Understanding Canadian Law, Grade 11 (University/College Preparation)

Unit 1: Legal Skills and Careers

How investigating law builds transferable and critical-thinking skills, applying them to current events, and the careers — from lawyer to policy analyst to peace officer — where a background in law is an asset.

• Skills the study of law builds
• Thinking like a legal reasoner
• Legal issues in the news
• Careers in law

Unit 2: Canadian Legal Heritage

The role and importance of law and the fundamental principles of justice in Canada; early laws and legal systems and their relationship to Canadian law; the roles of individuals, groups, and governments; and the social, scientific, and technological factors shaping Canadian law.

• Categories and role of law
• Foundational principles of justice: rule of law, parliamentary supremacy, precedent, equality
• Principles protecting the accused: presumption of innocence, habeas corpus, degrees of liability
• The structure of the courts

• Early legal systems and Canadian law
• Roman law and civil codes
• Past legislation and the Constitution

• The three branches of government
• Key aspects of the Constitution
• The Charter and the judiciary
• Roles and responsibilities in the justice system

• Societal values and legal change
• Law's response to science and technology
• People who changed the law
• Aboriginal rights: legislation and landmark cases

Unit 3: Rights and Freedoms

The legal significance of the Charter and human rights codes; the factors that have shaped human rights law in Ontario and Canada; the gap between formal recognition of rights and their protection in practice; and when rights and freedoms may justifiably be limited.

• Charter and human rights code protections
• Barriers to human rights
• Resolving human rights complaints

• Justice, equity, and inclusiveness
• Social factors changing rights law
• People who built human rights law
• Landmark human rights cases

• Laws, inquiries, and rights in practice
• The Charter vs earlier rights protections
• Balancing minority and majority rights

• Situations where rights may be limited
• Evaluating arguments for limiting rights

Unit 4: Private Law: Torts, Family, Employment, and Contracts

The legal foundations, processes, and participants of the private-law areas most people encounter — tort law, family law, employment and labour law, and contract law.

• Torts and their defences
• Settling civil disputes
• Participants in a civil dispute
• Legal reasoning in tort decisions

• Marriage and common-law relationships
• Dissolving a marriage
• Rights on dissolution
• How family law has changed

• Federal and provincial jurisdiction in employment law
• Employment law versus labour law
• Protecting employees' rights
• Roles in employment law
• Labour negotiations and labour law

• Elements of a legal contract
• Parties to a contract
• Breach of contract
• Everyday contracts and change

Unit 5: Criminal Law and the Justice System

The foundational concepts of criminal law; the structures, roles, and processes of the criminal justice system; whether that system delivers even-handed justice; and the factors shaping the development of Canadian criminal law.

• Elements and types of crime
• Offences in the Criminal Code
• Youth criminal justice

• Bringing an accused to trial
• The criminal trial and its participants
• Sentencing options and their purposes
• Appeals in criminal cases
• Sentencing young offenders

• Protecting rights in the justice system
• The purposes of sentencing and prisons
• Challenges facing law enforcement
• Media and perceptions of justice

• Defences that became accepted
• Who shaped criminal law
• Charter challenges to the Criminal Code