Challenges to Liberalism

1. Challenges to Liberalism Other Ways of Thinking

2. Aboriginal Ways of Thinking

3. Belief that collective interest is more important than the individual • This challenged some European-led government policies • This changed with the Constitution Act of 1982 • Aboriginal collective rights were specifically included in Sections 25 and 35

4. This shift in thinking and government policy has led to legal grounds to challenge the denial of their rights by government • Aboriginal peoples have gone to the Supreme Court to rule over disputes in land, fishing, hunting, and logging • A number of land claims have been settled by Aboriginal groups and the Canadian government

5. Settled land claims show a new respect towards the Aboriginals from the Canadian government • Métis have been working on having their collective rights recognized • Proving more difficult because Métis don’t have the same historic treaties as First Nations • Métis have had success in Alberta with the Métis Settlements Accord • Transfer of land to Métis people and provisions for self-governance

6. Aboriginal Self- Government • Means having some independence in decision making • Wouldn’t be the same in every community • Decisions regarding: their economy, education, culture, use of natural resources, and other areas of well - being • Aboriginal groups and the governments in Canada (fed. and prov.) have not come to an agreement on what self-government means

7. Self-Government • The Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement (2005) • Recognizes the collective rights and identities of the Labrador Inuit by confirming their rights to land ownership in northern Labrador, self-government, and resource sharing • Includes: recognized Inuit people’s rights related to traditional land use (land, ocean, coastal communities), self-government, National Park Reserve, transfer of $140 million to the Inuit people for implementation of the agreement

8. Religious Ways of Thinking

9. The Doukhobors • Russian language speaking dissenters who rejected the authority of Church and state • Came to Canada and US to escape persecution in the early 1900s • Believed that individual rights needed to be balanced with the rights of the community as a whole • Doukhobors owned and worked land as a community rather than owning private property

10. A smaller group of Doukhobors, the Sons of Freedom had more radical ideas • Accused by government of engaging in arson to protest compulsory education, taxation, and land seizures by government • Sons of Freedom believed in living the simplest life possible – rejected materialistic ways of thinking • Leader was killed in an explosion that many felt was a murder • Protested this action by not allowing their children to go to school • Government responded by taking away their belongings

11. Use of Religious Law • Recent challenges to liberalism in Canada has been the request by religious groups to use religious laws to settle legal disputes • 2005 – Ontario decided against the use of religious arbitration, regardless of the denomination (Muslim, Jewish, Christian)

12. Environmentalist Ways of Thinking

13. Concern over environment versus the desire for consumption (key component of liberalism – economic freedom) • Environmentalists are concerned about the rate of consumption / growth in the economy • Want governments to get involved and increase taxes on manufacturers, require manufacturers to collect their products from consumers when they are no longer useful, encourage individuals to use less