test #3 (significance) Part 2

Question 1

what is the significance of the medieval concept of age?

Answer 1

age wasn’t chronologically fixed, legal protections or capacities weren’t automatically given or denied based on a specific birthday, a child could be held responsible or dismissed in court depending on context not age. this understanding helps explain why there were limited legal categories or protections for children

Question 2

what is the significance of the medieval concept of sexual consent?

Answer 2

this meant girls and young women had no personal authority to give or refuse consent, their sexuality was under the control of their fathers are husbands. in legal cases, the idea of consent was linked to the status of marriage or property not to protect the bodily autonomy of young people

Question 3

what is the significance of modern trial practices?

Answer 3

this transformation standardized justice but also introduce new barriers especially for children. While more rational and less reliant on superstition, these system began excluding non-standard evidence

Question 4

what is the significance hearsay rule?

Answer 4

while the hearsay rule was meant to ensure fairness, it hurt children’s ability to testify since many abuse cases depend on disclosures made to adults

Question 5

what is the significance of the age of consent?

Answer 5

the age of consent has been raised as a protective mechanism for children, but was used in earlier eras to exclude their own evidence, courts assumed children under certain ages couldn’t understand sex or credible witnesses

Question 6

what is the significance of wigmore on evidence (1904)?

Answer 6

his view led courts to systematically distrust child witnesses. his arguments were used to support rules requiring corroboration and jury warning when children testified further silencing their voices in abuse trails

Question 7

what is the significance of the case of the dells (1606)?

Answer 7

shows how medieval and modern trial practices overlapped, divine signs were still taken as proof even as jury trails and evidence rules were emerging, highlights how children were seen as passive victims, whose truth had to come from external signs not their own voice

Question 8

what is the significance of r v brasier (1779)?

Answer 8

this was the breakthrough ruling that allowed child victims to speak in court without being automatically excluded due to age

Question 9

what is the significance of r v sankey (1927)?

Answer 9

reflects how courts distrusted children’s words, reinforcing the legacy of wigmore, it made conviction for abuse difficult unless additional proof was available

Question 10

what is the significance of r v kendall (1962)?

Answer 10

this case cemented decades of skepticism about child witnesses, severely undermining their credibility.

Question 11

what is the significance of the rediscovery of childrens evidence?

Answer 11

this movement reversed a century-long trend of excluding or devaluing child testimony due to concerns about their competency, courts began to realize that silencing children meant failing to prosecute abuse effectively

Question 12

what is the significance of the legal duty to report ?

Answer 12

this emerged from medical discoveries in the 1950s such as battered child syndrome and it fundamentally shifted child protection from private to public responsibility

Question 13

what is the significance of the deluca scandal?

Answer 13

this case showed the failure of institutions to protect children and catalyzed reformed in the legal duty to report. highlighted how professional silence, deference, or fear of consequences allowed abuse to persist

Question 14

what is the significance of the bagley report (1984)?

Answer 14

this report marked a turning point in public recognition of child sexual abuse as a serious systemic issue, promoting new legal and institutional responses

Question 15

what is the significance of refinding the idea of sexual consent?

Answer 15

acknowledges that most abusers are not strangers, but trusted adults often within the home. it shifted the law’s focus from maintaining social order to protecting children’s autonomy

Question 16

what is the significance of police complaints comm v dunlop (1995)?

Answer 16

it reinforced that public servants and professional must act even when their own institutions is implicated

Question 17

what is the significance of r v bannerman (1966)?

Answer 17

b eliminating the oath-taking barrier, this case allowed younger children who couldn’t understand oaths but could still describe events to give evidence in abuse cases

Question 18

what is the significance of r v w (r) 1992?

Answer 18

the scc said judges/juries should not automatically assume a child is less credible just because they are young. Instead, credibility should be assessed case by case

Question 19

what is the significance of r v khan (1993)

Answer 19

the court allowed the mothers testimony about what the child said, creating the khan rule:hearsay from children may be admitted if its nescessary and reliable

Question 20

what is the significance of removal of oeath-taking barrier (1988)?

Answer 20

courts now check if a child understands the duty ti tell the truth, rather than requiring a formal oath

Question 21

what is the significance of presumption of competency (2006)?

