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Canadian women now have the right to vote in federal elections if they meet the same eligibility criteria as men.
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The case was initiated by the Famous Five, a group of prominent women activists. The Persons Case enabled women to work for change in both the House of Commons and the Senate. It also meant that women could no longer be denied rights based on a narrow interpretation of the law. -
Human rights are rights that we all have by virtue of our shared humanity. Depending on the nature of the right, both individuals and groups can assert human rights. It is a provincial law that provides for equal rights and opportunities and prohibits discrimination and harassment in five "social areas": employment, housing, services/facilities, contracts, and membership in unions/associations.
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The Indian Act is the primary law the federal government uses to administer Indian status, local First Nations governments and the management of reserve land. It also outlines governmental obligations to First Nations peoples. -
The Canadian Bill of Rights was the country’s first federal law to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms. It was considered groundbreaking when it was enacted by the government of John Diefenbaker. -
Insured by the Parliament of Canada, it was the first immigration legislation to clearly outline the objectives of Canadian immigration policy, define refugees as a distinct class of immigrants, and mandate the Canadian government to consult with other levels of government in the planning. -
The Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada, also known as the Bird Commission in honour of its chair, Florence Bird, was established on 3 February 1967. More than 900 people appeared at its public hearings over a period of six months. In addition to providing an overview of the status of women, the report tabled on 7 December 1970 included 167 recommendations for reducing gender inequality across the various spheres of Canadian society. -
The Official Languages Act is the federal statute that made English and French the official languages of Canada. It requires all federal institutions to provide services in English or French on request. The Act was passed on the recommendation of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (established by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson) and came into force on 7 September 1969. It created the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages, which oversees its implementation. -
The Canadian Human Rights Act is designed to ensure equality of opportunity. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, age, sex and a variety of other categories. Unlike the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which provides Canadians with a broad range of rights, the Canadian Human Rights Act covers only equality rights.
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The Delgamuukw case concerned the definition, the content and the extent of Aboriginal title (i.e., ownership of traditional lands). The Supreme Court of Canada observed that Aboriginal title constituted an ancestral right protected by section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. Influenced by the Calder case (1973), the ruling in the Delgamuukw case had an impact on other court cases about Aboriginal rights and title, including in the Tsilhqot’in case (2014).
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Voting is a hallmark of Canadian citizenship, but not all Indigenous groups (particularly status Indians) have been given this historic right due to political, socio-economic and ethnic restrictions. Today, Canada’s Indigenous peoples — defined in Section 35 (2) of the Constitution Act, 1982 as Indians (First Nations), Métis and Inuit — can vote in federal, provincial, territorial and local elections. -
The Charter, is the most visible and recognized part of Canada’s Constitution. The Charter guarantees the rights of individuals by enshrining those rights, and certain limits on them, in the highest law of the land. Since its enactment in 1982, the Charter has created a social and legal revolution in Canada. It has expanded the rights of minorities and criminal defendants, transformed the nature and cost of criminal investigations and prosecutions. -
David E. Oakes was accused of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. The Supreme Court of Canada concluded that section 8 of the Narcotic Control Act runs counter to the presumption of innocence enshrined in section 11(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 8 states that if a person is found in possession of a drug, he is presumed to have intended to traffic in it. -
Big M Drug Mart had been accused of selling merchandise on Sunday, contrary to the Lord's Day Act. On 24 April 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada found that this federal statute conformed to the federal criminal law power as found in s91(27) of the Constitution Act, 1867.
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Inducing an abortion was a crime in Canada until 1988, when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the law as unconstitutional. Since then, abortion has been legal at any stage in a woman’s pregnancy. Abortion is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the Canada Health Act. (See Health Policy.) However, access to abortion services differs across the country. Despite its legalization, abortion remains one of the most divisive political issues of our time. -
The purpose of this act is to achieve equality in the workplace so that no person shall be denied employment or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability and to correct the conditions of disadvantage in employment experienced by women, Aboriginal peoples, disabilities and members of visible minorities. Employment equity means more than treating persons in the same way but also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences.
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The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously decided that the failure to include sexual orientation as an illegal ground of discrimination in the Alberta Individual Rights Protection Act constituted a violation of section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a violation which was not justified in a free and democratic society by virtue of section 1 of the Charter. Homosexuals were treated differently and such discrimination was not acceptable in a free and democratic society.
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Ontario and British Columbia became the first two provinces to legalize same-sex marriage. The federal Civil Marriage Act came into force on 20 July 2005, making same-sex marriage legal across Canada. Canada became the third country to permit same-sex marriages, after the Netherlands (2000) and Belgium (2003). Since then, all provinces in Canada have recognized same-sex marriages.
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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada was officially launched in 2008 as part of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. It intended to be a process that would guide Canadians through the difficult discovery of the facts behind the residential school system, the TRC was also meant to lay the foundation for lasting reconciliation across Canada.