High School Block:

Law 120

The study of law allows learners to better understand their own social, political, and cultural communities. In Law 120, learners will engage with how governance was founded in Canada, what role criminal law plays in society, how ideas about property and contract have implications in communities, and how the law can be used to secure and enhance basic rights and liberties for all—while still being used to oppress and exclude vulnerable communities. Understanding how the law works helps learners critically evaluate laws and policies and prepares them to be active members of their civic communities. Law 120 introduces learners to the basic features of law and provides a fundamental understanding of law in Canada. It does so by focusing on two substantive areas of law: public law and private law. These areas are supplemented not only by an introduction to the fundamentals of the Canadian constitution and system of government but also by sections on Wabanaki law and critical approaches to law and society. In each of these subject areas, discrete types of law are studied to give students an overview of the development, application, and interpretation of law in Canada. Aboriginal law (state law concerning Indigenous peoples) and Indigenous law (the laws of Indigenous peoples themselves) are considered in each subject area. The Law 120 curriculum has been developed with the goal of introducing students to the fundamental principles of Canadian law. In addition to the functions and role of law in Canadian society, learners will develop their skills of critical reasoning by considering the interpretations and applications of law, including the tensions between the beneficial features of law and how the law is sometimes applied unequally because of biases. Learners will research case law and legislation on the concepts and content covered throughout this course.

CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS

Foundations of Law in Canada

  • The history of Canada’s Constitution, including written ad unwritten effects
  • The diverse peoples (Indigenous, British, French) who contributed to the development of the constitution
  • The main features of Canada’s Constitution
  • Different legal traditions
  • Indigenous law and the legal traditions of Indigenous peoples
  • Treaties: Peace and Friendship, Numbered, and other treaties
  • Indigenous Rights as international law
  • Traditional Wabanaki teachings
  • Ceremony
  • Sacred circles
  • Wabanaki governance structures
  • The Wabanaki Confederacy
  • Treaty-making on Wabanaki territories
  • Wampum
  • Covenant chain of treaties
  • The role of the courts in Canada
  • Court structure in Canada
  • Precedent and the doctrine of stare decisis.
Private Law in Canada

  • The law of torts and civil litigation in Canada
  • Types of torts
  • How civil claims can be used to resolve individual and collective concerns
  • Indigenous modes of conflict resolution
  • Contracts
  • Property rights
  • Tangible and intangible property
  • Racism in property law
  • Real and personal property
  • Introduction to leases
  • Inheritance
  • Jurisdiction over property
  • Indigenous property
  • Property and the 1725–26 treaty
  • Law of Defamation
  • Tort of Internet Harassment
  • Illegal Downloading and Copyright
  • Privacy and the Internet
Public Law in Canada

  • Sources of Criminal law and the role of the Charter
  • The role of the criminal law in maintaining a just, peaceful and safe society
  • The trial process
  • The International Criminal court
  • Is the court effective?
  • Structural and institutional racism
  • Sentencing
  • Restorative justice:
  • Criminal law and Indigenous legal orders
  • Peace and Friendship Treaties and Criminal law jurisdiction
  • Disproportionate representation of Black and Indigenous people in federal jails
  • Biases in the law and in policing
  • Types of rights under the Charter
  • Limitations on rights
  • Role of rights in a democratic society
  • Notwithstanding clause
  • History of s.35
  • History of 15(1)
  • Definition of “Aboriginal and Treaty rights”
  • Aboriginal Title:
  • The Duty to Consult
  • Importance of treaty rights today
  • Distinction between Aboriginal rights and Charter rights
  • What is international law?
  • How is international law made?
  • Is international law enforceable?
  • Enforceability of different types of international law
  • History of Human Rights
  • Federal protections of human rights
  • Provincial protections of human rights
  • The fight to include sexual orientation to provincial legislation in New Brunswick
  • Criminal law and the internet
  • Cyberviolence
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GRADE 12

Strand: Humanities

Big Idea: Foundations of Law in Canada

Skill Descriptor: Analyze Canada’s constitutional history, legal traditions, and systems of governance.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Identify the distinct political groups who have contributed to the constitution.
  • Describe the effect of the Constitution on Indigenous peoples and early Black inhabitants.
  • Explain the division of powers under Canada’s constitution.
  • Identify how laws are made in Canada.
  • Discuss the importance of the British North America Act 1867 and the Constitution Act 1982.
  • Discuss what legal pluralism is and how it works in Canada.
  • Examine some ways that Indigenous and other bodies of Canadian law are similar and some ways that they may differ.

Skill Descriptor: Examine the importance of treaties in establishing nation-to-nation relationships.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain the importance of the Royal Proclamation 1763 to the development of Canada and the relationship between the Crown and Indigenous Peoples.
  • Differentiate the Peace and Friendship Treaties from the Numbered Treaties.
  • Articulate the importance of the Peace and Friendship Treaties, both historically and today.
  • Identify the central Indigenous rights instruments at international law.
  • Evaluate the domestic application of these rights in Canada.

