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Chapter 14 Toward a Fair and Just Society. By: Christian Amor. Introduction. What is a right? A right is something that a person is admitted to do or have. When a person is born they will have certain rights.
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Chapter 14Toward a Fair and Just Society By: Christian Amor
Introduction • What is a right? A right is something that a person is admitted to do or have. • When a person is born they will have certain rights. • Here are some rights that people in Canada have: • Human rights is a right that is believed to belong with a good reason to a person. • Civil rights is the right of citizens to political and also the social freedom and equality.
Introduction (continued) • Collective rights is a right that applies more to people acting together in a group than to a person acting on their own.
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IKGH8ehujk
The Concern for Rights • The world's nations became more concerned about human rights after World War ll. • World War ll and the Holocaust made everyone face the suffering and unkind ways in which human beings often treat each other. • People thought that there should be laws that made them protect each human being. • In the 1950s and 1960s people around the world began demanding their rights like Martin Luther king Jr and Rosa Parks both led the struggle for equal civil rights.
The Concern for Rights (continued) • In North Africa, the Algerians wanted to be a free nation from France. • In the earlier century feminists( a person who supports womens rights.) Began to fight for equal rights for women. • When you read chapter 10 the UN was created to support peace and also human rights. • The Universal Declaration of Human rights were translated from English to 250 different languages. It says that every human beings are equal, and that everyone in the world has the right to be free and safe from physical injury. It also says that every human being can't be discriminated against because of their nationality, gender, religion, or culture.
Canada and Human Rights • In 1948, when Canada signed the Universal Declaration of Human rights, Canadians began looking at the lack of justice in their own country. Canadian found lots of problems. • An African-Canadian woman named Viola Desmond was arrested in a movie theatre in Nova Scotia. She was arrested for sitting in the lower seats instead of the top. Why was that? well, if a person has dark skin, he or she had to sit in the balcony. • Donald Gordon of the Canadian National Railway said that he wouldn't hire French-Canadians for the best jobs at the CNR. Gordon said that the English Canadian were better employees than the French-Canadians.
Canada and Human Rights (continued) • Canada had to face how they treated the Aboriginals. In the year 1948, people with the Indian Status weren't able to do many things that the other people can do. They couldn't vote, they couldn't wear their traditional clothing, or attend the Calgary Stampede, which is a festival, exhibition, and rodeo in Calgary. They couldn't do many things. But these are only a few things that the Canadians have treated each other.
The Bill of Rights, 1960 • John Diefenbaker, the 13th Prime Minister of Canada knew what it was like facing discrimination. Many people made fun of his name all of his life. Many people didn't treat Diefenbaker like a true Canadian. But when he became Prime Minister of Canada in the year 1957, he wanted to protect the Human Rights of Canada. So in 1960, he showed the Canadian Bill of rights. The Canadian Bill of rights was like the United Nations' Declaration, but instead it was for the people of Canada. The Canadian Bill of rights showed that the Canadian government would fight for the human rights of every Canadian. • People were very worried that the Bill of Rights wasn't a strong law.
The Bill of Rights, 1960 (continued) • It was just a law passed by Parliament. This means that the governments who came after Diefenbaker's possibly could change the Bill of Rights. Other laws in Canada could replace it. • The Bill of Rights can only work if it became the highest law in the land.
The Bill of Rights could not protect everybody • In the 1960s, a woman named Jeannette Lavell from Manitoulin Island, Ontario and a young Anishinabe (Ojibwa) was married to a man who didn't belong to a First Nation. After their wedding, the Department of Indian Affairs took away her Indian status. The Indian Act said that if a First Nation woman lost her Indian status because she married a man who wasn't a First Nation. She tried using the Bill of Rights, but it didn't work. This meant that the Bill of Rights isn't strong enough.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms • When Prime Minister Trudeau became Prime minister, he noticed that John Diefenbaker's Canadian Bill of Rights didn't go far enough. But Prime Minister Trudeau wanted a charter of rights that had to be part of Canada's constitution. But there was a problem. Canadian politicians couldn't agree on a way to change Canada's constitution. • The charter of rights can only be changed by the British Parliament. • This means that Canada was still independent from Britain. • So Prime Minister Trudeau had to bring the constitution under Canadian control. • This wouldn't be easy.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (continued) • Prime Ministers that tried to patriate the constitution: • Prime Minister Mackenzie King in 1927. • Prime Minister R.B Bennett tried again in 1931. • Prime Minister St. Laurent tried in 1950. • Prime Minister John Diefenbaker tried in 1960. • Prime Minister Pearson tried in 1971. • And Prime Minister Trudeau tried in 1971. • They All failed. • They failed because no Prime Minister made the provinces agree on what should be in the new constitution.
