The Evolution of Human Rights in Canada - Essay Example

The Evolution of Human Rights in Canada Student Name: Institution Name: The Evolution of Human Rights in Canada Without human rights, justice will not prevail in the society. This was the exact situation that prevailed in Canada before 1977. Human rights are defined as the most fundamental freedoms that every human being is entitled to. Everyone is entitled to them based on the fact that he/she is a human being and has the freedom to do or choose whatever they want. However, there are limits to these basic rights. The limits are there to ensure that an individual does not his/her freedom to infringe on the other’s rights. The judicial system depends on these particular freedoms to define a just society. A society where everyone’s rights are well defined is characterized by peace due to mutual respect. An act of injustice implicates violation of the opposite party’s rights. This article seeks to identify and discuss the evolution of human rights in Canada. The milestones achieved through the struggle for human rights in Canada will be highlighted in the discussion. Main arguments from the book the evolution of Human Rights in Canada will be critically analyzed and presented in a rational manner. This analysis intends to determine how human rights in Canada have evolved to where they are currently. In general, human rights have been given so much priority that they are tackled at three levels. The first one is the universal/international level where the rights fall under the category of international law. Human rights should be universal for fairness to prevail in the whole world. The second rank is the national level availed through the national constitution. This is the basis of the subject matter as it seeks to determine the route taken by Canada to achieve her currently used human rights. Each country passes its own laws to govern her citizens and ensure justice. The third level is the human right rights laws. The fact that we share humanity indicates people have human rights by virtue. Most people who suffer injustices are the ones who advocate for human rights in order seek redress. In the book unveiling the milestones made in the evolution of the Canadian human rights, one clear thing indicated is that fact that people begin to advocate for their rights when they feel they are being oppressed or violated. The journey of fighting for human rights in Canada began as early as in 1944 (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). Things only began to appear bright at the period of 1970s. In 1977, the parliament passed the Canadian Human Right Act. Passing of the bill revealed how Canada had formed what was termed as sophisticated human rights regimes. The results were the formation of a well organized human rights movement and among the first batch of countries that advanced human rights as the foundation of international politics. The evolution of Canadian human rights can be described through a number of phases categorized by years. The major ones are only two phases. The first phase occurred from 1944 to 1970. The second phase occurred from 1970 to the current date. The current definition of human rights in Canada can be traced back to the struggle that began in the 1970s (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). All the way through the achievement of the human rights in Canada, a number of significant events have been happening to make sure that the rights are achieved. The events include the social movement, political debates that mainly concentrated on the constitution, human rights laws and the development on the foreign policy frond to indicate Canada’s involvement in international human rights laws. The Canada that is seen right now is a complete contrast of the Canada that existed immediately after the Second World War. There was a rampant activity of discrimination from 1940 (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). The country was among the less hospitable places in the world that Jewish refugees could opt to go to. Blacks and several other minorities were disallowed by the recruiting agencies. The Canadian citizens who were of Japanese origin were expelled and deported back to their country. People in Canada did not enjoy the same rights. The immigration policies remained to be discriminatory until 1962. The first anti discriminatory law in Canada was passed in 1944 (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). The law was there to prohibit the display of any discriminatory signs and advertisements. The situation was generally bad and Canada was rated as one of the worst country to survive in during that period. Discrimination of the basic human rights impeded development since most of the industrious people were barred from doing any economic activities. The situation was worse since the word human rights was rarely seen on print media or mentioned in the parliament. As other sources put it, there was simply no federal law to turn to whenever faced by any instance of injustice. The provincial bill of rights passed by the Saskatchewan was only the second one in the history of Canada (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). After passage of the second bill, preparations to determining the bill of rights at the national level began. The difference between rights and freedoms were put out during that period. Rights were defined as those that the government could take part in regulating or ensure that they happen while freedoms were defined as the ones that are personal; a good example is the freedom of speech. With tangible developments in the segment of human rights, the attention at that time focused on the exact segment that was to be included in the constitution. The debate majored on civil and political rights and economic rights. As directly put forward in the book, parliamentary supremacy was deeply embedded in the country’s legal and political structures. The result was the opposition to the bill of human rights every time an attempt was made to address it. Labor organizations became active in the fight of human rights after sensing that it was impossible for the parliament to pass the bill. Organized labor worked with victims of discrimination to raise awareness among citizens. The Jewish labor committee had established offices across the country. The first civil rights group was witnessed in the country in 1930 (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). By 1950, a number of self composed civil rights groups had already emerged putting the pressure on the parliament. Most of these groups however, were majorly advocating for the bill of rights to be entrenched in the national constitution and