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Pros And Cons Of The Charter Of Rights And Freedoms

Decent Essays

One of the most misinterpreted aspects of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the freedom of expression. Group organizations have misused this much too often. In the past, many extremist groups have misused this right to protect themselves. A great example is the Westboro Baptist Church. This church is one of the many groups across North America that uses the Charter to protect themselves. The Charter protects them even though their actions and messages are harmful and not beneficial to society. If the Charter was to recognize these groups as dangerous, they wouldn’t have the chance to misuse these freedoms. Also, the fact that if a Canadian citizen were to use the excuse of the freedom of expression to defend their actions, they wouldn’t …show more content…

There are many groups that hide behind religion in order to get these benefits. Scientology is one group that refers to themselves as a “New Religion.” They protect themselves with this right in order to get away with their actions. There have been many reports accusing Scientology of exploiting members physically and financially. They get away with these illegal activities by lying. Lying is something that the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, has presented as acceptable in the religion, which isn’t tolerated in many real religions. However, if the Charter was to address groups like Scientology with more severity, they would not be able to hide anymore. No longer would they get away with their crimes, but these groups, and so-called religions, will actually face the consequences. In addition, freedom of religion is misused when these groups go against their religion. This refers to religious movements that state they are preaching a religion. In reality, they are going against the basic principles of that religion to do what they feel is right. For instance, many cults like the KKK are based off Christianity, but they don’t follow Christian principles. They do this so that they can have the benefits of being a non-profit religious group, like tax exemptions, but then take advantage of this label to perform hate crimes and get away with them. For this reason, it is …show more content…

In Canada, the right to equality has allowed citizens of all genders, races and sexual orientations to be treated as equals. This is something that groups do not realize. Members of organizations are subject to violence and abuse by higher powers. Groups like Scientology have been reported for putting kids to heavy labour. Also, members have been financially exploited in order for the church to make money. Furthermore, conditions for families separated within the church seem to be much worse. Once again, Scientology has gotten away with their crimes. Not only are they breaking an aspect of the Charter, but they are also performing illegal activities like abuse and assault. If this was an ordinary Canadian citizen, he or she would have been arrested and imprisoned. This does not apply to these groups because the Charter addresses them with too much lenience, which is an issue that needs to be fixed. Comparatively, women in cults are not treated pleasantly either. The government has received many reports of women who have faced physical, psychological, spiritual and sexual abuse during rituals. These groups can get away with horrible acts of crime just by being a non-profit organization. On the contrary, a normal citizen would have to face the consequences for doing the same crime. This is not equality at all! This goes for these groups and even the government. In addition, it is unfair as to why these

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