Room 611: Wednesday, February 7. 2024

Today's schedule is BADC

B Block Legal Studies - We'll look at the three sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that limit your individual rights (Reasonable Limits, Notwithstanding Clause and Where the Charter Applies). From the Ontario Justice Education Network...Section 1 of the Charter establishes that every Canadian is guaranteed the rights protected by the Charter while simultaneously providing for the possibility that these rights be limited by the government if such a limit could be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. As such, it both guarantees and limits Charter rights.

This means that "Freedom" or "Liberty" are not absolute

The Charter is in place to ensure that the rights and freedoms of Canadians are protected. Requiring the government to justify Charter infringements ensures that these rights and freedoms are not arbitrarily limited by the government. The government has the burden of proving that any limit is justified.

Next as a class we'll look at the R. v. Oakes (1986) case which established the "Oakes Test" in Canadian law which allows reasonable limitations on rights and freedoms through legislation if it can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

David Edwin Oakes was charged with possession of drugs, and possession with the intent to traffic. At the time of the trial, a person charged with drug possession was automatically charged with possession with the intent to traffic. If a person was found guilty of possession of drugs, s. 8 of the Narcotic Control Act (NCA) (now called the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act) placed the onus on the person charged to prove that there was no intent to traffic. If the accused could not prove lack of intent, the accused would automatically be found guilty of the charge.

Mr. Oakes challenged this section of the NCA as an infringement of his s. 11(d) Charter right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. The SCC found that s. 8 of the NCA violated s. 11(d) of the Charter. The Court then considered whether the government could justify this infringement under s. 1 of the Charter. Section 1 requires the government to show that the law in question is a reasonable limit on Charter rights, which can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society. The Court found that the government failed to satisfy s. 1 of the Charter, and as a result, held that s. 8 of the NCA was of no force or effect

So, the Oakes Test is a two-step balancing test to determine whether a government can justify a law which limits a Charter right. The government must establish that the law under review has a goal that is both “pressing and substantial.” The law must be both important and necessary (Step One). Next, the court then conducts a proportionality analysis using three sub-tests (Step Two). The government must first establish that the provision of the law which limits a Charter right is rationally connected to the law’s purpose. If it is arbitrary or serves no logical purpose, then it will not meet this standard. Secondly, a provision must minimally impair the violated Charter right. A provision that limits a Charter right will be constitutional only if it impairs the Charter right as little as possible or is “within a range of reasonably supportable alternatives.” Finally, the court examines the law’s proportionate effects. Even if the government can satisfy the above steps, the effect of the provision on Charter rights may be too high a price to pay for the advantage the provision would provide in advancing the law’s purpose.

I'll have you work on the following questions:

Do you think there should ever be limits to Charter rights? Why or why not?
Describe a situation where an infringement of a right would be justified.
Describe a situation where an infringement of a Charter right would not be justified?
What do you think about the courts’ role in deciding whether an infringement of a right can be justified?
What happens if the government cannot show that a Charter infringement is justified (i.e. it does not satisfy the elements of the s. 1 analysis)?

Remember the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has three sections that limit your individual rights (Reasonable Limits, Notwithstanding Clause and Where the Charter Applies).

A Block Criminology - We came up with a list of things that are deviant but not criminal and a list of things that are criminal but not deviant. To start today, we'll finish compiling those lists and sharing them. Then, you'll need to take one act from either list and explain why it should be criminalized or why it should be decriminalized. This should be based on an evaluation of harm...in other words how deviant or not is the action? If the action would cause great social harm then perhaps we should criminalize that behaviour. If the action causes minimal social harm then perhaps we should decriminalize that behaviour. Take smoking in public. You may think that this behaviour is acceptable because an individual has the choice to consume a cigarette and they are merely harming themselves...no problem right? You may, however, think this behaviour is unacceptable. Second-hand smoke is hurtful to others because they could be harmed by someone else's behaviour. So what is deviant in many cases is subjective. What is criminal is the codification of what a society as a whole deems as deviant.

From the 2020 Model United Nations activity regarding the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice

As shown above, “the varieties of deviance” (i.e. actions that violate social norms) are considered on three interacting variables: evaluation of social harm, agreement about the norm, and severity of societal response. Homicide is criminal because as a society we believe that taking another life is unacceptable and deviates from the accepted cultural norm that we wish our country to be like. Through law creation these actions are codified, public opinion and society’s morality are expressed, and avenues for social control and the prevention of activity society deems inappropriate are provided.

