Course talk:POLI380SEPT2010Cutler/Survey/Civil&LegalRights

Hey, do we want to focus on a couple of key issues in canada surround rights of terror suspects ex-cetera? or maybe look at how people viewed the use of power/the WarMeasuresAct by the government suspending civil liberites during the october crisis to deal with terrorism and then see what their opinion is like when asked about modern terrorism and their rights...??? MaxwellMiller 16:58, 6 October 2010 (UTC)Maxwell Miller

The problem you may run into with such a specific topic is that many people may not have an opinion on the matter, that is if we were to do a random sample of the population. How about the issue of freedom on speech; specifically, the ban of Al-Jazeera English and other networks in Canada? It could start off with basic questions; on scale of one to 10 how strongly do you feel about your right to speech? then build up towards the specific issue of television and the right to watch what you want or for others to broadcast what they like. This is just and idea. By the way, when is this supposed to be finished by? AkhtarMohammed 12:37, 6 October 2010, Akhtar Mohammed

Hey Folks, I know I'm coming in a little late in the game but I saw that there wasn't a whole lot of people doing this topic, so here I go. Regarding the already proposed questions, I have to question the value of asking questions 2 and 3. Regarding question 2, Canadian courts already have the right to exercise judicial review, and the question is phrased in such a way that it suggests an answer (ie. of course courts should have the right to strike down violations of constitutional rights!). I'd suggest rephrasing the question into a broader one about the role of courts in Canadian politics. As for question 3, Canadians have the right to an attorney, and I don't expect that we'd get any interesting data out of asking the question, since it'll probably prove pretty uncontroversial. In place of it (or even in place of question 2), I'd suggest we ask Canadians about their opinions on Human Rights Tribunals, since those are quite controversial these days (especially after that Maclean's flap from a while back). I'll try and think up a few specific questions on those tribunals and post them later tonight. KellySimonsen 21:55, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

There we go, I threw up a few questions related to the tribunals. Anybody like the idea? Hate it? KellySimonsen 03:45, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

Hi Team, personally, I kind of like what Maxwell suggested, specifically in suspending rights , etc. I think we could ask questions based on examples of what happened in the US and then form questions around them, asking participants whether they would feel comfortable with __________ if it was for national security. I think this is especially important when talking about things like intellectual property, confiscation of photos and computers, etc. Thoughts? DominikaZiemczonek 13:19, 8 October 2010

Hey, I'm pretty impressed with all the ideas put forth so far (and props to the Kelly and Kelsey for actually making questions), especially since I think our topic is one of the harder ones. I was thinking as a launching pad we could ask people how cognizant they are of their rights as Canadians (ie how much they know about the Charter and what rights they think protect them) and how they feel about these rights. With regards to the terror suspects topic we could probably tie in some question about suspension of rights and Maher Arar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maher_Arar). Also, today the SCC made a landmark decision saying Canadians have no right to counsel when being interrogated (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/10/08/supreme-court-charter-right-lawyer-interview.html) and many people will probably have an opinion on this, especially since it is a recent development and seems (to me atleast) to be a rather bold infringement of our rights under the charter. We could also examine how people feel about the recent Ontario court case striking down prostitution laws (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/09/28/prostitution-law028.html), especially people's feelings regarding the rights of sex trade workers. Although it's a bit dated now, we could also ask about people's opinions towards infringements to rights in the name of security during large recent events like the Olympics and the G20 in Toronto (PS, The Maple Leafs Suck). Finally, I also think it would be cool to ask people about issues that are not really big at the current moment, but will likely get bigger in the near future. A lot of these issues are documented on civil liberties sites (CCLA.org and the BCCLA.org) like this one: http://bccla.org/pressreleases/10Torture_derived_evidence.html which is relatively undocumented in the news today but is clearly an important issue facing this country. - Connor

The prostitution decision is definitely a good topic Connor. A couple of questions about that would be pretty interesting. Perhaps asking a simple approve/disapprove about the judge's decision, and then a question about what Canadian's think the legal status of prostitution should be, with several options? KellySimonsen 05:27, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

I like the idea of looking into the SCC ruling on counsel during interrigation, but I agree that the prostitution issue is also a really good avenue to follow MaxwellMiller 08:10, 11 October 2010 (UTC)maxwell miller

Hey, sorry I came in so late to this, but I've just freed up the time for it. How about looking into the clash of civil rights with the freedoms of other people? (like freedom of speech/hate speech) I like the ideas of going into different issues, but I think if we do choose to go there we should be careful not to be too detailed or people might get confused. If we ask the question superficially I think it might work best. -- Tariq Alotaiba

I like the idea proposed by CONNOR and supported by MAXWELL (names are in caps so its easier to spot) regarding the SCC saying Canadians have no right to counsel when being interrogated. We should decide on a topic, then work out our dependent and independent variables for each question, in an effort of narrowing down our questions. [User:AkhtarMohammed|AkhtarMohammed]] 00:07, 13 October 2010, AkhtarMohammed

Does anyone want to get together in person for an hour or so and just hammer out everything? then we can post our set of questions? I just really hate computers and find this process painful, I feel we could get a lot more done in a lot less time if we spent an hour together.MaxwellMiller 22:02, 14 October 2010 (UTC)maxwell miller

I agree with Maxwell. This process will be much quicker and more efficient if we were to meet in person. Should we share contact information? The following is my contact info: e-mail: akhtarm10@hotmail.com phone: 778-846-4966 [User:AkhtarMohammed|AkhtarMohammed]] 12:37, 15 October 2010, AkhtarMohammed

[[ok, I've set up a google doc so that we can all coordinate our contact information and arrange a physical meeting, if that doesnt work we can always use google docs to have a virtual meeting. https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AoP_Q-OrA_mOdGRRSkhfbnVfTVNLWnI4bzJabU9rX3c&hl=en&authkey=CLjg37MC]]