Tuesday 4 June 2013

Diefenbaker and Equality


    Diefenbaker promoted a lot of equality. While he was in power he created the Bill of Right and made the House of Commons bilingual.  Diefenbaker always said the Bill of Rights was needed to take a stand again discrimination based on all the different factors, and when he made the Bill of Rights it did stand up against discrimination and fight for the equality of all people.  The Bill of Rights declares the dignity and worth of a person, it includes certain human rights and freedoms.  When these rights and freedoms were guaranteed in the law for the first time it was a very important step in equality for Canadians.

     Deifenbaker also took a very important step towards equality for Canadians when he started translating the House of Commons' debates.  This was a step towards bilingualism, but bilingualism was a big part of equality at the time because of the Quebec people who claimed they were deprived of speaking French. Since January 1959 every word spoken in the House of Commons is translated simultaneously. All people in the House of Commons can say anything they want in their own language and be confident they will be understood.  Translating in the House of Commons was a big step towards bilingualism which was also an important act of equality especially for the French.


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