Canadian civil liberties association (CCLA) CCLA fights for the civil liberties, human rights, and democratic freedoms of all people across Canada. We are an independent, national, nongovernmental organization, working in the courts, before legislative committees, in classrooms and in the streets, protecting the rights and freedoms cherished by Canadians and entrenched in our Constitution.
project overview
Students will be assigned a particular Canadian jurisdiction to monitor and will do so by reviewing significant reports by rights-protecting and other public bodies. We anticipate assigning students to a province or territory, and might also include the federal jurisdiction and possibly some larger municipalities. CCLA has been compiling a list of links to reports that may be relevant to our mandate. This includes reports from the various jurisdictions’ information and privacy commissions, human rights commissions, auditors general, ombuds, police review office, correctional investigator. Students will be assigned a jurisdiction and provided with at least one report to review. Depending on the length/complexity of the report, students may be assigned more than one report right at the outset. Students are asked to review the report(s) and provide CCLA with a memo (5-7 pages maximum) summarizing the key civil liberties issues that are raised in the report. There will be a deadline for submission of this first memo and students will be asked to categorize the memos according to CCLA program areas and “tag” the memos with relevant keywords. We are still considering the best method for submission of memos (i.e. whether there is a software solution that may be preferable to submission of word docs by email). CCLA may request further research on a particular topic related to the report or may provide the student with a different report to review and summarize as in step 4 above. The purpose of these memos is to allow CCLA to monitor key civil liberties issues in all jurisdictions across the country and consider issues and areas for future advocacy and/or litigation. one student volunteer is required for this project.
expectation of students
general orientation will be provided. volunteers are expected to put in 3-5 hours per week. schedule for completing hours is flexible. there are no prerequisites for this project, but the CLLA would like a student with an interest in civil liberties, government accountability, the rule of law and CCLA's Various Program Areas.
