♫ Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up: don’t give up the fight! ♫

Music and Lyrics by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, “Get Up, Stand Up!”

April 16 marks the kickoff of Law Week in Canada, a national event sponsored by The Canadian Bar Association. In BC, Law Week is marked by a number of events include Dial-A-Lawyer, mock trials, essay and public speaking contests for students, free law classes, citizenship ceremonies, courthouse tours, and a fun run and free public forum in Vancouver.  Events in British Columbia will be held in Cowichan Valley, Fort St John, Kamloops, Kelowna, Maple Ridge, Nanaimo, New Westminster, Prince George, Terrace, Tri-Cities, Vancouver and Victoria.

All this is to  mark the signing of the Canadian Declaration of Rights and Freedoms which guarantees certain rights and freedoms in Canada.  It is therefore appropriate that the theme of this year’s Law Week is Access to Justice.

Coincidentally, the Globe and Mail just ran an article (April 15, 2009) entitled: “Afghan women among the most vulnerable in the world“.  The article states:

“Violence against women is widely practised and tolerated. Abusers are rarely prosecuted and the authorities seldom investigate complaints of violent attacks, rape, murder or suicide of women. Women who report rape face being locked up and accused of having committed crimes of zina (that is, laws that criminalize sexual relations outside marriage). Nonetheless, the recognized need to combat violence against women is gaining ground.”

In this context, where Canadian men and women are serving and unfortunately, dying, attempting to establish in Afghanistan an equivalent of the Canadian rule of law,  it is just  that we take a week and acknowledge those same Canadian rights and freedoms that we so take for granted here at home.

Those same Canadian troops in Afghanistan, I am sure, in a nod to the Rule of Law, would say in unison with the lawyers: “Get up, stand up: stand up for your rights!“