Sand in the Shorts: Human Rights - Not Privileges

By James Phieffer - for jamesphieffer.com (and in edited form for the Belleville Intelligencer)


"By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes his duty against the influence of authority and majorities, custom and opinion."- Lord Acton

In Canada, we believe that our default political condition is freedom. Our national anthem speaks of the “true north, strong and free”, and goes on to ask that “God keep our land glorious and free”. We have a charter of rights, and “human rights tribunals”. Apparently, we REALLY believe in human rights.

Political arguments are based on, or couched in the language of rights. Abortion advocates argue 'it's a woman's right', while Pro-Life advocates point out that the rights of the woman cannot simply override the primal right to life of the child. Organizations argue for prisoner's rights, victim's rights, legal rights, and the right to use illicit drugs. Current hot topics surround marriage rights – do same sex couples have a right to marriage, and is the illegality of polygamy an unfair infringement on the rights of those who believe in it?

All of this leads back to one elemental fact. Canadians believe that our country is founded and continues to operate on the basis of individual human freedom. But the latter is becoming a more dubious proposition every day, as we see governments and courts turning rights into 'privileges', and then denying them altogether.

In Quebec this March, a judge, Nicole Bernier, removed two pre-school aged children from being educated at home by their parents. No evidence was provided to suggest that their home environment was anything less than healthy. Indeed, their family doctor testified that the children were healthy and well cared for. Now, this would seem then to have been a no-brainer. The parents have the fundamental right to raise their children, after all. They know what's best for their children, and by the very nature of human reproduction are tasked with the raising of a child to adulthood.

But not according to judge Bernier. She ordered that the children go to a state-run daycare for 'socialization'. In her words, “ They have isolated themselves with their children in a very limited view of what constitutes education of a child, wanting to protect children from the external environment they perceive as bad. They have deprived the children of a proper education." (Just out of curiosity, has anyone given this judge a breathalyzer or drug test?)

This same family already had their two older children ordered to go to a public school last year – they too were being home-schooled, something which is legal across Canada and the United States, in keeping with the basic freedom of parents to raise their children as they see fit. But here this judge has abrogated that right, substituting her own judgment that the children needed “socialization”.

The matter has now gone to the Quebec Superior Court as the parents seek to have this insane overstepping of judicial boundaries overturned. The family is being represented by the Home School Legal Defense Association's Canadian branch, an organization which has helped parents in similar situations, including a German family which sought, and received political asylum in the United States after they were threatened with jail for homeschooling in Germany, a nation where it is illegal.

In Canada, we face a choice: are human rights given by God, or by the government? As the government stakes it's claim, it's time for those of us who believe rights are derived from our very nature as humans to stand up and be heard.