Do we need rights all the time in a democracy?

Last week in class, we analyzed what some of the drawbacks were to a democracy. A large setback to having an efficient democracy is to have EDUCATED citizens. One of the things that John Locke really focused on was the accountability of your government. If people are not active participants who are informed and engaged in the democratic process, it becomes extremely easy for the government to do things that are not always what the people want; hence, they are not accountable. 

This video highlights the issues that occurred in Ukraine 2 years ago that led to protests for months in Kiev

When people think of democracy, the cornerstones that most frequently come to mind are voting and rights and freedoms. We've looked at voting. Now, we will be looking at rights and freedoms. This brings us (sort of) back to Mill's ideas of balancing rights and freedoms for the good of society. Democracies limit individual freedoms in the name of the greater good. But WHAT IF that limitation is unjustifiable? Is preserving that democracy in a time of crisis more important than preserving the ideals of that society? What if you are in a time of crisis? Does that change anything? 

Look at 9/11:

The US has legislation that was passed after 9/11, following the terrorist attacks, that allowed the government to have increased power of surveillance and gave authorities more power to determine if Americans or others were threats to the security of the nation. To preserve the democracy, rights need to be limited, which makes sense. If you can't protect the very institution that will preserve your rights and freedoms, then you risk losing it. But is that right? Or is there limitation?

This week will start with looking what our rights actually are in a democracy to better understand what can be limited and taken away. Remember what we were talking about at the end of last week (and will be finishing on Monday) - are there times when our government maybe knows a better course of action that we are not aware of? Or are our rights and freedoms something that should never be toyed with? Who knows best?

SO how will we look at that this week?

Monday: 

• Finishing last week's Notes - the balance between public opinion and practicality
• If you didn't watch at least one of the videos last week about public opinion, it would be good to watch at least one of them
• Discussion: Revisiting Churchill's quote from day 1 of this lesson - was he right?

Tuesday: 

• Rights
• Individual Rights
• Universal declaration of Human Rights

• Should there be limitations in Canada?
• Discussion Question: Should human rights trump a country's sovereignty to run itself the way it wants to? Should democracies take a stand against countries that have a poor human rights record?

Wednesday:

• Collective Rights
• History behind them - Imposition of Liberalism 
• Do we still need them?
• Are they unfair?

• Are collective rights against the ideas of democracy?

Thursday: 

• Rants by Joule and Jessica 
• Safety and security vs. Rights and freedoms - which is more important?
• A look at the life of Omar Khadr

• Look at our legislation - what can our government do?
• Look at Bill C-51 and where it came from
• Start watching video on Patriot Act rights restrictions

Friday

• Finish watching the video
• Practice Paragraph #6
• This is the LAST practice that you will be doing before your "mini diploma"
• Social 30-1 - You will be doing another argument/evidence paragraph. You will be given a source, as for Assignment II, and you will need to develop a thesis and write ONE paragraph that contains ONE argument with sufficient evidence to back it up
• Social 30-2 - You will be writing the defense of position for Assignment 3 - you will be giv ing your own answer the question in the assignment, backing up that answer with reasons/arguments and sufficient evidence, both from the sources provided but also from class as well.