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Essay on Democracy deficit in canada
Compulsory voting in canada
Compulsory voting in canada
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It is the right of every Canadian citizen to vote, and this right should not exclude prisoners. By barring prisoners the right to vote as stated in the Canadian Elections Act, section 51, the law is unfairly targeting a select percentage of Canadians, as it is going against the Democratic Rights of a person, as stated in section 3 of the Charter. A prisoner who was serving time for murder, Rick Sauvé, spent 18 years challenging the Act, fighting for his right to vote. He found it unreasonable and unfair that a prisoner should not be allowed the right to vote. Sauvé felt that he should be allowed to decide how he wanted the government to treat him, his family and his community like any other Canadian citizen. Canada is a democratic country,
An additional piece of defense for the Applicant is the question: “ is the violation justified by Section 1 of the Charter. The answer is no. Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom states, “The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” This includes legal and equality rights. The applicant had absolutely none of his rights violated. He was a given a fair trial and substantial evidence was collected to warrant his arrest. Peltier offered the information leading to the arrest and sentence by his own will
In the United States 2.2 million citizens are incarcerated on felony charges. Laws in America prohibit felons from voting. As a result, on Election Day 5.3 million citizens of America are disenfranchised because of crimes they once committed. Though they once broke the law, they have served their time and have been punished adequately in accordance with the American Justice System. Felons should regain full voting rights after their stint in prison.
What principles and ideals lie at the heart of a free democratic society? Canadians take pride in their country’s values of tolerance, inclusion, and respect, and over Canada’s guaranteed freedom of expression, including the right to vote (Thevenard & Orend, 2015). In democratic Canada, “all eligible citizens have the right to participate, either directly or indirectly, in making the decisions that affect them” ("Democracy Defined"). Voting, in essence, ensures all citizens receive an equal opportunity to express their views by selecting and supporting a political party of their choice. Such an approach provides freedom of expression for all eligible citizens, allowing for the political party with the most votes to take over the ruling.
The young as well as the older people of Canada seem to be in a deadlock. The question of if the federal government should or should not lower the voting age is a question debated surely around the dinner tables of families in Canada, as well as in the ranks of the government. Some people even suggest that the age needs to be raised. What would make people want the voting age to be lowered to an even lower age than the young adult age of 18? On the other hand how can the youth of Canada who have their own individual views be able to make a difference without being able to vote? Both sides provide for an intriguing look into the facts and resolutions for an appropriate way to either change the voting age or keep it the same. Throughout this paper I will look at and analyze the arguments of the youth who claim to be 'disenfranchised', as well as others who see the lowering of the voting age to be detrimental rather than an improvement to the Government of Canada's political process. In 1854, before Canada became a responsible government the only people allowed to vote were people who had a high value of land which they owned, and had a high income. Women and people with other ethnic backgrounds and religious beliefs were also denied the right to vote. This did not mean that these people did not have their views and beliefs on who and what they wanted in their government but rather they were denied the right. These laws have changed since then drastically and Canada has become a democratic country (rule by the people). However, the frustration of not being able to vote and support their ideals and politicians does live on in the hearts and minds of thousands of young Canadians under the age of eighteen. The...
Three decades ago, honorable Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was establishing the renowned Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since the three decades of being established, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has protected the individual rights and freedoms of thousands of Canadians. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has become a part of the national identity and has become a big patriotic symbol for the country. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the document the truly separates Canada from all the other powerful nations and is really something that Canadian take a pride in. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms brings up many questions, but the biggest and most common question is How effectively does Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms protect your individual rights? . To exactly know how effectively it protects your rights you can look at situations where it has protected and has not protected the rights of Canadians. The Charter of Rights and Freedom protects legal rights of Canadian whether they are a teenager or an adult, protects equality rights of Canadian and provides government services to all Canadians no matter what, ensures all laws are passed according to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and provides equality rights and fundamental freedoms to Canadians for practicing their religion and other rights without interference.