Skill Descriptor: Research traditional Wabanaki law and governance.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Examine the significance of language and oral tradition in expressing Wabanaki worldviews.
  • Explain how natural law influences governance within Wabanaki societies.
  • Describe how the principle of seven generations influences Wabanaki legal decision-making.
  • Discuss the significance of relationships in Wabanaki societies i.e. kinship relations, social relations, and relationship with land and nature (Mother Earth).
  • Analyze Wabanaki modes of conflict resolution.
  • Describe the Wabanaki traditional and contemporary governance structures.
  • Discuss the importance of treaties with Wabanaki nations in the creation of Canada.

Skill Descriptor: Discuss the role of the courts and practice basic legal research.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain the role of the courts in interpreting the constitution.
  • Identify the importance of precedent in judicial decision-making [the doctrine of stare decisis].
  • Outline the structure of courts in Canada.
  • Consult primary and secondary sources in my legal research
  • Research judicial decisions.
  • Describe what it is to “note up” a decision.
  • Find legislation.
  • Discuss the implications of the law in society.

Big Idea: Public Law in Canada

Skill Descriptor: Describe key features of criminal law in Canada.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe the role and sources of Criminal law in Canada.
  • Outline the trial process.
  • Articulate the role of a jury in criminal trials.
  • Research the Criminal Code.
  • Describe the relationship between the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Criminal law.
  • Outline the role of the ICC.
  • Explain the types of crimes the ICC prosecutes.
  • Discuss controversies around the role of the ICC.

Skill Descriptor: Evaluate how systemic biases affect the law and how these biases impact different groups.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Establish how power and control of dominant groups is exercised in the law.
  • Discuss the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Criminal law.
  • Discuss the relationship between Black peoples and the Criminal law.
  • Articulate the purpose and application of Gladue sentencing principles.
  • Identify features of restorative justice.
  • Outline problems with the disproportionate representation of Black and Indigenous people in federal jails.
  • Identify how the Peace and Friendship Treaties dealt with Criminal law jurisdiction.
  • Outline how negative outcomes associated with biases can be avoided.
  • Explain what discrimination means from a legal perspective.

Skill Descriptor: Examine the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to understand how Charter rights are interpreted and applied.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain why the Charter was adopted.
  • Identify the rights protected under the Charter.
  • Describe acceptable limits on rights.
  • Analyze how the lenses and biases of the Charter creators affected its application.
  • Examine the application of rights in legal cases.

Skill Descriptor: Analyze how the law shapes the historic and contemporary relationship between Indigenous peoples and settler Canadians.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe the history of the inclusion of Aboriginal rights in the constitution.
  • Distinguish between Aboriginal rights and Charter
  • Describe the difference between white settlers and early Black inhabitants of Canada.
  • Demonstrate the historical and contemporary importance of treaties and treaty rights.
  • Discuss when the duty to consult arises and what it entails.
  • Explain features of the Indian Act.

Skill Descriptor: Consider human rights in provincial, national, and international law.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Identify the main judicial bodies at international law.
  • Explain how international law applies in Canada.
  • Analyze the role of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
  • Identify the types of issues dealt with in federal and provincial human rights legislation.
  • Research how Human Rights codes in many provinces were a result of first legislations against racial discrimination.
  • Explain the role of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission and the role of Ombudsman

Skill Descriptor: Investigate public law considerations around Internet use and online behaviour.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Identify how the criminal law regulates online behaviour.
  • Discuss what types of online behaviour may have criminal consequences.
  • Explain how cyberviolence is defined at law.
  • Examine the legal consequences of cyberviolence.

Big Idea: Private Law in Canada

Skill Descriptor: Review the basics of tort law in Canada.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain the formalities required to establish a contract.
  • Explain the social role that contracts play.
  • Describe how contracts upheld enslavement.
  • Identify various remedies available for breach of contract.
  • Explain some things that might invalidate a contract.

Skill Descriptor: Examine the law of property in Canada.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Discuss how the Western concept of ownership of land and property has shaped legal systems.
  • Analyze how the collision of cultures with legal systems that protect ownership under law has created tensions and major issues.
  • Examine different kinds of property rights in Canada.
  • Explain the types of limitations may be placed on estates and what legislation governs wills.
  • Identify property rights under the Indian Act.
  • Research how the Specific Land Claims Tribunal provides remedies for Indigenous loss of land.

Skill Descriptor: Discuss private law considerations around Internet use and online behaviour.

Global Competencies: CTPS, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain the tort of Internet harassment.
  • Articulate the law of defamation and identify what constitutes defamation.
  • Explain how copyright law relates to illegal downloading of media.
  • Explain how personal information is protected and how it is vulnerable.
  • Examine how a company might use one’s own personal information to their benefit.
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