Where your rights come from

Fatima is forty-five. She came from Syria, and she teaches Arabic to children on Saturdays in Mississauga. Today she's downtown, buying groceries. She sees a march. People are walking together, carrying signs and singing. Two police officers stand on the corner, just watching. Fatima holds her bag a little tighter. She asks herself, is this really allowed here?

So here's the question. What rights do people in Canada have, and where do those rights come from? Remember, this is a free, independent course. It is not a government course.

The guide's chapter called Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship starts with where our laws come from. It names four sources. First, laws passed by Parliament and by the provincial legislatures. A legislature is an elected group that makes laws. Second, English common law. Third, the civil code of France. And fourth, the unwritten constitution that Canada inherited from Great Britain.

Some of our freedoms are very old. The guide traces them back to Magna Carta, from England, in the year twelve fifteen. Its name means the Great Charter of Freedoms. Another old right is habeas corpus. It comes from English common law. It means you can challenge the state in court if you are held without a lawful reason.

In nineteen eighty-two, Canada's Constitution was changed to include the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. A constitution is a country's highest law. A charter is a written list of rights. The Charter lists four fundamental freedoms. Fundamental means basic and very important.

Here are the four. One, freedom of conscience and religion. Two, freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, which includes free speech and a free press. Three, freedom of peaceful assembly. That means gathering in a group, peacefully, like Fatima's march. Four, freedom of association. That means joining groups.

The guide also names four kinds of rights in the Charter. Mobility rights: you can live and work anywhere in Canada, enter and leave the country, and apply for a passport. Aboriginal peoples' rights: the Charter does not take away treaty rights or other Aboriginal rights. Official language rights: English and French are equal in Parliament and government. And multiculturalism, which the guide calls a basic part of Canada's heritage and identity.

One more. In Canada, men and women are equal under the law. The guide says some acts are crimes that are severely punished. They include spousal abuse, which means hurting your husband or wife. They also include forced marriage, so-called honour killings, female genital mutilation, and other violence based on gender.

Let's make it stick. Picture one Sunday. In the morning, you pray, or you choose not to. That's conscience and religion. At lunch, you say what you think. That's expression. In the afternoon, you walk in a peaceful march. That's assembly. In the evening, you go to your club. That's association. One day, four freedoms.

Here's a common confusion. People mix up the two big documents. Magna Carta is from England, in twelve fifteen. The Charter is Canada's, from nineteen eighty-two. Old one, English. New one, Canadian. Learn both names and both years.

The mistake people make is thinking a freedom means you can do anything. Listen for the word peaceful. The freedom is to gather peacefully. And everyone must still obey the law. The guide says no one is above the law.

Here's the one thing to remember. The four fundamental freedoms are conscience and religion, expression, peaceful assembly, and association. The Charter became part of the Constitution in nineteen eighty-two.

This week, read or listen to the guide's chapter on rights and responsibilities. Then say the four freedoms out loud, using your own Sunday. Next time, the six responsibilities that come with these rights.