Self-Compassion

While trying to understanding the concept of ‘self-compassion’, it is desirable that one understands the meaning and essence of ‘compassion’ first. The literal meaning of the word ‘compassion’ is ‘to suffer with’. The experience of compassion is quite common to everybody. It involves noticing the suffering by somebody and feeling sympathetic for him. Normally people suffer when they lack something or fail to do something. When one feels compassionate for such people feel, one tries to share their suffering and feels like helping them out of their suffering (Germer& Salzberg, 2009).

Now, let ‘somebody’ in the above discussion be replaced by ‘I’ or ‘me’. One would be led to a situation where one has to be compassionate to oneself. In such a situation, one has to sympathise with oneself for the lack of something or failure to do or achieve something in the same way that one tries to do in case of suffering by others. Such compassion of a person to himself or herself is called ‘self-compassion’ (Van Dam, Sheppard, Forsyth & Earleywine, 2011).

Self-compassion is very important, but the least preached concept in the modern society. There is no person in the world, who will have every thing in life as desired by him. It is almost impossible to come across a person, who is successful in everything he attempts or tries to achieve. Reactions of people in such eventualities are frustration and despondency (Neff, 2003). They feel very unhappy and downcast as if such eventualities are singularly reserved for them. But, if one knows the art of ‘self-compassion’, he will commiserate with himself, regard failure as a one-off occurrence, recoups his confidence and energy and proceeds ahead for the next task or attempt. ‘Self-compassion’ is an excellent antidote to failures and disappointments in life, which can help in avoiding many psychological problems arising out of frustration and failure (Van Dam et al., 2011). 

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'Notwithstanding clause' of the Canadian Constitution

Throughout the Constitutional negotiations, the Premiers maintained that the Charter posed a threat to provincial autonomy. Explain their concerns. Do you agree with the Premiers’ assessment? Why or why not? As a compromise, Trudeau agreed to include Section 33 (Notwithstanding Clause) in the Charter. What does this clause allow, and do you believe its’ inclusion was a mistake? Why or why not?

In 1970s and 1980s, there were efforts by the provincial and Federal Governments, for modernizing the Constitution of Canada. There were prolonged negotiations in this exercise and most important part of the negotiations focussed on the replacement of Canadian Bill of Rights by set of freedoms and rights which is entrenched constitutionally (Kallen, 2010).

            The Premiers or Provincial leaders were opposed to the proposal since they apprehended that political power would shift to judiciary from the elected legislatures (Kallen, 2010).

            Canada, till the above mentioned reforms has a government system that is constitutional. The Constitution Acts of 1867 and 1982(Bastien, 2010) along with several other unwritten norms and conventions formed the ‘Constitution’. The Constitution clearly spelt out the power division powers between provincial and federal governments. The Constitution of the country is considered supreme and all actions of government as well as the laws are required to be according to the constitution. The judiciary is vested with responsibility of interpretation of constitutional provisions in case of a conflict of opinions between the provincial and federal governments (Behiels, 2009).

            When the Bill of Rights is finally approved, the charter that is entrenched constitutionally would vest the Courts with additional powers for reviewing elected representatives’ actions apart from interpretation of the constitutional provisions. Such a development is a clear erosion of the powers of the elected representatives and the apprehensions of the premiers were justified (Behiels, 2009).

            In order to allay the fears of the premiers and as a compromise, Trudeau agreed to include Section 33 (Notwithstanding clause) in the charter (Grover, 2005).

            According to the ‘Not withstanding clause’, the Parliament or legislature may declare  expressly in any Act  that the provision approved by them would operate  as notwithstanding which is one provision included within Section 2 or Sections (7 - 15) of the charter(Grover, 2005).

            Section 2 includes fundamental freedoms, sections 7 to 14, the legal rights and Section 15 the equality rights. The ‘Not withstanding clause affects only these rights leaving untouched the other rights like Democratic rights (Sections 3 to 5), Mobility Rights (Section 6), Language rights(Section (16-22) and minority language rights (Section 23).

            I am of the opinion that ‘Notwithstanding Clause’ adversely affects the most important human rights.

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Role and functions of the human rights commissions in Canada

1. Describe the role of the human rights commissions in Canada, its’ purpose and its’ perceived downfalls. What important advances have been made in our understanding of rights and responsibilities as a result of the provincial and federal commissions’ judgments? Use relevant cases when answering the above question.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) was established by the Canadian Government in 1977 as a quasi-judicial body under Canadian Human Rights Act.Its main functions are (Kallen, 2010).

            (a) To inquire about and adjudicate on complaints relating to discrimination in employment and in providing services within the Federal Government’s jurisdiction.

(b) To ensure that equal opportunities are afforded to four specified groups by the employers regulated by the Federal Government. The four groups are women, aboriginal people, the disabled people and visible minorities. These powers are entrusted to the Commission under Employment Equity Act, and

(c) To educate employers and general public of human rights and ensure observance of these rights.

There are some pitfalls about the functioning of the Commission as discussed below(Kallen, 2010).

(a) The Commission suffers from procedural problems. It does not follow the usual rules of evidence followed by normal courts. Hearsay evidence, which cannot be verified by cross- examination, is allowed in the adjudication process by the Commission.

(b) The complainants are given free legal assistance by Human Rights Legal Support Centre while the defendants have to bear their legal expenses even after it is proved that they are not guilty of breaking the law.

(c.)The adjudicators in the Commission are usually political appointees and their adjudications are mired in controversies.

(d) The main strength of the Commission’s enforcement comes from Section13.1 of Canadian Human Rights Act, which states that any exposure of a person or a group of persons to hatred by communication of any matter over phone or internet is discriminatory. There are complaints that CHRC exerts too much power under this section.

(e) The Commission is also criticized for the unduly long time taken by it in adjudication of several numbers of cases.

There are several cases in which the CHRC delivered landmark judgments, which established rights for the specified groups. Brooks v. Canadian Safeway 1989, involving discrimination against pregnant employees is one such case, in which the Supreme Court of Canada recognized that discrimination against pregnant women is discrimination by gender. In Delvin Vriend against a Christian school, his human rights challenge paved way for establishment of rights of a gay.

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