Fundamental Freedoms- Segment Two- History of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

in the early 1980s not everyone was in favor of creating a Charter of Rights some felt the charter would give too much power to the courts others believed it was just Trudeau's Obsession and that defining enforceable rights would be impossible there are so things that were happening there was the whole field of multiculturalism huge influx of people who were from other countries and from people who had been refugees from other countries there was a a churning of Desire on the part of men and women to have their full rights the Aboriginal people they were concerned about theirs and of course the provinces were having their conflicts as well so something was needed to bring about something that would pull it all together Roy McMurtry is Chief Justice of Ontario in the early 1980s he served as attorney general for the province and witnessed the charter debate firsthand it's very complex issue because there were a number of premiers who who believed in parliamentary Supremacy and and their belief was grounded in principles it was a very principled opposition to a chart of Rights and trench chart of Rights because they sincerely believed that Parliament and legislator could better protect the rights of the individuals than the courts I think it was a dream of Mr Trudeau to create um a just Society where the rights of the majority could not be um used to trample the rights of the minority and I think the charter served as the Benchmark for um enshrining in law the rights of the minority and I think it was truly a reflection of his vision it wasn't a question of right versus wrong it was just a question of how best can we protect the respect the rights of individual Canadians during a series of conferences in 1980 and 1981 Canada's leaders met and debated the Constitution and the Charter of Rights at the time much of Quebec wanted to separate from Canada the province's leader Renee LC resisted supporting the national agenda like LC most of the premieres were against Trudeau they felt the voice of Canadians could be best heard at the provincial level so there was a situation of a sense of alienation amongst provinces and so that was a further complication of the country and um then of course there was the whole matter of civil rights and U the question of relationships of the handicapped of of um the relationships of women and their rights well there are quite a few uncomfortable moments because uh Pierre Trudeau a great man that he was he he did he did motivate very strong feelings either for or or against his his positions Trudeau had the Mind intelligence the determination right from the start to drive to bring about a change to entrench the chart of Rights and Freedoms in a constitution that was Canadian I remember Jean kutchen saying to me when we were talking about it before the last meeting about uh persuading Mr Trudeau to be less argumentive uh Sean said to me he said well de boss he said he sure went a lot of arguments uh but then there was a pause he said but you know he sometimes loses the war but Trudeau did know how to play his cards betting many of the premieres would be against a national referendum Trudeau called LX Bluff to me the critical moment was when Mr Trudeau is getting a little fed up with the whole process said to me well said to all of us well maybe we'll just for that famous shrug of his we'll uh we will let the Canadian people decide Trudeau's proposed National referendum would determine the future of the charter and an amending formula for the Constitution Quebec was in favor of this approach but the rest of the provinces disagreed the result was a late night dinner meeting with Trudeau and the premier a meeting without Renee L during the the long night that ensued we we reached an agreement but I I regret to this day that Quebec was excluded without Quebec's support prime minister Trudeau and the remaining provincial Premier move forward to patriate the Constitution and give birth to Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms I am pleased to inform you that we have solved this problem and that we have reached agreement not only on the fact that we needed a Canadian Constitution but also on an amending formula this means that after 114 years Canada will become in a technical and legal sense an independent country once and for all and he said it was so amazing so refreshing he told the caucus to have a group of people leaders of the country's organizations cultural organizations coming to thank him for his leadership and his initiative in trying to repatriate the Constitution entrench and enshrine a Charter of Rights and Freedoms on April 17th 1982 the queen attended and proclaimed the new Canadian constitution on the steps of Parliament Hill on that date and as a result the legal and political landscape of Canada changed quite dramatically we now have a charter which defines the kind of country in which we wish to live and guarantees the basic rights and freedoms which each of us shall enjoy as a citizen of Canada it's true that our will to live together has sometimes appeared to be in deep hibernation but it is there nevertheless alive and tenacious in the hearts of Canadians of every Province and territory

Channel: CharterOf RightsAndFreedoms

Views: 44,665

Keywords: Fundamental Freedoms, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada, Canadian Charter, history, Canadian, 1980s, Quebec, Pierre Trudeau, Rene Levesque, Kitchen Accord, Night of the Long Knives, government, law, rights, Roy McMurtry, Sheila Copps, Roland De Corneille, Jean Chretien, Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms (Constitution), Human

Id: LArINRMNptM

Length: 7min 6sec (426 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 29 2013