The rights revolution - Essay Example

The Rights Revolution: When it comes to rights, Canada’s history has a lot to tell. The way people’s rights are identified and addressed in Canada makes it different from other nations in the West. A lot has happened both on the political and social scenario. This paper tends to identify the potential ways in which Canada differs in its recognition and acknowledgement of group rights from other Western nations. Since the 1960s, when the Quiet Revolution in Quebec took place, Canada has seen a political crisis.

The country has had a lot of trouble incorporating the Quebec and non-Quebec nation into the political framework. As a result of the forced incorporation of such elements as women’s rights, and aboriginal land claims into the 1982’s Charter of Rights and Freedom, Canadian culture has become extremely distinct with respect to people’s rights. Canada is a socially democratic society that places special emphasis on the group rights as reflected both in the Quebec’s Charte de la langue francaise and in the agreements of treaty which acknowledges the rights of aboriginal people upon the land and resources.

Canada is one of very few countries which stipulates the terms and conditions regarding the distortion of federation in the decisions of Supreme Court as well as in the federal legislation. Such an overt expression of concerns regarding secession increases its susceptibility to happen. Nevertheless, rules have been defined clearly in order to avoid ambiguities and violation by mistake. Besides, clear dictation of the secession laws reduces the chances of breakout of civil war. The recent ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding secession identifies two primary concepts about rights.

The first idea says that conflict is frequent while the second idea realizes the purpose of the rights language in the conditions of conflict which is to promote peaceful adjudication. Canada has also influenced the world with her rights talk. John Humphrey, the professor of law from the Montreal’s McGill University played an important role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which essentially tends to universalize the Canadian social democracy which surfaced after 1945. Canadians have also shaped the revolution of global rights in addition to drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, like the writing of language provisions into Baltic constitutions to provide the Russian minority with its due rights.

Canadians have carried the inter-ethnic war from Arbour to General Romeo Dallaire (Ignatieff, 2000). In comparison to Canada, the American culture promotes individualism rather than the collectivism of a group. The historic movements run by the African American community and the women in order to gain their rights is largely visualized as attempts to instigate discrimination against the individuals belonging to other groups. People’s rights are recognized differently in Canada from other Western nations.

Canada acknowledges the group rights and has historically maintained such policies that satisfied the concerns of groups. Canadian laws are liberal on such controversial issues as abortion and homosexual marriages. This liberalism makes Canada resemble European countries and differ from America. France maintains a centralist vision of the nation and group rights like of Muslims have not conventionally been recognized. Likewise, Britain’s vision is also very individualistic and centralistic like France and unlike Canada.

This is the reason why Britain, France, and America have not been able to cope with the group issues of racism as Canada did. References: Ignatieff, M. (2000). The Rights Revolution. House of Anasi Press.