PLEA’s Law 30 Resource Portal

Indicators for this outcome

(a) Identify the influence of societal worldviews on the organization of historical and contemporary legal systems (e.g., Indigenous legal systems, Sharia law, Mosaic law, Hammurabi’s law code, Law of the Prairie).

Treaties and the Law (FL1-g, FL1-h, FL2-g, FL2-i, LT1-g)
The PLEA: Hammurabi’s Code (FL1-i, CR1-j)
Lesson Six: Solidarity, Friendship, and Human Decency from Shipwrecked (FL1-i, FL1-j)

(b) Debate whether the primary function of law is to create order or provide freedoms for members of its society.

Lesson Five: Freedom and Law from Democracy and the Rule of Law (FL1-d)
Ideals: The Grand Inquisitor from The PLEA: Book Club
Lesson Four: Sharing Resources from Shipwrecked (FL1-j)
Lesson Five: Freedom To, Freedom From from Shipwrecked (FL1-d)

(c) Predict the consequences of a society without laws.

Lesson Three: The Dead End of Dictatorship from Shipwrecked (FL1-d, FL1-g)
Lesson Seven: Create Your Own Society from Shipwrecked (FL1-j)
The PLEA: Shipwrecked
Island Simulation from Lord of the Flies: The Novel Study
Lord of the Flies: The Novel Study

(d) Explain why the rule of law is a fundamental principle in democratic societies and relate it to examples in Canadian society.

The PLEA: Democracy and the Rule of Law (FL3-a, FL3-e)
Democracy and the Rule of Law (FL1-b, FL1-l, FL2-a, FL2-b, FL2-c, FL2-d, FL2-g, FL3-a, FL3-b, FL3-e, FL3-h, LT2-f)
Lesson Three: The Dead End of Dictatorship from Shipwrecked (FL1-c, FL1-g)
Lesson Five: Freedom To, Freedom From from Shipwrecked (FL1-b)

(e) Identify examples of ways in which law is a part of everyday life in Canada.

Lesson 1.2: Why Laws? from Our Government, Our Election (FL1-g)
Lesson One: Thinking About Laws from Shipwrecked

(f) Examine the difference between equality and equity as they relate to the concepts of justice and the application of laws.

(g) Investigate elements that influence Canada’s legal system such as:

• the Constitution Act (Constitution) (1982) including The Charter of Rights and Freedoms;
• the idea of cooperative federalism such as the division of powers and jurisdictional responsibilities between the federal government, the provinces and the territories;
• treaties (e.g., the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [1989], the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [UNDRIP] [2007], the numbered treaties in Canada [1871-1921]);
• the Indian Act (1876);
• Canadian case law; and,
• worldviews (e.g., beliefs, customs, philosophy, religion).

Lesson 1.2 Teacher's Background Information: Legislative Powers in Canada from Our Government, Our Election (FL1-e)
Lesson 2.1: The Structure of Provincial Governance from Our Government Our Election (FL1-h, FL2-d)
Lesson 2.2 Teacher's Background Information: Statutory Law vs. Common Law from Our Government, Our Election (FL2-c)
The Indian Act from Treaties and the Law Information Backgrounder (FL1-a, FL1-h, FL2-i)
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms from The PLEA: Canada's Legal System: An Introduction (CR1-e)
Lesson Three: The Dead End of Dictatorship from Shipwrecked (FL1-c, FL1-d)

(h) Examine how the historical roots of law in Canada stem from Indigenous legal systems, British common law and the Civil Code of Québec (1991).

Treaties and the Law Information Backgrounder (FL1-a, FL1-g, FL2-i, LT1-h)
Lesson 2.1: The Structure of Provincial Governance from Our Government Our Election (FL1-g, FL2-d)

(i) Compare the purposes and functions of law and the justice system in Canadian society today with traditional Indigenous approaches to law and justice (e.g., restorative vs. punitive justice).

The PLEA: Hammurabi’s Code (FL1-a, CR1-j)
Lesson Two: Foundational Tones from Shipwrecked (FL1-j)
Lesson Six: Solidarity, Friendship, and Human Decency from Shipwrecked (FL1-a, FL1-j)


(j) Debate criteria for just laws and systems of justice and apply to scenarios and case studies.

The Grounded Idealism of The Discourses from The PLEA: The Mind of Machiavelli (FL2-a)
Fundamental Freedoms in Canada from The PLEA: Revisiting Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town
Justice, Not Hatred from Albert Camus' The Plague: The Learning Resource (FL2-f)
Lesson Two: Foundational Tones from Shipwrecked (FL1-i)
Lesson Four: Sharing Resources from Shipwrecked (FL1-b)
Lesson Six: Solidarity, Friendship, and Human Decency from Shipwrecked (FL1-a, FL1-i)
Lesson Seven: Create Your Own Society from Shipwrecked (FL1-c)

(k) Examine safeguards (e.g., impartial and independent judiciary, jury of one’s peers, right to counsel, presumption of innocence, courts of equity, right to appeal) in law that should protect Canadians from abuse of power by the state and ensure fairness.

The Role of Judges from The PLEA: Canada's Legal System: An Introduction (FL1-l, CR1-e)
Blackstone’s Formulation and Chief Wiggum from The PLEA: The Simpsons and the Law (CR1-i)

(l) Examine the role of judges in the Canadian judicial system.

The Role of Judges from The PLEA: Canada's Legal System: An Introduction (FL1-k, CR1-e)
Judicial Opinions from Chapter Six of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town: The Learning Resource
Judges and Political Connections from Chapter Seven of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town: The Learning Resource
The Conduct of Canada's Judges from Chapter Seven of Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town: The Learning Resource
Case Study: Judges and the Rule of Law from Lesson 4 of Democracy and the Rule of Law (FL1-d)
Justice System: Judges (CR1-e)
Courts and Legal System > Judges (CR1-e)