Civil Rights and Equality in Canada
by The Canadian government via legislation, the federal constitution, and official institutions claims to actively up hold civil and also human rights throughout the entire country for all of the Canadian population, including minority groups, and those that support independence.
Indeed since the 1970s there has been a great deal of controversial debate in Canadian politics concerning the future of the province of Quebec and the civil and property rights of aboriginal people in particular.
Successive Canadian governments have continuously strive to find ways of keeping Quebec within the federation as well as redress the civil rights grievances of the Canadian aboriginal peoples without alienating the rest of the country. Frequently it seemed that such a task amounted to been a mission impossible for the Canadian political parties to achieve when they were in governmental office.
Form 1980 the Liberal government led by Pierre Trudeau gave itself the complicated task of rewriting the Canadian constitution to prevent the secession of the province of Quebec from the federation, and to give greater civil and property rights to the aboriginal people of Canada. The result of the government’s efforts was the constitution of 1982, which recognized the special status of the province of Quebec, and made the administration and the education of the country with English and French been the two official languages.
The new constitution of 1982 formally recognized that the aboriginal people of Canada had been mistreated by the Canadian state with regard to the loss of their tribal lands as well as the restrictions of their full civil liberties. Unfortunately for the Trudeau administration the 1982 constitution did not succeed in promoting constitutional or political stability, just as it did not seem to ensure full equality for all the people of Canada.
In many respects Canadian governments have found that it was easier to make formal constitutional and legal changes than it was to such reforms to solve the status of Quebec, or indeed enhance aboriginal civil rights. The Conservatives introduced the Meech Lake Accords yet these lapsed due to not all of the provinces ratifying the agreement. The Liberal administration from 1994 had more formal success in keeping Quebec in the federation, and granted substantial territories to the aboriginal people.
Bibliography
Palmokowski J (2008) Dictionary of Contemporary World History, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Woodruff W (2005) A Concise History of the Modern World, Abacus, London
Liked it
