The Charter of Rights and Freedom and its Affect on Canada Essay Example

was this thought that gave birth to the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. In Canada the declaration paved waies for more authorities action sing societal and political favoritism. an illustration being the predecessor of the Charter. the Canadian Bill of Rights of 1960. This measure was introduced by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and granted similar rights to the citizens of Canada. The difference between the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Bill. is that the Bill of Rights could be contested by the authorities and judicial system whenever anyone sees tantrum. which gave room for favoritism in authorities and tribunal opinions.

The accelerator to the creative activity of the Charter was the re-election of Pierre Trudeau and the Quebec Referendum. Prime Minister Trudeau was Canada’s first socialist premier curate. he was to a great extent influenced by the socialist European civilization from the old ages he spent analyzing at that place. Trudeau’s most celebrated expression was a “Just Society” . “The Just Society will be a united Canada. united because all of its citizens will be actively involved in the development of a state where equality of chance is ensured and persons are permitted to carry through themselves in the manner they judge best” ( Trudeau. 968 ) . During the Quebec Referendum when Quebec’s separatist motion was at its extremum. the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution and the passage of Gallic linguistic communication and Gallic instruction rights ( which is included in the Charter ) were pieces of his platform to hold the referendum and portion of his program for a “Just Society” . After the referendum was rejected Trudeau kept true

to his word and appealed the Constitution and enshrined the Charter of Rights and Freedom within it.

The Charter of Rights and Freedom was a defining minute in Canada’s history as it protected adult females and homophiles from favoritism and allowed them to set up an individuality. Its creative activity besides shows our country’s committedness to equality. human rights and societal justness. The Charter changed Canada’s position on gender. gender equality and homophobia ; it paved a way for the 2nd moving ridge of the feminist motion. helped legalise abortion. removed barriers for cheery matrimony and wholly redefined the definition of matrimony throughout Canada.

Abortion was an highly controversial subject throughout the 1900’s and the ground why free abortion is available in this state is because of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Before the 1969 and the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act. abortion was considered a condemnable discourtesy and no entree to it was allowed. The right to holding an abortion besides brought along inquiries on gender functions and equality ; as work forces were non restricted to what they could or could non make with their organic structures.

The accelerator to the Free Abortion Movement was the Sexual Revolution of the 1960’s in the USA. which due to their propinquity to Canada besides had an consequence on our society. The revolution was the beginning to contraceptive method. the credence of insouciant sex and sexual release. Along with these boundaries interrupting alterations besides brought the legalisation of abortion. The biggest push towards free abortion from within our state was the work of a adult male named Henry Morgentaler. Dr. Henry Morgentaler was a general practician

in Montreal. who specialized in household planning.

He was one of the first Canadian physicians to order birth control and execute sterilisation. In 1967. he presented a instance before the House of Common Health and Welfare sing illegal abortions and women’s rights to safe abortion. but was fleetly dismissed. The public reacted rapidly to his stance on this issue. and he began to have petitions from despairing adult females to execute abortions. Morgentaler ab initio responded with a sympathetic “no” . but after he realized the life-risking extent that these adult females were willing to travel to for an abortion. he chose personal values over civil obeisance and began executing illegal abortions.

His courage and finding was the accelerator to the 2nd moving ridge of the feminist motion and boot started the right to legal abortions for all adult females in Canada. The subdivision of the Charter of Rights and Freedom that was most important to the Free Abortion Movement was subdivision 7. Section 7 of the Charter provinces “Everyone has the right to life. autonomy and security of the individual and the right non to be deprived thereof except in conformity with the rules of cardinal justice” ( The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 982 ) . Before the Charter. in 1969 a jurisprudence was passed that stated “a kid can merely be aborted if the life or wellness of a adult female was threatened” and must be verified by a three-doctor infirmary commission ( Egan. 1998 ) . But after the creative activity of the charter which granted adult female the right to life or to do picks. such as “whether a adult female had

made a pick to acquire pregnant. go on a gestation. or stop a gestation. or. framed otherwise. to hold an abortion. or non hold an abortion” ( Downie. 2008 ) .

If the adult female in inquiry had non made the determination to go pregnant or even consented to the act of intercourse. so denying her right to holding an abortion would go against the Charter and her right to populate. Second. by restricting a adult female entree to medical services and coercing her to transport and back up a foetus is an invasion of her right to security and a misdemeanor of the Charter. Third. one of the grounds abortion is illegalized in many states is because in many faiths the act of protecting the foetus is sacred. doing many spiritual authorities fficers to implement bias Torahs against leting abortion due to their beliefs. The charter states that all people have the freedom of belief and faith ; if the person does non believe in the pattern of protecting the foetus so they should be allowed to do their determination consequently. Last. the concluding finding of fact given by a justice on the Morgentaler instance was: “The determination whether to end a gestation is basically a moral determination. a affair of scruples. I do non believe there is or can be any difference about that.

