Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog! Today, I will be continuing my research of the concept of innocent until proven guilty. In this post, I plan to investigate the Canadian legal system and how innocent until proven guilty is used in it.
The law affects almost every aspect of our day to day life. (1) However, most Canadians don’t understand our legal system and how it protects us. In Canada, common law and civil law co-exist. (2) Common law is a collection of precedents from previous cases. (7) Indigenous treaty rights are also factored into the Constitution. (1) However, Indigenous peoples in Canada have different types of government. (6)
Under the Constitution, anyone accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. (6) The federal government has exclusive law making power over criminal law and criminal procedure. (5) Canada is a nation governed by laws, and the Canadian legal system is the means through which those laws are written, organized, enforced, and interpreted. (7) This justice system has three branches: the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the judicial branch. (4) These branches can be further divided. (4) The court system of Canada forms the judicial branch. (5) The system uses two languages, English and French. (2) This is due to Canada’s bilingual status.
Judges work in the judicial branch to uphold the Constitution. (3) The law provides a way to resolve disputes peacefully, (1) and the judges help to do so. These courts are an impartial forum. (2) Judges can apply the law without regard to public or government opinion. (3) There is no opportunity for bias or favouritism. (3) These impartial judges are appointed by the Canadian judicial council. (4) Juries can be appointed to aid in the judge’s decision, but they are fairly uncommon in civil cases. (5)
Our rights and freedoms as Canadians are protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. (6) English common law still applies to us, even though we have separated from Britain.(7)
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog post! I hope you’ve enjoyed it, and I’ll see you in the next one.
- https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/just/img/courten.pdf
- https://www.oas.org/dil/flpc/docs/canada/substantive/introduction%20to%20the%20legal%20system%20of%20canada.pdf
- https://cscja.ca/canadas-justice-system/
- https://cjc-ccm.ca/en/resources-centre/understanding-your-judicial-system
- https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/courts-of-law
- https://owjn.org/2012/02/01/introduction-to-the-canadian-legal-system/
- https://thecanadaguide.com/basics/legal-system/
Hi Aniela,
Great Blog Post, I really like the topic you decided to research about as it metions a key part of our lives, the government, even though we may sometimes not realize how big on an impact they have on our lives, it’s a really relevant topic. I liked the diagram you added breaking down Canada’s court system as it’s a good and visual way to picture it. I would have loved to see some of the social impacts of Indigenous people having different a different goverment, or a comparison between our government and how some parts of theirs that may be different. A question I have is, What specific rights do accused persons have under Canadian law to protect the presumption of innocence? What challenges exist in holding the presumption of innocence in high-profile cases?
Some sources that may be helpful in future research:
https://arisa-project.eu/the-presumption-of-innocence-and-the-media-coverage-of-criminal-cases/
https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion/the-presumption-of-innocence-is-for-the-court-of-law-not-for-protecting-the-reputations-of-the-powerful/275774
Overall great job and I look forward to reading your future Blog Posts! Good luck on your future research!
Perla 🙂