All these governments are elected. When there is an election, every voter can say who he or she would like to run the government. Elected governments must listen to the voters. Even between elections, we have the right to let our members of government know what we think about important issues. How do we do this? We write letters and make phone calls to our elected officials. We write to newspapers and speak out publicly. We ask for meetings with our elected officials, organize petitions and hold peaceful demonstrations. We can do all these things because we live in a country that protects our right to freedom of speech. In some countries, people can go to jail or even be put to death when they do not agree with the government. In Canada, these things do not happen.

A Profile of Karen Westcott

Karen's Early Years

When Karen Westcott was little, pre-school tests showed she would have trouble learning. Karen has a learning disability. People did not know what to do about problems like this when Karen was a child in the late 1960s. In those days, children who were different were sometimes kept out of school. Karen's mother was told that Karen would be better off living in an institution. Karen's mother did not agree, so Karen lived at home and started kindergarten.

School was hard for Karen. She was kept in kindergarten for two years. There were no special education classes at her school. A nun would come and take her out of class to help her with math and reading. But, by the time she was in grade four, Karen was far behind the other children. When she was eight or nine, she was sent to another school for special education. The other children in her class were much younger. This made her feel bad. "It was really hard," she says now, "but it was just the system."

Starting To Work

Karen stayed in school until she was 16, and then she quit. She began to work as a domestic worker, looking after other people's children and doing their housework. She usually worked from eight in the morning until six at night. Sometimes her hours were longer. She was paid $120 a week. Her employer gave her an apartment to live in, but he took $50 a week out of her salary to pay her rent. Karen did not know this was against the law.