yesterday. Since 1962, Statistics Canada has collected information on all criminal incidents reported by Canadian police services through its annual Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Survey. In addition to the now UCR2, Statistics Canada also collects information on victims of crime through the General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety (Victimization), which is conducted every five years. Unlike the UCR, the GSS on Victimization collects data on self-reported experiences with crime which include incidents that may or may not have been brought to the attention of the police. These complementary surveys are the primary sources of data on crime and victimization in Canada.
So what about trends?
There were over 2 million police-reported Criminal Code incidents (excluding traffic) in 2021, about 25,500 more incidents than in 2020. At 5,375 incidents per 100,000 population, the police-reported crime rate - which measures the volume of crime - increased 1% in 2021, following a 9% decrease in 2020. In 2021, the violent crime rate increased 5%, while the property crime rate decreased 1%. Following a large decrease in 2020, the property crime rate was the lowest it has been dating back to 1965. Police-reported crime in Canada, as measured by the Crime Severity Index (CSI), remained stable, changing from 73.9 in 2020 to 73.7 in 2021. This follows a 7% drop in the CSI in 2020, the first after 5 years of increases. The stability in the overall CSI was the result of increases in violent crime and continued decreases in non-violent crime. The CSI measures the volume and severity of police-reported crime in Canada, and it has a base index value of 100 for 2006.
Highlights of the Stats Can Report show:
- There was an increase in the Violent CSI driven by a relatively large increase in the rate of level 1 sexual assault (+18%) - in total, level 1 sexual assault accounted for 98% of sexual assaults in 2021. Overall, there were 34,242 police-reported sexual assaults (level 1, 2 and 3) in 2021, representing 90 incidents per 100,000 population. This rate was 18% higher than in 2020, and the highest rate since 1996
- In 2021, the rate of breaking and entering declined 10% nationally to 328 incidents per 100,000 population. This decline follows a 16% drop in 2020. Since peaking in 1991, the police-reported rate of breaking and entering has generally been declining in Canada - over the last decade, the rate of breaking and entering has fallen 38%. Despite this decrease, breaking and entering continued to be a relatively common form of property crime.
- In 2021, there were 5,996 opioid-related offences in Canada, representing a rate of 16 per 100,000 population, a 13% increase compared to 2020. This also followed a 37% increase in 2020 from 2019. All opioid-related drug violations increased in 2021, including more possession, trafficking, production and importation or exportation offences. Police-reported rates of heroin (-32%), ecstasy (-25%), methamphetamine (-20%) and cocaine (-15%) drug offences all decreased.
- The number of police-reported hate crimes in Canada increased by 27% in 2021, rising from 2,646 incidents to 3,360. This follows a 36% increase in police-reported hate crimes from 2019 to 2020. In total, police-reported hate crimes have increased 72% over the last two years. From 2020 to 2021, increases were noted in the number of police-reported hate crimes targeting religion (+354 incidents, +67%) and sexual orientation (+165 incidents, +64%), and to a lesser extent race or ethnicity (+104 incidents, +6%)
- In 2021, Canada saw continued increases in the rates of various criminally harassing and threatening behaviours. In particular, criminal harassment (+10% rate per 100,000 population), non-consensual distribution of intimate images (+8% rate), indecent or harassing communications (+4% rate), and uttering threats (+3% rate) all saw increases compared with 2020.
- In 2021, police reported 788 homicides, 29 more than the previous year. The national homicide rate increased 3% from 2.00 homicides per 100,000 population in 2020, to 2.06 homicides per 100,000 population in 2021. This follows a 9% increase in 2020. Overall, homicides represented 0.2% of all violent crimes, a similar proportion to previous years. However...
- In 2021, there were 190 Indigenous victims of homicide, a decrease from 208 in 2020. This represents a rate decrease of 11% for Indigenous peoples in 2021 (9.17 per 100,000 Indigenous peoples in 2021 compared to 10.28 in 2020). BUT...this rate was approximately six times higher than the rate for non-Indigenous people in 2021 (1.55 per 100,000 non-Indigenous people). Indigenous people often experience social, economic and institutional marginalization, and systemic racism and discrimination, which include various forms of trauma and violence - including intergenerational trauma and gender-based violence. Historical and ongoing impacts of colonization, including the lasting effects of the residential school system, forced relocation and the Sixties Scoop, all profoundly impact Indigenous communities and families and play a significant role in the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system and as victims of crime.
- The rate of police-reported child pornography increased 31% from 2019 to 2021, to a rate of 31 incidents per 100,000 population. This follows a 47% increase in 2019 and the rate has generally been trending upward since 2008.
- Police reported just under 71,500 impaired driving incidents in 2021, about 6,300 fewer incidents compared to the year before. This is the second decrease in a row, following a large rate increase in 2019.
Today I'll have you work on three questions about crime trends (don't worry, you'll get time Tuesday for this too):
- Using pages 37 to 46 in the CRIM textbook outline and explain the crime patterns in relation to ecology, firearms, social class, age, gender and race.
- What is a chronic offender and what is the significance of Marvin Wolfgang's discovery (why is identifying the chronic offender important)?
- How would you explain the gender differences in the crime rate (why do you think males are more violent than females)?
D/C Blocks Social and Environmental Sciences - Today we're going to wrap up the week with a qualitative analysis of water quality from the Comox Valley. We will have you bring in water samples from home to see what your water tastes and looks like.
Water from Comox Lake is currently drawn from the Puntledge River, and flows through a network of reservoirs, pumping stations and transmission mains or pipes. The CVRD supplies bulk water to distribution systems operated by the City of Courtenay, the Town of Comox, as well as the Comox Valley Water Local Service Area. The Union Bay Water Local Service Area provides water to approximately 690 properties in the community. Water in the system is drawn from Langley Lake via a two-kilometer transmission line and treated at a multi-barrier water filtration plant. the Royston Water Local Service Area, which provides water to approximately 2,000 residents and is connected to the Village of Cumberland’s water distribution system. Water in the system is sourced from five lakes located in the Cumberland Creek and Perseverance Creek sub-watersheds, as well as a ground source at Coal Creek Historic Park.
What might impact what water tastes like and looks like?
The rest of the class you'll have time to finish your Towhee Creek Watershed map and your Canadian Federal Political Party environmental policy (worldview) activity. Remember Fill out the graphic organizer / chart with information about the Leader, & Local Candidate for each political party (Liberal, Conservative, New Democrat, Green, Bloc Quebecois and People's Party) and then identify their Environmental Priorities, Promises, and Key Messages. Use the following websites to help:
I'll have you complete the Youth Vote Compass and find out what political party your worldview is most closely aligned with. After, you'll need to answer the following:
- Do you agree with where you were placed on the political spectrum? Why/why not?
- Does the political party you were placed with the Youth Vote Compass match your ideas (worldview) on the environment? Why/why not?
- Which political party do you think has the best environmental policy and why is that?
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