anti-discrimination legislation for employment. The Fair accommodation practices act was passed in 1954 which essentially banned all any form of discrimination involving race, ethnicity and religion. The parliament opposition of the anti-discrimination bill was based on Common law of England and British Commonwealth. The Canadian menace in resolving the issue of human rights was taken to the international stage. Serious events that had violated human rights in both in South Africa and Nigeria had required attention of the international law to resolve the matter. Canada was at the forefront to oppose any country to be involved in the internal affairs of another country. The involvement of Canada in the international law was only for her own cold self interest (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). From the period of 1970, majority of Canadians began speaking of their rights. It was no longer the work of civil groups but rather everybody was involved to shape the future of their country. Three stages are identified in the evolution of human rights in Canada. The first phase was the one advocating for equal citizenship. The role of that first phase was to cover for the areas of immigration and the franchise. The second phase was dubbed as the protective shields. Their exact role was to develop anti-discriminatory statutes. Discrimination was thought to be a result of individuals with misguided interests that had influence on the notion of what was wrong or right. The remedy to such individuals was to mobilize the state to punish people with such behaviors. The third phase was dubbed as the remedial phase (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). After the enactment of the bill of rights in 1977, two distinct organizations were formed. The Canadian Human Rights Commission that is responsible for receiving complains on matters related to discrimination. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal was formed to act as the court. Matters that involve human rights violation are directly reported to them. The formation of the two organizational structures made Canada to be one of the countries with sophisticated human rights system. The sole purpose of that human rights bill that was enacted in 1977 was to ensure equal opportunity for the people of Canada and a perfect way to fight discrimination on any of the 11 factors that were listed in the bill. Among the listed factors include race, age and sex. The act that was passed protects all the people who work for or receive services from the federal government (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). The human rights bill advocates for the equal rights for all. The law advocating for equality allowed even women to serve in combat related jobs. Apart from sex equality, the human rights bill also accounted for people with disability. In Canada, people living with HIV/AIDS are treated as disabled. People with disabilities can ask for special requests at their jobs and have their duties reduced. The bill of rights put into consideration a number of factors that could avoid discrimination at all possible grounds. Matters concerning religion were all addressed in the bill of rights. However, as time has been going, different rights have been changing in reference to the bill of rights. The right of women to start forward roles in the combat zone started in 1989 after the court allowed it. Several concerns were also raised on sensitive matters that involved sexual orientation. Gay people were discriminated at work places and publicly until 1996 when the court verdict was given and granted them their freedom (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). Several freedoms were also limited by the court as to how far they can be used. The freedom of speech was limited by the court in 1992 on the grounds that spreading false news was considered as a crime. The cases provided confirm the principle that no right is superior to the other rights. All rights are treated with the same level of respect they each deserve. The human rights have also been evolving given the fact that there is an interaction between the human rights laws and the Aboriginal laws. The rights of gender equality in regard to the Trans people have also been introduced. The Canadian human rights was compared with a tree, it matures with time. Several matters continue emerging and re-emerging in relation to the bill of rights. Most of these factors include prostitution, parental leave, abortion and the sensitive issue of sexual orientation. The issue of sex and age discrimination has proved to be sensitive most of the times and constantly keep appearing in the courts for amendment (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). Aside from the real development of the human rights in Canada, the book used for this case study highlighted the significance of politics towards the struggle. Politics as indicated in the book was used as a tool that suppressed the development of human rights in Canada. In the early struggle, the parliament was the political tool that did want the reforms on human rights to take place. However, as the support from all people developed, reforms began becoming real. The sources used by the author also prove to be relevant and bring together a piece of well laid out outline. The fact all the sources are well accounted for and the piece of information they contributed, the book is a masterpiece of a well researched article. Areas of controversy that require constant are wide as mentioned in the book. They include pornography, euthanasia, parental leave, leisure, mandatory retirement among other key issues (Clément, Silver & Trottier, 2012). Conclusion Evolution of human rights in Canada is not an event that will stop any soon. It is a continuous process that intents to take place as new developments emerge. This article highlights some of the few events that took place from 1944 to the current events that are taking place in Canada. The article covers most of the events that took place 1944 to 1970. This particular era was reported to have had rampant activities of crimes against human rights. However, reforms began manifesting themselves during this particular time. The human rights bill was passed in 1977. A lot rights were given to people serving and being served by the federal government. A number of of amendments to the bill have also been highlighted from 1989 to the current date. It therefore worthy to note that the human rights laws will continue evolving in Canada, it is not a process that will end any time soon. References Clément, D., Silver, W., & Trottier, D. (2012). The Evolution of Human Rights in Canada. Canadian Human Rights Commission. Read More