If a Canadian says that he or she does not know Canadian system, this person will be joked as a dimwit, so for international students, they need to know some basic knowledge of Canadian politics unless they want to shut off the pathway between themselves and the society. It is a fact that people from other countries are not much active and seldom join the political activities because they do not understand Canadian political systems, and that is why international students need to learn civics.
The Canadian Parliamentary System
The Canadian Parliament System is different from some other countries’ systems. Some countries have only one government or few leaders managing everything or most of things, but in Canada, different levels, or branches, manage different part of Canada in different ways depending. There are three levels of Canadian Government: the federal level, the provincial level and the municipal level. In simple word, you can consider the federal level as the level for country, the provincial level as the level for province, and the municipal level as the level for city. Besides, there are also three branches of the government: executive, which makes decision and choice to make sure the laws are followed, legislative, which makes new laws and changes old laws so that the laws are suitable for the society, judicial, which judges people, decides whether a person breaks the laws and determines the punishment for a violator.
Why the Canadian Parliamentary System is beneficial
In a country, there are always many things happening, but not all of them are important. For example, if a person steals a book, he or she will go to the police stations instead of the federal courts. Why? Because the federal government need to deal with much more important things. If there is only one government dealing with everything, the efficiency will be low. As a result, in order to avoid delaying the work and losing the confidence of the citizens, the government have to divide itself into different things with different degree of importance.
Right, Freedom and Responsibility
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which was enacted in 1984, replaced the Bill of Rights, and became the most important and effective charter. It record the rights and freedoms of the citizens, such as democratic rights (rights to vote and run an office), right to vote (rights to join in an election), mobility rights (rights to move freely), legal rights (rights basing on laws), equality rights (everyone have equal rights), language rights (rights to use official language in any place) and so on. However, while a citizen is using rights, they need to follow their responsibilities, as well. If you violate others’ rights and freedoms, you will not be able to use your rights and freedoms. It is important to realize that the responsibility is a premise of the rights and freedoms because none of us can use our rights and freedoms without limiting.
People understand the political systems for not only themselves but also others. The main reason to know that is to conform the society. The politics is always one of the most necessary part in our daily life. If you want to learn more, you can check the link below for more information.
http://www.nelson.com/civicsnow/pdf/CivicsNow_Studentsampler.pdf
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