Human Rights Issues In Canadian History

Three decades ago, honorable Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau was establishing the renowned Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Since the three decades of being established, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has protected the individual rights and freedoms of thousands of Canadians. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms has become a part of the national identity and has become a big patriotic symbol for the country. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the document the truly separates Canada from all the other powerful nations and is really something that Canadian take a pride in. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms brings up many questions, but the biggest and most common question is How effectively does Canada’s Charter of Rights and

When someone speaks of great inequalities and human rights violations, very seldom is Canada as a nation (in a broader sense,) conjured together with these thoughts. However, in reality probably some of the greatest human right violations within our time and even within the late modern period, and most concerning examples of them, can be found through looking back into Canadian history. For many this may be a surprise to hear, however for others, specifically the native population of Canada, we can assume this is well understood. Commonly known today as Indian residential schools, a great act of wrong was committed under the command and leadership of the Canadian government starting back with elementary roots through the passage of the

F.L. Morton examines the political impact of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by comparing pre-Charter practices to post-Charter developments in five different areas: judicial behaviour, public policy, interest group behaviour, federalism, and executive behaviour. Morton presents the Charter through its continuity and change, beginning with the move away from Britain’s “unwritten constitution” and distinguishing the doctrine as constitutional supremacy that still depends on public opinion. He argues that due to the Charter’s constitutionality, Canadian courts are able to have a more active and influential role in interpreting and enforcing the listed rights which is a negative development in Canadian democracy.

A great Prime Minister should always do what is right for Canada, no matter what obstacle he or she faces. Pierre Elliot Trudeau was undeniably one of Canada's most influential people due to his effort to change our country by creating the Official Language Act, establishing the Charter Rights and Freedom within Canada's constitution and by invoking the War Measures Act during October 1970 Crisis. He achieved many goals he had set for himself which he achieved later on through his years in office.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted under the Pierre Trudeau government on April 17, 1982. According to Phillip Bryden, “With the entrenchment of the Charter into the Canadian Constitution, Canadians were not only given an explicit definition of their rights, but the courts were empowered to rule on the constitutionality of government legislation” (101). Prior to 1982, Canada’s central constitutional document was the British North America Act of 1867. According to Kallen, “The BNA Act (the Constitution Act, 1867) makes no explicit reference to human rights” (240). The adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms significantly transformed the operation of Canada’s political system. Presently, Canadians define their

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was signed into law by Queen Elizabeth II April 17, 1982. Often referred to as the Charter, it affirms the rights and freedoms of Canadians in the Constitution of Canada. The Charter encompasses fundamental freedoms, democratic rights, mobility rights, legal rights, language rights and equality rights. The primary function of the Charter is to act as a regulatory check between Federal, Provincial and Territorial governments and the Canadian people. Being a successor of the Canadian Bill of Rights that was a federal statute, amendable by Parliament, the Charter is a more detailed and explicit constitutional document that has empowered the judiciary to render regulations and statutes at both the

The charter rights and freedom are documents that have been demonstrated in the court of law to protect Canadian citizens with the equal amount of protection, and equality in Canada. The charter rights have started with the fundamental freedom which were referred to freedom of religion, freedom of thought of expression. This allowed citizens to have the freedom to express their religion without any hate, and being able to practice, and believe what they want. For an example, for many Christians religions they believed it was violating religion to work on Sundays, which was called lord day. The democratic rights and mobility rights contained demonoratic rights to have regular elections and voting rights for citizens.

The Canadian Charter of Rights has been entrenched in the Constitution Act of 1982 since 1982 and affected the lives of countless Canadians ever since it was passed, with most if not all of the effects being positive. This can be proven by the fact that the act that the act has only faced two amendments in the 35 years it has been in effect. Furthermore, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has five components; Fundamental Freedoms, Democratic Rights, Mobility Rights, Legal Rights, and Equality Rights. All of these were designed to make sure that Canadians face no discrimination, and are not denied any basic rights. This can be seen by seeing how much the quality of life for Canadians has increased over the time the Charter has been embedded in the Constitution, by how much the Charter actually does protect the rights of Canadians.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is an important milestone in Canadian history. An effort through rigorous debate and compromise gave birth to this document that defines our collective values and principles by guaranteeing and protecting the fundamental rights of its citizens. Prior to the Charter, there was no gurantee in Canada that rights and freedoms would not be taken away by legislation. The Charter also allows courts to render the constitutional duty so that any decisions made are consistent with those rights and freedoms. The Charter was established firmly in “The Constitution Act, 1982”, with the declaration of this act Canada escaped from the severe practice of concept of parliamentary supremacy. The Charter has an enormous effect on court’s decision power to award justice to important and debatable issues about policies that affect public. In awarding the verdict courts are not even reluctant to rewrite laws that violate the testament of the Charter. The judges have a duty to regulate the rulings of both provincial and federal governments which, disagree with the root value of Charter.

