Workbook 7 Activity 2

Activity 2: Individual Rights

Get Focused

Your individual rights may be something you take for granted, such as what you believe, what you wear, or who your friends are. Because you live in a free and democratic society, you may not have even questioned what your individual rights are. You may not have realized that in some countries people do not have the same rights as you or that in Canada many individuals did not have rights before the Charter.

In 1948, the United Nations saw the horrible tragedies that occurred during World War II. People suffered terrible injustices because of their race, religion, or colour. The United Nations, as a global community, produced the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights that states the rights to which every human is entitled.

Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). If possible as you read the UDHR, discuss with a learning partner or family member what individual rights you take for granted living in Canada.

Refer to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to cross-reference your rights in Canada with those in the UDHR. What similarities, or universals, do you see?

Record your findings in a Venn diagram, a compare and contrast chart, or a graphic organizer of your choice.

Venn diagram (Word)
Venn diagram (pdf)
Venn diagram (Google Doc)
compare and contrast chart (Word)
compare and contrast chart (pdf)
compare and contrast chart (Google Doc)

Save your diagram, chart, or organizer to your Activities folder.

In this activity, you will examine this question:

How does the Charter protect my individual rights?

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