This will help us understand the Conflict, Interactionist and Consensus views on crime.

BC Open School Intro Sociology text Chapter 7
Relationship between Deviance and Crime (Jlaw)
Cliff Notes Theories of Deviance

Introduction to Sociology - Deviance Crime and Social Control and another version of the topic here

D Block Physical Geography - Today we'll start with time to work on yesterday's topic of "spheres" - the interacting systems that we'll work through this year. Remember I'd like you to interpret the relationships among the four spheres as a result of humans burning fossil fuels (where do they come from? what are they made of? how do we extract/process/use them? What happens to the carbon byproduct after combustion? How does that impact the spheres?) If you're having trouble with this consider the carbon cycle (pages 186 - 197 in the Geosystems Core text) or look at Earth Observatory Carbon Cycle from NASA. You could also look at Annenberg Media's "The Habitable Planet" Carbon Lab or their Chapter 8 Global Carbon Cycle from their online text or the Cool Geography Global distribution of major stores of carbon website. Lastly, we'll work on some basics of geography focusing on time zones, latitude and longitude, GPS, and the remote sensing technology of GIS.

From PBS NOVA

It was one of humankind's most epic quests - a technical problem so complex that it challenged the best minds of its time, a problem so important that the nation that solved it would rule the economy of the world. The problem was navigation by sea—how to know where you were when you sailed beyond the sight of land - establishing your longitude. In 1714, following a maritime disaster, the British Parliament offered £20,000 for the first reliable method of determining longitude on a ship at sea (adjusted for inflation that is roughly the equivalent of £2,995,000 today which is $5,246,945 CAD). While the gentry of the 18th Century looked to the stars for the answer, an English clockmaker, John Harrison, toiled for decades to solve the problem. His elegant solution made him an unlikely hero and remains the basis for the most modern forms of navigation in the world today.

For more on GIS check out:
ESRI What can I do with GIS?
National Geographic What is GIS?
Geolounge What is GIS
GIS Geography
VIU GIS programs

C Block Human Geography - Today we'll start our look at the Key Question: Why Are Different Places Similar? To do this we will look at Globalization in terms of culture and economy. Since we are completing a cultural/human geography course what does globalization mean and what is globalized culture? So, from the World Economic Forum:

In simple terms, globalization is the process by which people and goods move easily across borders. Principally, it's an economic concept – the integration of markets, trade and investments with few barriers to slow the flow of products and services between nations. There is also a cultural element, as ideas and traditions are traded and assimilated...Globalization has speeded [sic] up enormously over the last half-century, thanks to great leaps in technology. The internet has revolutionized connectivity and communication, and helped people share their ideas much more widely, just as the invention of the printing press did in the 15th century.

Think about McDonald's. How many countries is Dons in? According to the McDonald's Corporation website (as of January 2022), McDonald's has 38,000 locations in 100 countries (out of the 195 countries that the United Nations recognizes). That is a really big company that spans the globe with a fairly consistent menu. How does McDonald's try to retain some local culture in their global brand? Check out:

The Craziest McDonald's Menu Items Around the World
Here's what it's like to eat at McDonald's in 7 countries around the world
25 Craziest McDonald's Menu Items From Around The World
What International McDonald’s Menus Can Tell Us About Diets Around The World

So, globalization is about how people and places are connected and how they influence each other. In the last twenty years inexpensive mobile phone technology and the Internet have spread ideas faster around the world. How does that affect culture? From the United Nations:

The current era of globalization, with its unprecedented acceleration and intensification in the global flows of capital, labour, and information, is having a homogenizing influence on local culture. While this phenomenon promotes the integration of societies and has provided millions of people with new opportunities, it may also bring with it a loss of uniqueness of local culture, which in turn can lead to loss of identity, exclusion and even conflict

Increasingly uniform cultural preferences produce uniform “global” landscapes of material artifacts and of cultural values. Underlying the uniform cultural landscape is globalization of cultural beliefs and forms, especially religion and language. Globalization of the economy has been led primarily by transnational corporations, sometimes called multinational corporations. Every place in the world is part of the global economy, but globalization has led to more specialization at the local level. Each place plays a distinctive role, based on its local assets.

So, you'll have a few questions to work on for me today including: