Canadian people

A detailed Summary of Canadian people

The freedoms of the Canadian people, as guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms states in section 1 that ". . . guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits . . . ." This means that specific freedoms, though guaranteed in section two of the Charter as "fundamental freedoms" are subordinate to limitations as the government sees fit, unlike the freedoms of the United States constitutional freedoms, which have no limits put on them, and are occasionally abused by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, and anti- government militia groups as a result. Pornography, hate propaganda, and racist literature are all examples of areas of expression subject to limitation by the government in Canada, as they are all viewed as obscene. The first laws governing obscenity in Canada were created in 1892. These laws prohibited the sale and display of any material which was deemed immoral. Later, in 1927, the obscenity laws were expanded to include anything referring to "the corruption of public morals." The laws were expanded to make criminal the possession, circulation, distribution or fabrication of any such material. During the 1950's, there was an increase in the availability of pornographic

materials. This resulted in two opinions regarding pornography to surface; one opposed to the pornography industry, and demanded more rigid and strict regulations, while the other side of the debate called for no further regulations. During 1958, amendments were put forth in the House of Commons to define the term "obscene" in the Criminal Code of Canada, and were adopted in 1959. Throughout the 1970's, there was an increased outcry by the Canadian public against the growing amount of pornographic material available in Canada. A committee was formed to look at the problem, and in 1978, decided that Canadians were justified in calling for the control of such material. This advice, however, was never acted upon. In 1992, Donald Butler appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn a decision regarding his adult oriented members only video store. Mr. Butler opened his store in Winnipeg in August of 1987. Later on that same month, the Winnipeg police force entered and seized the inventory of Mr. Butler's store, and charged him with a total of 173 counts of selling, possessing with the intent to distribute, and possessing with the intent to sell, obscene material, contrary to s. 159(1-2)(a) and 163(1-2)(a) of the Criminal Code of Canada. Mr. Justice J. Sopinka heard the appeal, and reached the decision that "the restriction on freedom of expression does outweigh the importance of the legislative objective." The problem with an attempt to restrict what the public can or cannot view by the government is that it is an infringement on the principle of individual liberty, as described by John Stuart Mill. Mill states that so long as one is not causing harm to others, then "In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute." Thus, the government has no right to stop the public fr

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