Is Canada A Just Society

To what extent was Pierre Trudeau’s vision of a “just society” actually achieved in Canada in (and since) the 1970s? Canada is a just society because of the changes to women's legal rights, ethnic minority human rights, and multiculturalism.

Canada and the issue of racism in society has been an issue for many years. Recently, our country has created new laws or altered old ones to prevent discrimination that exists in society today. In this paper, I will argue that only through recent years Canada has tried to battle discrimination through the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedom, the modification of the Immigration Act and the creation of the Human Rights Act in Canada. First I will provide background information about discrimination, racism and prejudice. Secondly, I will discuss the creation of the Charter and Rights and Freedom and the creation help deplete discrimination towards minorities. Also, the alteration of the Immigration Act in Canada gave minorities the opportunity to be equal. Then, I will discuss the Human Rights Act and how those modifications are leading Canada in the right direction for a lesser

The Canadian Constitution ensures duality of French and English in language. The Constitution (1867) states that both French and English "have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada," (Section V). However, the French language is a definite minority throughout most of Canada, with Quebec as an exception. In 1977, Bill 101 was passed through legislature, which defined French as the official

Aboriginal persons in Canada have been facing oppression ever since colonization began. Even when Canada gained independence from the British Empire, the oppression continued and still goes on today. One major contributing factor to the oppression of Aboriginal people in Canada is the actions taken by the Government. The Government of Canada has in fact mistreated and found to be partaking in wrongdoing when dealing with the Aboriginal population in this country. With this ugly truth being revealed, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had to be tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government in the hope of resolving conflict left over from the past. (cite)

Since the colonization of Canada First Nations people have been discriminated against and assimilated into the new culture of Canada through policies created by the government. Policies created had the intentions of improving the Aboriginal people’s standard of living and increasing their opportunities. Mainly in the past hundred years in Canadian Society, policies and government implemented actions such as; Residential schools, the Indian Act, and reserve systems have resulted in extinguishing native culture, teachings, and pride. Policies towards the treatment of Aboriginal Canadians has decreased their opportunities and standard of living because of policies specified previously (Residential schools, the Indian Act, and reservation systems).

Canada is a huge country located between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean and consists of 10 provinces. This country is the host for immigrants from all over the world with different religions and cultures. It embraces all of these diverse groups of people. It was essential that some arrangements be made to accommodate for these divers groups’ needs and ultimately in the year 1960 legislation of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was a huge step toward these affairs. The Charter was enacted by the parliament in order to respect each person’s rights and eligibilities in different areas and it is divided into subsections.

“Section 27 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires that the Charter “be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.” The Official Languages Act has significantly made an effective contribution on Canada’s immigration success. It has allowed Pierre Elliott Trudeau to further expand his ideas on allowing individuals of all ethnicities and races to live their lives freely. English and French languages can be used in all government institutions of Canada, communicating freely within the public area and in the home. Both the English and French languages can be used in debates, courts, schools and any public institution. The importance of the Official Languages Act is to guarantee equality rights such as privileges and status between the French and English Canadians. Nevertheless, Pierre Elliot Trudeau was productive in ensuring the equal opportunities and rights of citizens. In modern day society, Pierre Trudeau’s accomplishments in enacting human rights has significantly improved. Overtime, it has diversified the cultures in schools and other public institutions. More individuals are becoming acceptant of race, ethnicity, homosexuality and religious beliefs. Due to the result of the diversity of cultures in schools, it has brought humans closer to one another and accepting of ones’

Collective rights are what make Canada different from the other countries and are important to the founding citizens. The First Nations, Metis and Inuit have gone through assimilation and are fighting for their promises from the Canadian government. Francophones and Anglophones were going through their own kind of assimilation and were concerned that they would lose their identity, therefore making Francophone and Anglophones schools in a minority setting to help keep their identity. In conclusion, collective rights have dramatically changed compared to Canadian history and should continue to help support the different cultures and languages around

In 1976 Rene Levesque won the provincial election and became premier of Quebec with his party, Parti Quebecois. The separatists wanted to strengthen the French language and didn’t care about official bilingualism. So not long after taking office, the Parti Quebecois passed Bill 101, which is also known as the Charter of the French Language. It decreed that French was the single official language of the province of Quebec and that employees of the government had to work in French. Outdoor commercial signs had to be in French only and the children of immigrants would have to go to French schools. The Quebecois likes this new law because they thought their language and culture was becoming endangered. Birth rates in Quebec had gone down and the

Often times, when it came to the discussion on equality within Canada, the actions of Canada were compared to those of the United States, and often times, a comment is made stating that the United States could learn from Canada’s example when it came to racial harmony. However, this idea was often criticized as the racial problems within Canada were just as severe. The respect and the livelihood of the First Nation were violated for years even before the start of the twentieth century. However, the issues of the First Nations were hardly ever brought to light by other Canadians because these issues were often hidden deep within the reserves that these First Nations were forced into. From taking their land away to disregarding their cultures, the government rarely ever acknowledged the needs of the First Nations until they could no longer be ignored. The government continuously stressed assimilation, especially with the Indian Act , and expected the First Nations

Canada before working towards becoming a just society was a very discriminative place. During the events of World War One,WWI black and Chinese Canadians were prevented from joining the war along with aboriginals. Women were treated the same at the time, it was common for most women to stay at home wives and take care of the children. This was the stereotypical family at the time and was believed to be the ideal family too. Canadians thought poorly of minorities and even claimed it was to keep them safe, the aboriginals were an example, Canadians claimed the enemies might believe that they are savages which was a reflection of how they truly felt. Minorities were clearly being treated worse than the majority, they were seen as inferior and only good for

In addition people with different race, religion and ethnicity were denied work without question adding to the unjust treatment. Due to these ideas Canada was an unjust society.

In the eyes of a Canadian, the notion of human rights has evolved drastically over time. Change is ignited when someone feels as though they are being treated unfairly and action is taken to reverse this oppressive environment. There has been a historical pattern of unjust and inhuman acts towards perceived racially inferior groups in Canadian history during the 20th century. The uprising of Black Civil Rights was a crucial step towards an equal and just society; despite Canada’s influence in the fight against the Nazis’ repressive actions in WW2, the fight for racial

The legacy of historical globalization on the Aboriginal community is still a very much relevant issue in Canada. Although historical globalization interconnected different countries and nations, it gave birth to imperialism and colonialism. As a result of this, legislations such as the Indian Act was implemented. The Indian Act was passed by the Canadian government in 1876 in an attempt to assimilate First Nations into mainstream society. In an attempt to erase the “Indian” in the First Nations, first Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald implemented a policy of “aggressive civilization” which led to publicly funded Indian Residential Schools. At the time, anyone from the ages five to fifteen years old were forced to go to a Residential School. A total of one hundred and fifty thousand children was sent to these school’s, however, the negative impact wasn’t limited to these people. The effects of Residential school and Indian Act still resonate for the generations that followed. The systems that the Canadian government use to assimilate the First Nations such as the Indian Act and Residential schools left a huge impact on the Aboriginal community. Social problems, such as abuse, alcoholism, suicide and poverty are only a few of the issues that sprouted from the effects of historical globalization. The Canadian government’s effort in trying to reconcile with the First Nation can be seen through the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the amendment of the Indian Act, and the Truth

The Bill 101, known as the Charter of the French Language was introduced by René Lévesque in 1977. The main goals of this law was to promote the use of French in Quebec and to assimilate every immigrants into our community. It placed restrictions on the English primary and secondary school and impose commercial adds to use French. The Bill 101 is limiting us because it is no longer necessary, unfavourable for the economy of our province and it offers less opportunities.