Answer 21

now, its assumed they can unless proven otherwise- this shift makes it easier for children to be heard in court

Question 22

what is the significance of the khan rule?

Answer 22

the khan rule helps protect vulnerable children and ensures their experience’s aren’t ignored

Question 23

what is significance of testimonial aids?

Answer 23

reduce trauma and increases accuracy by making kids feel more secure

Question 24

what is the significance of the indian act?

Answer 24

the act created a sovereignty problem: Indigenous people had treaties but were still classified outside of citizenship

Question 25

what is the significance of the six failures of IRS?

Answer 25

even if assimilation was the goal, the institutions failed by their own standards, they weren't designed for child development, they were designed for control and cost cutting

Question 26

what is the significance of citizens plus?

Answer 26

a powerful rejection of assimilation, this idea demanded respect for indigenous nationhood, rights and self-determination

Question 27

what is the significance of phil fontaine?

Answer 27

his story helped national silence, inspiring others like blackwater to come forward and eventually led to the trc

Question 28

what is the significance of cycle of violence?

Answer 28

residential schools didn't just harm one generation; they created long-term trauma that shaped families and communities for decades

Question 29

what is the significance of willie blackwater?

Answer 29

his courage created space for thousands of others to come forward, eventually leading to things like trc

Question 30

what is the significance of r v plint (1995)?

Answer 30

led directly to civil suits against the government and churches not just individual wrongdoers, but the entire system if residential schooling

Question 31

what is the significance of vicarious liability?

Answer 31

crucial for residential school cases, it allowed survivors to sue churches and the government for abuse committed by school staff like plint

Question 32

what is the significance of the salmod test?

Answer 32

under this test, sexual abuse is almost always seen as unauthorized and outside duties. for decades protected powerful institutions from liability in child abuse cases

Question 33

what is the significance of negligence?

Answer 33

survivors like blackwater used negligence claim to argue that churches and governments didn't properly supervise staff or protect children

Question 34

what is the significance of fiduciary duty?

Answer 34

highlights the special responsibility the government had toward indigenous children in residential schools. under the indian act, canada has legal control over those childrens lives

Question 35

what is the significance of non-delegable statutory duty?

Answer 35

the government couldn't escape blame by saying the church ran the school, they had a legal duty under the indian act to protect children

Question 36

what is the signifcance of bazley v curry (1999)?

Answer 36

this opened the door for residential school survivor's to sue the government and churches because those institutions created and maintained environments where abuse could happen

Question 37

what is the significance of b (kl) v british columbia (2003)?

Answer 37

reinforced how hard it is to prove negligence, that you must show the institution failed to act on warning signs

Question 38

what is the significance of thin skull rule?

Answer 38

protects survivors with vulnerabilities from being blamed for the severity of their injuries

Question 39

what is the significance of the crumbling skull rule?

Answer 39

highlights a legal tension between survivor narratives of full harm and institutional efforts to minimize responsibility

Question 40

what is the significance of the indian residential school settlement agreement?

Answer 40

while it offered survivors financial compensation and symbolic justice, it also limited legal recognition to visible harms like sexual abuse, including cultural losses

Question 41

what is the significance of the canada ontario welfare services agreement?

Answer 41

allows the province to intervene in Indigenous families under the guise of child protection, leading to mass removals of Indigenous children, enabled the 60's scoop

Question 42

whats the significance of indian day school settlement agreement?

Answer 42

offered individual compensation ranging from 10,000 to 200,000

Question 43

what is the significance of section 35, canadian constitutional ?

Answer 43

it is a double-edged sword that affirms indigenous identity and treaty rights but it doesn't define or enforce them, the state still control recognition

Question 44

what is the significance of brown v canada?

Answer 44

the court found canada liable for failing to protect the cultural identity of indigenous children, making it one of the first times cultural loss was recognized as a legal harm

Question 45

what is the significance of mclean v canada?

Answer 45

the lawsuit was catalyst for justice, leading directly to the 2019 settlment agreement and showing that litigation is now how survivor force the state to act

Question 46

what is the significance of re an act (2024)?

Answer 46

indigenous nations can actually govern how their children are raised and allows them to prioritize language, culture and identity

Question 47

what is the significance of tort?

Answer 47

a primary way to categorized actions and govern actors when criminal law, or contractual obligations, or statutory regulation are unavailable