The right to vote in a fair election is fundamental to Canadian democracy. While protected under law, there are tactics which have been used to prevent individuals from exercising this right. In the 2008 and 2011 federal elections, some voters received fraudulent “robo-calls,” instructing them to vote for candidates who were not running for election, or directing them to incorrect or non-existent polling stations. This was a calculated act of voter suppression presenting serious consequences for democracy in Canada. First and foremost, it was a deliberate attempt to deprive Canadians of their right to vote. As such, victims of these calls, as well as many other citizens, were left feeling disillusioned with our electoral system and mistrustful of politics in general. This has not been aided by the fact that only one person was ever charged in connection with the scandal. What that has proven, however, is that it is possible to utilize robo-calls to commit election fraud with relatively little consequence. The use of robo-calls poses a harmful impact to Canadian democracy by denying citizens their right to vote, fostering distrust in politics, and setting a dangerous precedent for future electoral fraud.

I belief that Canadian society is trying to become a more multicultural but there is still a lot of improvement needed. I have decided to do my research project on civil rights in Canada and on discrimination. There have been many news stories in Canada about humans getting discriminated. Discrimination is defined as prejudicial treatment of a person, minority group, etc. based on sex, religion, and race (discrimination definition, 2004). Discrimination is not acceptable based on the human rights code. This story that I picked where discrimination is based on religion, gender, employment, education in schools, and disability. The first story is about

It is believed that Canada was in violation of the human rights when they forced the aboriginals to get assimilated into a Eurocentric society. There were instances of children being forced from homes into Christian schools. This was violation of human rights ( Asch 98).

Pierre Elliott Trudeau, father of the current Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau was the one who came up with the Charters of Rights and Freedoms. He promised “Quebecers during the campaign that Ottawa would re-open Constitutional negotiations”. (STEPHEN AZZI. Historica Canada. February 02, 2012. <>). When separatists were defeated, Trudeau began to create the Charter of Rights and Freedoms for Canada’s Constitution. The Charter of Rights and freedoms had a huge impact on Canada, in different ways such as our society, us Canadians, our rights and our government. We as in Canadians need the Charters of Rights and Freedoms because “The Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteed the democratic, civil and legal rights of Canadian’s by formally

“The Charter is widely admired, and so are the decisions of the Canadian court,” says Peter Hogg, one of Canada’s leading authority on Canadian constitutional law. “And one reason is that Canada is not the United States (“Ibbitson, 2012”).” Hogg’s words depict the lack of respect our neighbour fails to receive their citizens in regards to their rights and freedoms. Relative to the section of the Charter where it lists out Canadian citizens’ equality rights, Canada ensures that everyone is “treated with the same respect, dignity and consideration”. Furthermore, “Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability (“Department, 2016”).” Canada’s equality rights are important for international reputation because it is proof that Canada cares about their citizens to be treated with equal amounts of respect and give special treatment to those who have been marginalized their entire life. This increases their reputation in the way that more people would come to visit because all the rights in place are friendly to anyone who is coming to visit or immigrate. The government especially takes account of people who have less privileges — they take special care of the highly oppressed groups

Throughout the history of Canada, we have acknowledged Indigenous cultures as being the first people of Canadian land. However, society has not treated them as equal members of society since the first explorers settled. The Euro-Canadian culture has impacted the Indigenous people negatively; as a result injustice between the two cultures has developed and inequality has widened as the two cultures interact more frequently. Lisa Monchalin (2016), author of the text The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada, noted multiple reasons how Aboriginal people are discriminated against in society, and how they are over-represented in Canadian correctional system. In society, according to Aylsworth, L., and Trovato, F. (2012) of The Canadian Encyclopedia, the indigenous population was approximately 4.3% of the total Canadian population, yet, the 2015-2016 Annual Report of the Office of the Correctional Investigator noted “an unabated increase in the number of Indigenous people behind bars, a rate now surpassing 25% of the total federal incarcerated population” (2016, n.p.). This raised the question as to why there was such a blatant over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system. Indigenous history has been speckled with injustices, hardship, discrimination, racism, and have been on the receiving end of multiple attempts to rid Canada of Indigenous ways and people. The history of these