The Charter if Rights and Freedoms(continued) • Finally! Trudeau had 9 provincial premiers sign the Constitution Act and Charter of Rights and Freedoms. • The Constitution Act became a law on April 17, 1982 • All the Canadians had rights that could not be taken away.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (continued) • The provinces wouldn't agree to a new constitution unless the provinces' powers were respected. • Prime Minister Trudeau tried it again in 1980. • Some provinces wanted new powers like: • Newfoundland wanted to control its fisheries. • Alberta wanted to control its oil. • And Quebec wanted to control its culture and language. • Trudeau, on the other hand, worried that Canada would fall apart if most of the provinces had too much power. • Prime Minister Trudeau decided to push ahead to the constitution. • So the Supreme Court of Canada said that if Trudeau had the most provinces that would agree for the Constitution Act and Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Knowing Your Rights • Has anyone ever said to you, "Hey it's a free country. I can do what i want!" Have you ever wondered what free country means? • The Charter of Rights and Freedom helps to answer this question or give you the answer. • The Charter of Rights and Freedom guarantees Canadians lots of rights, like: • Basic human rights • The right to vote • And the right to go to school in English and French. • Many rights existed in Canada before 1982. • Now they are permanent rights.
Fundamental freedoms • Fundamental freedoms are rights that every Canadian have to act, speak,and think freely, without the interference from the government. • They include: • freedom to follow a religion of one's choice • freedom to think, believe in, and expressone’s own opinions. • freedom of the press and other media toreport the news. • freedom of peaceful assembly • freedom of association • Only a few countries enjoy like freedoms like these • Some countries it is against the law to speak against the government.
Equality rights • The equality rights is part of the charter rights. • It says that every Canadian are equal. • every Canadian has the right to be treated equaly. • No matter what their race is, national or ethenic origin, religion, gender, age, or mental or physical disabilities. • All of these rights have also solved problems that every Canadian faced. • The charter of rights and freedoms was strong enough to protect Jeannette lavell in 1982. • The charter of rights promised that no Canadian could be discrimminated because of his or her gender.
Language Rights In the Charter of Rights , Canada should have 2 offical languages, english and french. • Prime Minister Trudeau believed in hope that the language rights would end the long conflict between the francophones and the anglophones. • The people through the charter of languages can communicate with the federal government and courts either english and french. • The francophones have the rights to send their children to english school as well as the english children can enroll in a french school.
Language Rights (continued) • So it is very important that Canadians learn to communicate with each other to enjoy the equality of learning both languages.
Aboriginal Rights • The Aboriginal rights are about the rights of Aboriginal people as stated and protected in the constitution. • They have the right to practice their Aboriginal ceremonies. • They have the right to hunt and fish in traditional lands. • The First Nations have the rights to make treaties with other people as well as the government.
Pictures and video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBlCQXd8-tI
Mainstream and Minorities • The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is meant to create Canada a fair and just society for all of its citizens. • But racism still exists, censorship still occurs, and also people still treat each other unkindly. • Citizens still have to demand on their rights are under the Charter. • Canada is a democracy. In a democracy, governments make decisions on what most people want. • Yet what is to stop a majority from trampling on the will of the minority? The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is intended to protect the rights of minorities. • No anglo-Canadian province, can take away the Charter of Rights and Freedoms of a francophone minority.
The Meech Lake Accord, 1990 • In 1984, when Brian Mulroney became prime minister of Canada, he worried that Quebec never signed the 1982 Constitution. • Brian Mulroney thought that Canada couldn't work if one province felt left out. • Mulroney promised that he would change the Constitution so that the Quebeckers would be signing in. • When Robert Bourassa was the preimer of Quebec he told Mulroney that he would sign the Constitution if it said that Quebec is a distinct society. • This means that Quebec has special powers to protect its language and culture. • So Brian Mulroney agreed. This agreement became known as the Meech Lake Accord, because it was signed at Meech Lake in Quebec.
The Meech Lake Accord, 1990 (continued) • Many Canadians had different opinions about the Meech Lake Accord. Some Canadians agreed that Quebec had some challenges than other provinces. • Other Canadians thought that the Meech Lake Accord was a very bad idea. • Canadians didn't believe that any province should get or have special treatment. • Elijah Harper is a First Nations politician from Manitoba he also stopped the Meech Lake accord from becoming a law. • Elijah Harper believed that Aboriginal people have been ignored at th constitutional debates. • Elijah Harper wanted mail a message to concern of the Aboriginal peoples.
The Meech Lake Accord, 1990 (continued) • But Harper didn't vote for it. • The Meech Lake Accord shows how hard it is to run Canada and shows how its hard to support minority right while treating everyone equal. • With the Charlottetown Accord in 1992, the Canadian government tried to change the Constitution again. • There was a referendum (vote that citizens make on important issues) decided on the changes. • But Canadians voted on the Charlottetown Accord, the result was 54 percent.
Brian Mulroney (1939-) • Brian Mulroney is Canada's 18th prime minister. • When Mulroney was a teenager he joined the progressive conservative party. • In 1983 the progressive conservative party chose Mulroney as their leader. • In the 1984 election, the progressive conservaties party won • more seats in parliment than the other parties. • Mulroney made some mysterious deciisions. • He made the goods and services tax. The goods and sevices tax made an addition seven cent to charge to every Canadiandollar spent. • When he retire in 1993, he worked to stop aprtheid in South Africa.
Conclusion • Everyone all around the world were surprised to new things of justice after World War II. Lots of people were loyal to themselves to make a fairer world. • This struggle was led by citizens in Canada that were worried abot discrimmination and also injustice. • The federal government changed the country's law to supply equality and justice for every citizen.