Imagine that you and your loved one were going out on a typical Sunday night walk. All of a sudden, you hear a deafening sound of a gunshot and you look to see that your loved one had fallen down, and is on the ground, bleeding profusely and is in helpless pain. The felon probably wouldn’t care what happened, and they wouldn’t think much of it. They would only think of it as just that they killed another person. However, the victim’s family wouldn’t let this pass. They would remember this night and be in pain for the rest of their lives. Allowing felons to vote should not be something that is allowed. How would everyone feel if there was a felon that committed gruesome crimes and impacted so many people’s lives in a negative way, that would
In Canada’s democratic government, voting is a powerful way for citizens to communicate their values. The leader who is chosen reflects the power of the Canadians’ values. Thus, to the government, every vote matters, assuring Canadians that their opinions matter. Today, Canada recognizes voting as a fundamental right for all of their citizens. The Canadian Charter of Rights effectively protects this right of all Canadians, even minorities, through section 3. “Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or a large legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein”. This ensures equality for vote to all Canadians. Equality is to allow all Canadians equal opportunity, even if they are of different race, religion, gender and etcetera. However, in the past, this fundamental right has not always been accessible to all. In fact, voting was considered a privilege where citizens had to qualify to have the ability to vote. The rules were so strict that only eleven percent of the past population of Canada could have voted, compared to today’s seventy-eight percent. Many of these rules of who could vote and who could not were very unjust. This was especially seen in minority groups who did not have the franchise, the right to vote.. In this essay, it will be seen that the inequalities to vote made racial exclusions, religious exclusions and gender exclusions more pronounced. It will be seen that the government treated certain races with intentional discrimination creating a lack of an opportunity to vote. As well, the government showed prejudice to certain religious groups, denying these groups their ability to vote. And, finally, it will be seen that views against women aided ...
Even though prisoners are isolated from the society, they remain human yet and retain their basic human rights. As one would know choice is one of the fundamental rights of a human being. Also prisoners still remain citizens, so, according to the Article 25 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights: "citizens have the right to vote" (Black, Dhami and Easter, 2012, 43). Sometimes situation in country, which could occur after voting, may seriously influence on whole country, including prisoners themselves, so, even if they are only a little part of nation, they should have a right to take a part in elections. Nevertheless, kee...
In prior to 1977, women faced a number of issues that men simply do not have to contend with - They were frequently treated as mere property by the Canadian society, they did not obtain suffrage or opportunities to run for political office, and they were excluded from universities and professional schools. In addition, There were few career opportunities for middle-class women outside of nursing and teaching. However, Canadian had never gave up on fighting for their own legal rights and equal treatments. Notably, women's suffrage groups had existed since the 1870, nevertheless, people found little support in Canada for women's right to vote. Later on in 1916, Manitoba
All children in Canada have rights. They have educational rights, health care rights, the right to be happy, to be understood and the right to reach their potential. In order to reach their full potential, they have to be fed, taken care of by their family, treated fairly and be respected for who they are. We are lucky to live in Canada and have all these rights.
Mandatory voting is a very popular topic, in Canada we see in recent elections almost half the population does not vote. Every citizen has the right to vote, being able to have a voice in their democracy, allowing the government to further benefit the needs of the common good but people still choose not to vote. Some people believe that if you choose not to vote during elections you shouldn't have the right to complain about the current government elected. I believe that mandatory voting is a good thing, allowing the government to fulfill the needs of everybody in a society, educating the majority of people with information about the democratic parties within canada. Forcing people to vote will raise conflict, illegitimate votes, increase in taxes to cover the cost to enforce the new laws as well as restricting people's freedoms. Mandatory voting may
Mauer, Marc. "The Race to Incarcerate." The Case For Penal Abolition. Ed. W. Gordon West and Ruth Morris. Toronto, Canada: Canadian Scholars? Press, 2000. 89-99.
The newspaper is comparing inmates that can’t vote now to the Civil War in the south where the criminal justice banned African American from voting. The newspaper also acknowledges that some crimes committed have harsh sentences. Any person can be incarnated
Since 1948, the Canadian government had decided to pursue Universal human rights making it a huge part of Canadian law. At this point there are four different systems to protect human rights in Canada, these include the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and provincial human rights laws and commissions. Human rights in canada did not create a lot of argument amongst human rights as it did in other countries. Most canadians had the idea of Canada being a strong Advocate and positive model of Human Rights for the rest of the world, an example of this is in 2005, Canada was the fourth country to legalize same-sex marriage worldwide, this was possible with the Civil Marriage
It is my hope that our charter as a country doesn’t cross into an area of immoral treatment. Many prisoners incarcerated today made a bad decision, their incarceration is the punishment. That is where it should stop. For us to use this to justifying taking away their rights to adequate healthcare is improper and verges on cruel and unusual punishment. In short, if they would have had this opportunity outside of incarceration, then they should have this same opportunity while