How do we balance the rights and freedoms of individuals with those of cultural groups? That’s the question that University College of the Fraser Valley president Skip Bassford will be addressing in a speech entitled The Canadian Mosaic: Individual Rights and Multicultural Heritage, to be presented at the UCFV Abbotsford campus on Tuesday, January 23, at 7 pm in the lecture theatre (B101).

Dr. Bassford, a philosopher with a specialty in ethics and the philosophy of law, will address this question within the context of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, drawing examples from challenging multicultural cases that have arisen in his work with hospital ethics committees.

"A recent Maclean’s survey showed that a vast majority of Canadians polled said that immigrants should accept Canadian values," Bassford says. "I think that’s an interesting statement given that Canada as a whole is a country of immigrants. We have an incredibly vast ethnic diversity. So you have to ask: What are the values that Canadians hold in common?

"I think that we have taken Canadian values, which are not specifically tied to ethnic or cultural traditions, but which have to do with our desire for peace, order, and good government, and we have entrenched them in Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

Bassford says that the Charter differs from the United States Bill of Rights. "The U.S. has entrenched individual rights and emphasized individualism. While Canada values the individual, we also recognize that the individual develops within a cultural setting, and have required that the Charter be interpreted in accordance with our multicultural history. In our typical Canadian way we balance the rights of the individual and those of the group."

In his speech, Bassford will look at some "really controversial cases" that have arisen with regards to cultural conflicts when the wishes of families clash with what "we think of as basic rights of individuals."

"When we look at how these cases were resolved we can see that a fundamental morality does underlie a lot of our legal system. Our Charter shows ways in which Canada is a society of decent and tolerant people who have a fundamental belief in the dignity of humans. This is the glue that holds Canadians together."

Bassford’s lecture, the first of three in this year's President's lecture series, is sponsored in part by the Leon and Thea Koerner foundation.

For more information call 854-4513 or 792-0025, local 4513.

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