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The Citizenship Handbook: A Guide to Democratic Rights and Responsibilities 1998. 118 pp. Free Available in English (expected to be available in May 2008), Vietnamese and Punjabi or via our website. A resource created for students and new Canadians, but also a useful reminder for all Canadians who take their citizenship for granted. Topics discussed include: -protecting your rights -making the democratic process work for you -dealing with government agencies.
Project funded by the Vancouver Foundation, the Law Foundation of B.C., the B.C. Gaming Commission, the B.C. Ministry Responsible for Multiculturalism and Immigration, the Department of Canadian Heritage and Vancity.
The Teaching and Workshop Guide for ESL Teachers and Settlement Counselors (a support package for the Citizenship Handbook)
2002. Free. Available in hard copy or via our website. Available in English Project funded by the Law Foundation of B.C.
The Arrest Handbook: A Guide to Your Rights 2003. 62 pp. Free Available in Vietnamese, Spanish, Arabic, or in English. Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or later is needed to rotate the digital version of this document counterclockwise. This handbook explains in plain language the range of conduct citizens can expect from police in the lawful exercise of their duties. Funded by the Law Foundation of B.C.
The Arrest Pocketbook: A Guide to Your Rights 2003. 20 pp. Free.Available in English, Vietnamese, Spanish and Arabic. The pocketbook is a mini-version of the handbook and explains in plain language the range of conduct citizens can expect from police in the lawful exercise of their duties. Funded by the Law Foundation of B.C.
Making a Complaint Against the Police Brochure. Free. Available in English. Adobe pdf Answers these questions... and others: What counts as a complaint against the police? When and how should I complain? What information should I give about my complaint? How do I know what the police will investigate? What if I am not satisfied with the formal response? Published with the assistance of Legal Services Society of B.C.
The Facts About Drug Testing in the Workplace Brochure. Free. Available in English. Online version Brochure on the rights and responsibilities of employees and employers. Questions addressed include: What is drug testing? Is drug testing accurate? If I refuse to take a drug test, can I be disciplined or fired? What are my rights under the Charter? Who should I call if my employer demands a drug test? Produced with financial assistance from the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU).
Rights Talk: Students and Civil Liberties at School 2005. Available in hard copy or via our web site. Free. Available in English. PProject funded by the Law Foundation of B.C. and the Notary Foundation
The Privacy Handbook: A Practical Guide to Your Privacy Rights and How to Protect Them By Erin Shaw, John Westwood and Russell Wodell. 1994. 183 pp. Free. Available in English.
Answers many important questions: Do I have to answer all the questions on the census form? Can store security guards search me or my bags? Can I find out what is on my police file? Can my employer force me to take a drug test? Can the police tap my telephone without my knowledge? Who has access to my credit record information? Who can see my medical records? Who can see my income tax information? Do I have to give out my social insurance number? "Essential reading ... highly recommended!" (David Flaherty, Information & Privacy Commissioner of B.C.) Although published prior to the introduction of privacy legislation, this book remains an interesting source of information on privacy issues. Published in co-operation with the B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA).
Liberties Ed. John Russell. Vancouver: New Star Books, 1989. 246 pp. Free. Available in English. In this collection, John Russell, former executive director and past president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, brings together 17 articles and briefs on important civil liberties issues: The porn debate has been on-going. Where do we draw the line? John Dixon, Alister Browne, David Copp and Reg Robson explore the issues. Can a democracy tolerate the hate propaganda of the Jim Keegstras and Ernst Zundels in our midst? Lynda Hird and John Dixon review the place of minorities in our society. When law enforcement clashes with our rights, who gets the benefit of the doubt? John Russell, Philip Bryden, David Copp and Alister Browne on CSIS, police powers and capital punishment. Plus articles on AIDS testing, legal aid, drug use and psychological testing by employers.
Civil liberties publications by friends of the BCCLA The following publications are not available through the BCCLA, but are available in libraries.
Proceedings of the 1992 conference. The Charter: Ten Years After
Presented by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association in cooperation with Simon Fraser University's Philosophy Department. "An essential document about an essential issue." (Peter C. Newman)
Kiddie Porn: Sexual Representation and the Robin Sharpe Case By Stan Persky and John Dixon Vancouver: New Star Books, 2001.
The book details the making of the "possession of child pornography" law and follows its fortunes through the legal system.
Protecting Rights and Freedoms: Essays on the Charter's Place in Canada's Political, Legal and Intellectual Life Edited by Philip Bryden, Steven Davis and John Russell Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1994. 241 pp.
Catastrophic Rights: Experimental Drugs and AIDS By John Dixon Vancouver: New Star Books, 1990. 131 pp.
An expansion to book length of a major BCCLA position paper. Do people with life-threatening illnesses like AIDS or cancer have exceptional rights? Should they be allowed access to experimental drugs before these have jumped all the hoops of testing and authorization? In Catastrophic Rights, John Dixon lays out the medical and political ethics of treatment for the catastrophically ill patients who know their illness is untreatable and generally fatal. Using the example of experimental AIDS drugs AZT, aerosolized pentamidine, DDI, gangciclovir he puts forward the case against making such drugs available and counters with well-thought-out arguments for the rights of the catastrophically ill. Dixon also tackles the question of who should pay for expensive experimental treatment, and proposes the limits for catastrophic rights.
The Burden of Office: Agamemnon and Other Losers By Joseph Tussman, with an introduction by John Dixon Vancouver: Talon Books, 1989. 168 pp.
"Consider the symptoms of our present dilemma: leadership reduced to media 'sound bites', legitimate public power sold off to the marketplace in the name of 'privatization', citizens transformed into dubiously literate consumers in a Global Village. Can we make sense of any of this? To do so, Tussman turns to some of the oldest and greatest stories in our tradition. He rereads and retells the tales of Moses, Oedipus, Orestes, Antigone, and King Lear. The retellings, it is quickly apparent, are really new tellings that explore the deepest meanings of our social institutions. Tussman traces the tension between passion and puritanism in an effort to make sense of public office and public authority in a way that leads to neither blind obedience nor fashionable cynicism. Lucid, original, and ultimately wise, The Burden of Office is as much a work of literature as it is of philosophy.
Restricted Entry: Censorship on Trial By Janine Fuller and Stuart Blackley Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 1995.
A history of the struggle of Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium against the discriminatory actions of Canada Customs, including the historical trial with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association as co-plaintiff.