What are Blueprints?
Breaking down the law.
The law can be complicated and confusing, which, amongst other reasons, often deter people from learning about their rights. Out of those people, many tend to be high school students. Presenting Blueprints by the Justice Blueprint – short “manuals” that break down complex law into digestible legal information.
The purpose of the Justice Blueprint is to aggregate existing information about the relevant legal area, and provide simple summaries that are easy to read and understand. While the following is a compilation of thorough legal research with the help of local law firms and experts, we are not providing legal advice, and we are not experts or lawyers ourselves.
Issue #1: A Blueprint to Canada's Consent Law
Released on January 13, 2024
In this Blueprint, we will be tackling a topic that affects us all: the law of sexual consent. Note here that this is written mainly with high school students in mind, so the focus will be on consent within romantic relationships, consent in the context of intoxication (parties), and general consent law that every teen should know. With that being said, this is a trigger warning that this will include discussions of sexual assault.
We have created this Blueprint in the hopes that it can provide guidance to those who are navigating sexual relationships or think they might have experienced non-consensual sex. Knowledge is power, and this Blueprint will help arm you with the general information you need. However, whether you know this information or not, sexual assault is not and never will be your fault. This simply serves as a resource hub for anyone who needs it, whatever for. Each chapter will delve into different parts of consent law, and general resources that we used for research which may be of interest for further investigation will be in the last chapter.
If you believe you have been sexually assaulted, please seek independent legal advice.
If you require immediate assistance please contact 9-1-1 emergency services or other hotline services such as 2-1-1 Ontario.