Room 611: Wednesday, February 14. 2024

Today's schedule is BADC

B Block Legal Studies - Today we'll talk about equality and look at section 15 of the Charter. We'll look at the difference between prejudice and discrimination. Equality is understood to have four meanings:

1. Equal before the law
2. Equal under the law
3. Equal benefit
4. Equal protection

It may be surprising to note that this clause was one of the more controversial issues of the constitutional debate. Some provinces did not see the need for equality rights to be written into the Charter since provincially human rights codes were seen as protection enough.

The phrase "before and under the law" is significant because it means that not only do people have equal access to the courts and to equal administration of justice (the "before" part) but that the laws that are discriminatory will be struck down by the courts (the "under" part). So in Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 143 Mark Andrews met all the requirements to become a lawyer in British Columbia, but he did not have Canadian citizenship. Because he did not meet the citizenship requirement, he was not accepted. Andrews challenged the provincial law, which prevented him from being a lawyer, arguing that it was discriminatory since it treated non-citizens and Canadian citizens differently. The majority of the Supreme Court decided that the provincial law infringed equality rights, because it did not let otherwise qualified people practice law solely because of their citizenship.

This case was the Court’s first decision on equality rights. It has influenced the development of equality law well beyond the specific facts of Mr. Andrew’s case, because Justice McIntyre emphasized that section 15 of the Charter protects and promotes substantive equality of opportunity for all. The court has added the following grounds (analogous to those enumerated) in section 15 (1):

Non-citizenship (Andrews, supra; Lavoie v. Canada, [2002] 1 S.C.R. 769);
Marital status (Miron v. Trudel, [1995] 2 S.C.R. 418; Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. Walsh, [2002] 4 S.C.R. 325; Quebec v. A., supra);
Sexual orientation (Egan v. Canada, [1995] 2 S.C.R. 513; Vriend, supra; M. v. H., [1999] 2 S.C.R. 3: Little Sisters, supra); and
Aboriginality-residence as it pertains to a member of an Indian Band living off the reserve (Corbiere v. Canada (Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 203).

I'll have you finish the class by working on questions:

1-3 on page 54;
1, 2 and 5 on page 56; and
1 on page 60

So to help us with these check out:

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms Legal Rights

Charterpedia

Guide to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Legal Rights for Youth in British Columbia

Westlawnext Canada Charter Rights Legal Resources

Center for Constitutional Studies Right to Life Liberty and Security of the Person

A Block Criminology - Today I'll have you work on the three questions about crime trends I posted on Tuesday:

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. You could also use the link Who Commits Crime? to help and although it's about Saskatchewan check out Influences on Criminal Behaviour - Theory and Evidence
What is a chronic offender and what is the significance of Marvin Wolfgang's discovery (why is identifying the chronic offender/Long Term Offender important)? More than 115 criminal convictions in B.C.: One chronic offender's story
How would you explain the gender differences in the crime rate (why do you think males are more violent than females)? Feel free to use the links Gender and Crime in Sociology, Women and the Criminal Justice System, Are men more violent than women?, Gender and Crime

For question 1 above look at the crime statistics and demographics portions of:

or portions of:

D Block Physical Geography - So since we clearly didn't get to finish this yesterday...today we'll finish our notes on core, mantle, and crust and then, you may use the Earth Interior web page or the Dynamic Earth webpage or the Layers of the Earth section of the Physical Geography and Natural Disasters textbook, or the Lumen Understanding Earth’s Interior page or the National Geographic Earth Interior page or the Live Science Earth Interior page to help with the questions from your tectonics workbook:

Describe the asthenosphere. Why is it also known as the plastic layer? What are the consequences of its convection currents? (p. 217)
What is a discontinuity? Describe the principal discontinuities within the Earth. (p.217)

You could use this diagram for your notes in the workbook

C Block Human Geography - Today we'll examine the concept of possibilism connected to sustainability and cultural ecology. I'd like you to examine two examples of how human beings have altered the physical environment in the Netherlands and in Florida. From the text...

Few ecosystems have been as thoroughly modified by humans as the Netherlands and Florida's Everglades. Because more than half of the Netherlands lies below sea level, most of the country today would be under water if it were not for massive projects to modify the environment by holding back the sea. Meanwhile, the fragile landscape of south Florida has been altered in insensitive ways.

So I'd like you to identify in point form the problems in both these locations and explain what have humans done (Describe the human modifications and adaptations to these two environments).