The First Step

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The First Step

In the introduction we looked at four words taken from the statement of Colleen Myrol on the tragic occasion of the death her son.

    They were:   ‘DUTY’   ‘TEACH’   ‘CARE’   ‘RAISE’

Let us first look at DUTY.

Amend the Canadian Charter of Rights and freedoms

The closest the Charter comes to ensuring the rights of law abiding citizens under it's Justice section is:

The remainder of the Charter describes the rights of criminals.

The first clause of the Charter needs be amended to include the “DUTIES” of each and every citizen.

Clause 1 should read- “Each and every person residing in Canada has the duty and obligation to be a law abiding, productive, peaceful citizen and a defender and protector of the person and rights of all other individuals residing in Canada”.

How would this make a difference?

Firstly, it would predicate all the rights an individual has by demanding before hand their duty to ensure the rights of all others.

Secondly, this would obligate legislation to provide all necessary funding for education, care and services required to give each person the resources needed to become a productive, peaceful law abiding citizen.

Thirdly, this would obligate parents to take responsibility in the upbringing and education of their children.

Example: The following statement is from the Summary Conclusion of the Submission of the Ontario Teachers' Federation / Fédération des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario to the Standing Committee on Budget and Finance, February 13, 2004. “Today the expectation is that all students have both a responsibility and a right to learn, to acquire the skills and knowledge that will enable them to participate fully in society.”

If the above statement is true, and should be true for all education departments across Canada, then they are failing miserably. Following this statement must then be the disclosure that education departments therefore are under obligation to provide all necessary funding for resources to ensure that no student need be at risk of failure, after all they, the students, have the RIGHT to learn. Yet, by education board statistics, 25% of secondary students are at risk of not graduating.

One requirement that the statement does do is indicate a students responsibility to learn. The duty of learning is of equal importance as the right of the student to an education.

From the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms

“The Charter is divided into several parts that define the various rights and freedoms Canadians enjoy. In addition to fundamental freedoms, the Charter guarantees equality rights; mobility rights, such as the right of citizens to live or seek work anywhere in Canada; democratic rights, such as the right to vote; and legal rights, such as the right to life, liberty and security and the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”

The opening lines of the Charter reads as follows:

The main focus in the Charter is given the right of an individual against unlawful proceedings and not to an individuals right to peaceful ‘enjoyment’ of life and property.

Any ‘citizen’ who does not abide by his or her duties of citizenship should forfeit his or her rights under citizenship. In other words; duty should be the primary individual concern of all persons,– not rights.

It is a persons individual duty to uphold the peaceful enjoyment and protection of the citizenship of all others before one's own rights and freedoms. Yes, we all are our brothers' keeper.

Move on to practicality.

The first duty is ‘Abiding to Law’. This duty is a learned behavior brought about by upbringing, environment and necessity. Although there is very little society in general can do to ensure the proper raising of law abiding children, this is primarily a parental responsibility, there is much we can do to promote a law abiding environment and limit the necessity to break the law and assist in the law abiding and productive development of the nations' children.

Secondly, the duty to be a productive member of society. Productivity, the ability of a person to earn a living and pay his or her proportion of support to our Nations welfare and security is directly relative to an individuals education and job related training. It is an individual's responsibility to take advantage of any and all education and training opportunities and resources and it is the obligation of society to provide all resources required for the education and training of all citizens. This should and must include parenting skills programs to best ensure each child's discipline and environment to learn.

The ability to earn a reasonable wage reduces the necessity of criminal activity for support in the basics to enjoyment of life and reduces the direct financial support from society required to live a proper standard of life.

Note: It is an individuals' right to be ‘poor’ if they so choose but, if the choice to be poor is taken, that individual has no right to burden other individuals for the necessities of life, i.e.- shelter and food. When one chooses to be non-productive in society, they also choose to limit their ‘rights’ under the Canadian charter of rights and freedoms. One cannot have it both ways. You either contribute to the welfare of all of Canada by earning your own way or surrender your ‘privileges’ as a citizen of Canada.

Yes, there are recognizable exceptions- Age, mental and physical capacity, and temporary unfortunate circumstance.

Thirdly, the duty to live in peace or not to disturb the peace and quiet enjoyment of other citizens nor to violate others persons or property.

How often do we hear of criminals set free because their rights were violated at some point in the police arrest or investigation. This does not negate the crime, the crime would negate the criminals rights. The suspect is still innocent until proven guilty and his rights still stand, but, the warrant is still valid also until the suspect is proven not guilty. If the suspect is proven not guilty, then and only then, have his rights been violated and the arresting officer or investigator who violated the suspects rights should be reprimanded for a breach of duty. If the suspect is proven guilty, then there was no violation on the officer's part for the offender surrendered his rights by committing the crime. Gone Too Far – *Prisoner Rights?***

Fourthly, the duty to defend and remain prepared to defend the sovereignty of Canada and the property of Canada and the people of Canada, not only from outside aggression or incursion but also from natural occurrences such as fire, flood, earthquake, famine, pestilence, disease or any other threat to the safety and welfare of the population.

There needs be opportunities for employment for every able citizen. A National Guard could supplement those opportunities by providing temporary employment, purpose, discipline, on job training, and life skills. Since it be everyone's duty to be prepared to defend the nation, then every able citizen should find it his or her duty to serve a minimum time in preparing for that defense. There is no reason why this service to Country cannot begin at age 15. For those who are attending school much of the mandatory service period could be served in a Cadet wing. For those who drop out of school, their service begins full time.

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