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Canada 's Changes Through The Decade Of The 1960 's And 1970 ' S

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Canada faced dramatic changes through the decades of the 1960’s and 1970’s, but in particular the province of Quebec. In 1959, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis died, this marked the beginning of the Quiet Revolution. Duplessis was the Union Nationale leader and the party had controlled Quebec for decades until shortly after Duplessis’ death, a provincial election was held where the Liberals, led by Jean Lesage, had won the vote. The Liberals started moving away from the Catholic ideologies, traditions were being shifted and a transformed society was taking over the province of Quebec. Lesage was famously quoted in 1962 “There is no doubt in my mind; it’s now or never that we must become masters in our own home.” which became the Liberals …show more content…

In the midst of the October Crisis Pierre Trudeau handled the time of terrorism well. In this essay one will see how Trudeau handled the crisis excellently by examining the first domestic use of the War Measures Act which led to improvements on the Act, ensuring that Quebec did not become its own independent country, and how Canada stood behind and supported Quebec and Pierre Trudeau through the acts of violence led by the FLQ.

On October 16, 1970 Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act. It was the first time this Act had been invoked in peacetime, although was justified by the evidence of an insurrection. To start off, the first domestic use of the War Measures Act was invoked which led to improvements on the act. It was invoked and gives emergency power to the federal government and this act further suspended Canadians’ fundamental civil freedoms. Some civil freedoms include: the right to be protected against unwarranted or arbitrary arrests, detentions, searches and seizures, and the right to an attorney. The Act however allowed the government to declare anyone who publicly supported the FLQ to be a member of the group, arrest and hold any of the FLQ without bail for up to 90 days, and imprison FLQ member for up to five years. This builds a trust bridge between the government and the citizens. The citizens have to trust the

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