The inquiry is: whose scruples? Is the scruples of the adult female to be paramount or the scruples of the province? I believe. for the grounds I gave in discoursing the right to liberty. that in a free and democratic society it must be the scruples of the person. ” (

Wilson. 1988 ) If the right to liberty was non given so the result of this important instance would be much different and adult females may hold ne'er been granted the right to free abortion. The alterations that the Charter brought to the lives of pregnant adult female were paramount.

It non merely allowed them to do picks with their organic structure. but it besides brought them closer in gender equality with work forces ( as they were non longer restricted in bodily unity ) and paved a way for future alterations in the lives of adult females. Until the re-election of socialist Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1980 and enactment the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. homophobia was really common in Canada at the bend of the twentieth century. Before 1970. homosexualism was seen as a condemnable discourtesy and anyone accused of homosexual Acts of the Apostless was charged as a sexual wrongdoer.

Similarly to the Free Abortion motion accelerator to the Gay Rights Movement was besides the Sexual Revolution of the 1960’s and the re-election of Pierre Trudeau. Likewise to Morgentaler. there is besides an highly important individual to the rise of homosexual rights. Everett George Klippert. Klippert was erroneously suspected of incendiarism and was detained by the RCMP in August 1965. During his oppugning he admitted that he was homosexual and had conducted several sexual Acts of the Apostless with throughout the last 24 old ages.

Though it was proven that Klippert was non involved in the incendiary instance. the tribunal because of his sexual activities had charged him with 6 counts of “gross indecency” . This sentence was seen as highly unjust and cruel.

Trudeau. who was the Prime Minister at the clip. responded with this statement: “Take this thing on homosexualism. I think the position we take here is that there’s no topographic point for the province in the sleeping rooms of the state. and I think what’s done in private between grownups doesn’t concern the Criminal Code. When it becomes public this is a different matter…” ( Trudeau. 967 ) And within six hebdomads of this statement Trudeau had created and passed the Criminal Law Amendment Act. which decriminalized homosexualism. This act along with the Charter of Rights and Freedom gave Canadians the gift of same-sex matrimony. After the recognition of same-sex matrimony in 1969. it was pointed out that the traditional “one man/one woman” biological demand was non fulfilled. This difference led to the Canadian authorities denying same-sex spouses the same benefits of the jurisprudence as heterosexual spouses.

But later this is revoked. as the term “minorities” expressed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms extends to include correspondent minorities therefore all federal and provincial favoritism against same-sex twosomes must be overwritten. Second. “The Charter of Rights and Freedoms introduced in Canada in 1982 prohibits favoritism against homosexual twosomes on the footing of ‘sexual orientation’ to counter the Canadian federal jurisprudence which denies matrimonial position to the group. therefore striping them of the federal privileges allowed to heterosexuals” ( Findlay. 5 ) . Subsequently in 1999 because of sexual orientation going a signifier of favoritism. the Supreme Court of Canada pronounced that same-sex spouses now lawfully have the same rights and benefits as common-law twosomes. Last. at the bend of the twentieth century one of the most

dominant faiths in Canada was Christianity. The Christian faith did non accept the thought of homosexualism. and because this belief was so dominant at the clip. it created bias Torahs and discriminated against homosexual citizens of Canada.

Until the creative activity of the Charter which granted the right to faith and personal beliefs. there was no manner to reason against this spiritual favoritism. Finally in 2003 the Ontario Court of Appeal stated that the exclusion of same-sex twosomes from the definition of matrimony violated equality rights under the Charter. Without the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. homophiles would non hold the rights and credence in society as they do in the present twenty-four hours. The Charter wholly redefined the significance of matrimony and gave homophiles the ability to adhere themselves to their loved 1s with non merely their organic structure and psyche. but besides with vows and aws. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was a defining minute in Canada’s history because it protected adult females and homophiles from favoritism and gave them several cardinal freedoms that they did non possess before. Women eventually gained the right to command their ain organic structures. and homophiles received the freedom to love who they wish. without concealing it. The Charter truly placed Canada on the map as a topographic point of freedom and look. possibly even more so than our neighbour “The Land of the Free” . It geared Canada on a way to what it is today. a topographic point of diverseness. tolerance and the land of the “The True North Strong and Free. “