DESCRIPTION
In your exploration of how diversity affects B.C. law enforcement, you will not only focus inside to examine your own stereotypes, but also, focus outside to accurately observe, understand, and respond to behaviours like those you will encounter on the job. You will learn about and be supportive of a wide variety of people who vary in race, age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, class, and mental health, as well as, those who live on a continuum of visible -- and non-visible -- physical and cognitive abilities. You will brainstorm with your classmates about ways we can better meet the needs of a diverse range of people and achieve greater sensitivity and justice outcomes in the performance of law enforcement duties. You will study the foundational laws that inform our society’s Human Rights and practice deconstructing scenarios that depict moments of ignorance, prejudice, and/or intolerance. Finally, you will explore, via multi-media examples, diversity-related hate crimes and co-create a final class project designed to focus attention on healing intolerance.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
In this course you will:
- Develop tools and strategies to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
- Describe the benefits and challenges of living and working in a diverse community, and the effects these will have on law enforcement.
- Develop and apply skills for dealing more effectively with a multi-cultural society.
- Identify issues and practice methods that address special circumstance with respect to Gender, Sexuality, Visible and Non-visible Ethno-Cultural Groups, Mental Health, Aboriginal Peoples, Youth and Elders, Physical and Cognitive Abilities.
- Identify values, traditions, and expectations of major Ethno-Cultural groups in BC.
- Explain hate-motivated actions and crimes.
- Understand laws related to human rights: i.e., The “Persons” Case, Universal Human Rights Proclamation, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Human Rights for First Nations, and hate crime laws (The Criminal Code of Canada, Sections 318, 319, and 320).
- Describe and apply human rights principles and protections.
- Examine personal biases and logical flaws in your own thinking.
- Practice questioning sexist, racist, etc. theories about biologically determined differences.
- Question DIFFERENCE assumptions. Learn that INTRA-group differences are much greater than INTER-group differences.
- Identify and deconstruct your own -- and other’s -- moments of ignorance, prejudice, intolerance, or hate.
- Discover, appreciate, and celebrate with multi-media expressions how to dialogue about diversity.
REQUIRED MATERIALS
Diversity, Crime, and Justice in Canada
Barbara Perry
(2011)
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10: 0195432339
ISBN-13: 978-0195432336
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Are Women Persons? The “Persons” Case
by Monique Benoit, Government Archives and Records Disposition
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History of Human Rights
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Human Rights Handbook for First Nations: Rights, Responsibility, Respect. Published by the Canadian Human Rights Commission
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The Criminal Code of Canada
Sections 318,
Section 319, and
Section 320
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Building a Just Society:
A Retrospective of Canadian Rights and Freedoms
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End Hate Crime: B.C. Hate Crime Team Roles and Responsibilities
Published by B.C. Ministry of Attorney General
