A Pierre Trudeau Or John Diefenbaker Achievement?

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The Charter of Rights and Freedoms: A Pierre Trudeau or John Diefenbaker achievement?

April 17, 2012. 12:42 pm • Section: Politics and the Nation

Flickr photo by Bitpicture

The 30th anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is Tuesday, and depending on what statement you’re reading from two of Canada’s political parties, the Charter is either an accomplishment by the Liberals under the helm of Pierre Trudeau, or the evolution of a Conservative initiative under John Diefenbaker. (Spoiler alert: They’re both right.)

UPDATE No. 2: Or is a Tommy Douglas accomplishment? Read below for the NDP’s take on the Charter’s birthday.

The Conservative government released a statement from Heritage Minister James Moore and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, praising the 30th birthday of the Proclamation of the Constitution Act of 1982. In it, the two cabinet ministers give credit for the Charter , which Queen Elizabeth signed into law on April 17, 1982, to former prime minister John Diefenbaker and his Canadian Bill of Rights that the Tories brought into law in 1960. Here’s what the two ministers said:

Today marks the 30th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Constitution Act of 1982, which was formally signed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on April 17, 1982, in the presence of tens of thousands of Canadians on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

This anniversary marks an important step in the development of Canada’s human rights policy. Building on Diefenbaker’s Canadian Bill of Rights of 1960 , the Constitution Act of 1982 enshrined certain rights and freedoms that had historically been at the heart of Canadian society into a constitutional document known as the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Constitution Act of 1982 empowered our government to amend every part of Canada’s constitution, for the very first time.

As we look ahead to Canada’s 150th Anniversary in 2017, we encourage all Canadians to commemorate the milestones that have built our nation and made us the great country we are today.

The Bill of Rights was, at the time, a fairly progressive piece of legislation. Diefenbaker said as much in a speech on the eve of bringing the Bill of Rights into law, while also admitting that it was also a controversial piece of legislation to some. (Sound familiar?) You can read his speech here .

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Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae used more words to toast the Charter on its birthday, giving no credit to Diefenbaker as the Tories did. Instead, Rae’s statement focused on the Liberal Trudeau government that brought the Constitution home to Canada.

On the steps of Parliament Hill, 30 years ago today, Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s Liberal government signed the historic Canada Act, 1982, patriating our Constitution and making the Charter of Rights and Freedoms the supreme law of the land.

The Charter enshrines our most cherished Canadian values. It reflects our belief that Canadians have a fundamental right to live free from discrimination, to assemble peacefully and express our opinions, to vote in elections unimpeded, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and fundamentally, that our individual rights take precedence over the rights of government.

Abroad, the Charter is the constitutional document most emulated by other countries, standing as a model for new democracies who share our goals and values, and as a resource to draw from for others. Here at home, the Charter continues to evolve, with court decisions and legal reforms by Parliament and provincial legislatures opening the door to same-sex rights, minority language rights and abortion rights, and shutting the door on capital punishment, torture and gender-based discrimination.

On a personal note, I was honoured to be able to speak in favour of the Charter in the House of Commons debates many years ago, and to vote for the patriation of the constitution with the Charter.

Thirty years later, the impact of the Charter on Canadian society has been significant and lasting. The Charter does not belong to one political party or one group, it belongs to all Canadians. As my colleague Liberal Justice and Human Rights critic Irwin Cotler wrote recently in the Toronto Star, ‘The Charter merits both recognition and respect from the government, reflective of the reverence it is accorded by both Parliament and the judiciary.’

Tonight, Liberals will celebrate this defining moment in our country’s history at a rally with former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien who, as a young Attorney General, participated in that iconic signing ceremony 30 years ago today. Together, we will salute the vision of Prime Minister Trudeau , and stand with Canadians from coast to coast to coast, in commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Charter, which continues to shape our individual and collective identities.

