Originally Posted By: rwand
This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Hey all you nay sayers. Don’t bitch unless you are a member only then can you legitimately knock something (i.e. membership in an association). Membership has its privileges.
As for those Canadians who seem to think freedom of association is something that can be dictated by the unknowing and the illiterate, you should read up on the law!
FWIW read it and weep! I can't stand people who pretend to know so much but continually pontificate how little they do know.
Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada v. Northwest Territories (Commissioner), [1990] 2 S.C.R. 367, 1990 CanLII 72 (S.C.C.)
Nature of the Freedom of Association
Freedom of association is the freedom to join together for the purpose of achieving common goals. It is a right that is fundamental to a free and democratic society. Le Dain J. in the Alberta Reference wrote at p. 391:
. . . the freedom to work for the establishment of an association, to belong to an association, to maintain it, and to participate in its lawful activity without penalty or reprisal is not to be taken for granted.
The right of association is vitally important in our industrialized society. As C. Wilfred Jenks remarked in Human Rights and International Labour Standards (1960), at p. 49:
In an age of interdependence and large-scale organisation, in which the individual counts for so little unless he acts in co-operation with his fellows, freedom of association has become the cornerstone of civil liberties and social and economic rights alike.
Freedom of association, like freedom of expression and freedom of religion, is an individual right. It is not a right which adheres to a group, or to the purposes or objectives of that group. As Clyde W. Summers observed in "Freedom of Association and Compulsory Unionism in Sweden and the United States" (1964), 112 U. Pa. L. Rev. 647, at p. 647:
Although commonly asserted by the organization, freedom of association is not simply a collective right vested in the organization for its benefit. Freedom of association is an individual right vested in the individual to enable him to enlarge his personal freedom. Its function is not merely to grant power to groups, but to enrich the individual's participation in the democratic process by his acting through those groups. [Emphasis added.]
Whenever people labour to earn their daily bread, the right to associate will be of tremendous significance. Wages and working conditions will always be of vital importance to an employee. It follows that for an employee the right to choose the group or association that will negotiate on his or her behalf with regard to those wages and working conditions is of fundamental importance. The association will play a very significant role in almost every aspect of the employee's life at work, acting as advisor, as spokesperson in negotiations, and as a shield against wrongful acts of the employer. If collective bargaining is to function properly, employees must have confidence in their representative. That confidence will be lost if the individual employee is unable to choose the association.
Canadian Charter of Rights Decisions Digest
SECTION 2(d)
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
Freedom of association.
> Fundamental Freedoms
> Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
> (a) freedom of conscience and religion
> (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
> (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
> (d) freedom of association.
>
> Application of Charter
> (b) to the legislature and government of each province in respect of all matters within the authority of the legislature of each province.
>
> As the Constitution is the supreme law, and any law that is inconsistent with its provisions is of no force or effect, it is impossible to interpret legislation conferring discretion as conferring a power to infringe the Charter, unless, of course, that power is expressly conferred or necessarily implied. Such an interpretation would require this Court to declare the legislation to be of no force or effect, unless it could be justified under s. 1. Although this Court must not add anything to legislation or delete anything from it in order to make it consistent with the Charter, there is no doubt that it should also not interpret legislation that is open to more than one interpretation so as to make it inconsistent with the Charter and hence of no force or effect. Legislation conferring an imprecise discretion must therefore be interpreted as not allowing the Charter rights to be infringed. Accordingly, an adjudicator exercising delegated powers does not have the power to make an order that would result in an infringement of the Charter, and he exceeds his jurisdiction if he does so: Slaight Communications Inc. v. Davidson, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 1038; Michaud v. Quebec (Attorney General), [1996] 3 S.C.R. 3; New Brunswick (Minister of Health and Social Services v. G. (J.), [1999] 3 S.C.R. 46; Quebec (C.D.P.D.J.) v. Montreal (City), [2000] 1 S.C.R. 665.
>
> The three elements of freedom of association are summarized, along with a crucial fourth principle, in the oft-quoted words of Sopinka J. in PIPSC: ?Upon considering the various judgments in the Alberta Reference, I have come to the view that four separate propositions concerning the coverage of the s. 2(d) guarantee of freedom of association emerge from the case: first, that s. 2(d) protects the freedom to establish, belong to and maintain an association; second, that s. 2(d) does not protect an activity solely on the ground that the activity is a foundational or essential purpose of an association; third, that s. 2(d) protects the exercise in association of the constitutional rights and freedoms of individuals; and fourth, that s. 2(d) protects the exercise in association of the lawful rights of individuals.? In addition to the four-part formulation in PIPSC, an enduring source of insight into the content of s. 2(d) is the purpose of the provision. In defining this purpose, McIntyre J. stressed, in Alberta Reference, the unique power of associations to accomplish the goals of individuals: ?While freedom of association like most other fundamental rights has no single purpose or value, at its core rests a rather simple proposition: the attainment of individual goals, through the exercise of individual rights, is generally impossible without the aid and cooperation of others.? The purpose of s. 2(d) commands a single inquiry: has the state precluded activity because of its associational nature, thereby discouraging the collective pursuit of common goals? In my view, while the four-part test for freedom of association sheds light on this concept, it does not capture the full range of activities protected by s. 2(d).
... Don't ya know? Anyone care to make an intelligent rebutal 
Raymond Wand
Alton, ON
--
The value of experience is not in seeing much,
but in seeing wisely. - Sir William Osler 1905
http://www.raymondwand.ca
NACHI Member
Registered Home Inspector (R.H.I.)