Section 15 I Am Sam

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Do you think that everyone is treated equally despite the fact that they may be different from others? Perhaps you believe that the law protects all of those who should have the right to keep custody over their children when in reality, it does not. The court should not have the right to take away full custody from parents with mental disabilities given that section 15 of the Charter protects against discrimination. Mental disabilities should not prevent you from living a life you want to live, they should never hold you back. There are many reasons why a parent with a disability should be allowed to keep their children especially in Sam’s case in the movie “I am Sam”. The court had no right to take the custody away from Sam because there was …show more content…

This movie still involves a court case which means, Sam’s case needs to be argued for legally as well. Section 15 subsection 1 of the Charter Rights and Freedoms states that “[e]very individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection... of the law without discrimination...”. This half of section 15 states that Sam should not be discriminated against simply because he has a mental disability. Sam should have the right to parent his child just as any other parent. Some may argue that because subsection 2 states that “subsection 1 does not preclude any law... that has as its object the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals...” an individual like Sam is no longer protected by section 15. Sam should still be protected under the law to equality because taking away his daughter does not improve Sam’s situation. Both Sam and Lucy were extremely upset about losing each other and this loss caused many problems. In court, Sam could not handle the Mr. Turner’s interrogation in court as well as his loss at the same time which caused him to freak out. Being put under this kind of pressure will of course cause outbreaks of all kinds from parents even without disabilities which means that this was not a valid statement from Sam when he admitted to not knowing how to parent Lucy. Sam was frantically trying to defend his case when he finally said “She deserves everything. In my heart of hearts.” he was not stating that Lucy does not need her father, he just wants the best for Lucy. Mr. Turner had a set of “attacks” and Sam simply could not handle that kind of pressure. This is not to say that Sam’s mental disability does not matter in this case at all, but Sam’s disability does not prevent him from being a good

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