Still waiting to hear from the NDP on this, which is why the party’s comments have not been included in this post.

In case you haven’t had enough of a history lesson, here’s one more historical tidbit, thanks to the Historica-Dominion Institute.

Missing from the Liberal and Conservative statements were credit to what the Historica-Dominion Institute referred to as the forerunner to the Charter: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafted and adopted by the United Nations. And who wrote that piece of human rights

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legislation? A Canadian. Specifically, New Brunswick-born lawyer and former UN director for human rights John Peters Humphrey . As the Historica-Dominion Institute points out, Humphrey was forgotten when the UN feted the adoption of the declaration on its 20th anniversary in 1968, but was given credit decades later when his original notes were uncovered. Before Diefenbaker and Trudeau, there was Humphrey, the Historica-Dominion Institute tweeted Tuesday: ”Happy B-day #Charter of Rights & Freedoms! Influenced by the Universal Dec. of Human Rights of 1948 http://t.co/l8wUFOkA #HeritageMinutes.”

UPDATE No. 1: My colleague Mike De Souza pointed out a short Twitter conversation that took place between Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and Bob Rae about the Charter and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair.

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Mulcair has been under attack for most of the day with his opponents pointing out that as a Quebec politician, he voted in favour of a motion that chided the Constitution ( PDF ) for not treating Quebec equally. (Credit to David Akin for the original blog post pointing this out.) He was not alone: the motion passed unanimously 106-0. Another blogger, Paper Dynamite Online , dug through Hansard, the official records of debate in Parliament, and found a speech Mulcair made two years ago about a Liberal proposal to add 30 seats to the House of Commons — a move the Conservatives recently approved. (The new seats will be distributed in Ontario, which will earn 15 more seats, Alberta and B.C., which will each earn six more seats, and Quebec, which will earn three seats.) In that speech, Mulcair makes a number of comments about the Constitution, Trudeau, and how Quebec has been treated since 1982. It is a detailed speech, so have a read , and if you have time, read the whole debate.

UPDATE No. 2: The NDP put out a release just before 4 p.m. with a statement from Mulcair on the 30th anniversary of the Charter. In it, he talks about the role that New Democrats played in the “shaping” of the Charter, including Tommy Douglas’ passage of the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights. He also addresses the issue of Quebec in the Constitution. Here’s what he said:

It has been three decades since Canada chose to codify and protect our fundamental rights as citizens in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Today the Charter stands as an example the world over. It reminds us that respect for basic human rights is a vital part of every modern society, and that any threat to these rights constitutes a threat to society as a whole.

New Democrats are proud of the role we played in shaping the Charter of Rights and Freedoms—including Tommy Douglas’ passage of Canada’s first Bill of Rights in Saskatchewan and the role Ed Broadbent played in ensuring that women’s rights were enshrined in the Charter itself.

At the same time, the anniversary of the Charter also serves to remind us that, 30 years after the repatriation of the Constitution, Quebec is still not a signatory to the most fundamental compact of our democracy.

As such, New Democrats will continue on the path laid out by Jack Layton, working to create the conditions that will one day allow Quebec to embrace the Canadian constitutional framework. We will work tirelessly to give real meaning to the unanimous recognition that the Québécois form a nation within Canada.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a document that reflects our most fundamental common values. New Democrats will continue to work to ensure that one day it becomes part of a Constitution that includes us all.

To sum up: In 1947, the CCF (the forerunner to the NDP) and Tommy Douglas pass the Bill of Rights in Saskatchewan, which influenced John Diefenbaker when the Tories brought in the Canadian Bill of Rights (Dief the Chief did say on June 30, 1960, that the Saskatchewan bill influenced him), which influenced Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the Liberals when they brought in the Charter in 1982. And don’t forget that in 1948, John Peter Humphreys influenced Canada’s human rights law through the UN Declaration of Human Rights that he wrote. That’s one heck of a history lesson. Have we forgotten anyone?

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