Trudeau's Influence on Equality

In a just society Trudeau envisioned that all Canadian would have equal opportunity's. To try and follow this Trudeau introduced the Official Languages Act in 1969, This gave an equal status to the English and French Canadians. Trudeau fought for equality between French and English cultures, wealthy and poor provinces, women and men in politics. He also wanted a renewed federation where French and English Canada were full and equal partners. To create equality between French and English communism made three major recommendations: make services for federal government more widely available in French across the country, open the federal civil service equally to English and French Canadians and improve and expand the teaching of French as a second language. This led Trudeau to introduce the Official Languages Act. 

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Document Analysis: Canada and 9/11

The following post is the in class analysis of the "Canada and 9/11" excerpt. We didn't hand it in, so I decided to share my thoughts via blog.

First off, this article is representative of the helpful and selfless nature in Canadian identity. The way that without hesitation the residents of Gander welcomed stranded plane passengers shows Canadians' ability to recognize and act on a person (or thousands) in need. Specific examples of this illustration of Canadians  include when "they consoled, and they cooked, they cooked and they cooked" and how "with a population barely hitting 10'000, [Gander] welcomed 6'600 stranded passengers that fateful day". The way that the residents cooked and cooked supports how Canadians continuously help until the job is done. The way that a tiny town like Gander was willing to nearly double its capacity to welcome strangers shows the immediate selflessness of Canadians, at least on a large scale. I believe these values do remain true throughout Canada because the article mentions also hundreds of Canadians in "Vancouver, Halifax, Montreal and Toronto" who were thanked for their helpful efforts. These are just major cities. Gander is an example of small towns who gave generously as well.

Generosity

The link to my Bitstrips storyboard for "The Canadian Identity"
Generosity

Tommy Douglas

                                      Tommy Douglas

Tommy Douglas. You know his name, not his story. He was born in a small town just outside of Scotland and then moved to Saskatchewan and became a Baptist minister, politician, and the premier of Saskatchewan. But then in 1935 he was elected into the Canadian House of Commons as a member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). Tommy Douglas had a dream. Douglas's dream was to bring medicare to his province.In 1947 Tommy Douglas introduced universal hospitalization in Saskatchewan and in 1959 announced a Medicare plan for Saskatchewan. After setting up medicare for Saskatchewan, he stepped down from premier and then went into the election. Douglas was then elected as its first federal leader in 1961. Some people could say Tommy Douglas was Canada's greatest Canadian for bring his own idea for health care to Canada and keeping people healthy and alive.

Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau

Pierre was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada and wanted a Just Society. He wanted everyone to be equal including homosexuals, he wanted people to have the freedom to get divorced or choose to have an abortion. Trudeau also made it so that both men and women got "equal pay for equal work, this was a huge step in the right direction for women's rights.  Also Pierre helped Canada's economy by providing skilled labour for the workforce, he improved the lives of many by allowing the population to grow therefore bringing more money to Canada's economy. The Americans were losing a battle against Vietnam and it was Pierre's decision to distance Canada from the U.S therefore helping them gain independence. Those are just a few of the things Pierre Trudeau did to help Canada have a Just Society. 

Pierre Trudeau Quote

“We must now establish the basic principles, the basic values and beliefs which hold us together as Canadians so that beyond our regional loyalties there is a way of life and a system of values which make us proud of the country that has given us such freedom and such immeasurable joy."  This quote was about signing the Canadian Charter of Right and Freedom. This quote provides information about Trudeaus believes and what he standed for. This shows how he wanted to make sure all canadians were equal and was trying to make everyone equal with pay so that economy would get better. Trudeau passed the minimum wage law

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.

http://www.sasktourism.com/about-saskatchewan/personalities-in-our-past/john-diefenbaker

Pearson

  Pearson provided health care not to some, but all Canadians no matter what race, gender, status, or financial situation.   When Pearsonʼs Minister of National Health and Welfare, Allan J. MacEachen,introduced the idea for health care at the House of Commons he stated, “The government of Canada believes that all Canadians should be able to obtain health services of high quality according to their need for such services and irrespective of their ability to pay. We believe that the only practical and effective way of doing this is through a universal, prepaid, government-sponsored scheme.”  MacEachen is explaining that he believes all people deserve health care even if they cannot pay.  This shows that even though Universal Healthcare doesn't seem like an equal rights act Pearson and his government intended it to be.  They wanted to keep everyone healthy not just people that could pay a lot of money for it.  Also, even though the Canadian Pension Plan just takes employed peopleʼs money and returns it to them month by month after retirement, it still promotes equality especially to elders.  The Pension Plan offers a smart way for adults to save money for
their retirement.  Many adults donʼt know how to go about thinking and planning for their retirement but the pension plan helps them to do so in a way that wonʼt effect their current financial situation.  The plan offers everyone a chance to have a chance at a good comfortable retirement that they may not have gotten otherwise.

Genocide in The World

http://greatersurbiton.wordpress.com/2008/06/17/the-armenian-genocide-should-be-recognised-by-historians-not-by-states/

Everyone is interested in learning about the Holocaust in Germany because they think that we learned from are mistakes and now life is better but genocide has happened again and again. Genocide has happened in Rwanda, Australia, Bosnia and many other countries. All of these honorific events have lead to the death of millions and the displacement of millions from there homes making them refugees. Many groups like the United Nations, NATO and NORAD have devoted billions of dollars and energy into making sure that  genocide never happens again but the question on everyone's mind is are these groups plans working. Many people don't believe that these groups plans work because genocides are still happening today like in Syria. If you where in a position of power how would you make sure that genocides never happen again? 

Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau was a prime minister that concentrated mostly on making a equal society  He did this by doing things like making laws regarding homosexuality, divorce and abortion. Trudeau set the Canadian charter of rights and freedom. This was a huge step for Canada's independence. Pierre Trudeau was very iconic and was seen almost like a super star. Pierre's main goal was to become a just society which meant that everyone was equal. I think that Pierre was very successful with doing this because he made the charter of rights of freedom, made minimum wage and also made laws regarding homosexuality, divorce and abortion.

Pierre Trudeau

 “If Canada is to survive, it can only survive in mutual respect and in love with one another “ (Pierre Trudeau 1976).  This quote shows how much Trudeau wanted Canadians to be treated as equals.  Trudeau had a vision for Canada, where all people were treated equally.  Throughout his stay in Parliament he had made huge steps for women's rights, decriminalized homosexuality, attempted to help aboriginal's and made multiculturalism and bilingualism government policies.  Pierre showed through his actions that he valued the equality of all people.  Shown by this quote he feels that Canada will only survive and prosper if all people could be accepted and given equal rights.