Pierre Trudeau once said, “The past is to be respected and acknowledged, but not to be worshipped. It is our future in which we will find our greatness.” As one of Canada’s greatest politicians Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from 1968-1979 and 1980-1984. Trudeau served through the October Crisis, the Quebec referendum, and the patriation of the constitution. In the time before he served there were many civil rights and inequality issues in this country towards women, the LGBTQ community, french Canadians, the indiginous peoples and many more.
Trudeau believed in the idea of a “just” society. Trudeau’s vision of a “just” society was one where no one would be discriminated against and where people belonging to any minority group would have the same rights and freedoms as anyone else. He believed that these rights must be protected for all and not be influenced by the majority. What Trudeau did in the pursuit of a just society touched many, if not all Canadians and he did what he said and made significant changes towards this cause. His prospects of Canada became what he had hoped for and many of these have lasted up until this day. Pierre Trudeau’s position as the Prime Minister truly changed Canada and moved us closer to a “just” society politically, legally and socially,
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First of all, Trudeau made a difference politically in the years he was in office as he fought for the rights of women and kept Canada united as a country. At the time, women were beginning to see equality; in 1900 women were given the same legal rights as men, in 1916 women were given the right to vote, and in 1967 women were recognized as persons under the law but women were still excluded from many positions in the government and large companies and still had trouble finding employment. He made a difference as he appointed Canada’s first ever woman Speaker of the House of Commons, Jeanne Sauve, in 1980. He showed that women were equal to men under any job and this created new opportunities to women for roles such as in the government that were usually under the power of men. Also, when Trudeau lost the election of 1979 and Joe Clark became the Prime Minister of a minority government, he had little connection to Quebec and this created problems. The Parti Quebecois led by Rene Levesque brought up the referendum which was to be held in 1980. Due to loss of confidence, Joe Clark was voted out of office and Pierre Trudeau was voted back in in February 1980. The thought of referendum created issues but Truduea believed Canada should be united and a “just” society would help. Instead of Canada breaking apart he promised to change federalism that included the equal rights of the French people. The French people believed his words and the chance of Quebec’s sovereignty was voted out by 59.56% and Canada stayed one country.Altogether he influenced change in women’s rights and stopping the separation of Quebec from Canada.
Trudeau changed Canada to be a “just” society legally by introducing the first Charter of Rights and Freedoms and he created bilingualism in Canada. As said before Trudeau wanted Canada to be equal in every way, he promised to make Canada bilingual. Trudeau was bilingual himself as he originated from Quebec. Before 1969 English was the only language on court documents, and English was the official language however, our country was built on two languages and these should have been recognized for the people who spoke these languages. He passed the Official Languages Act which created equal status for French and English speaking Canadians in court. And most importantly, he also created the first Charter of Rights of Freedoms of 1982. Before 1982 Canada was still governed by Britain. Canada was becoming its own country and the next step was to be officially granted sovereignty from Britain. As said before Pierre wanted Canada to be fair and unite Canada as one country and by creating the Constitution this gave ownership of Canada into its own hands and gave Canadians legal civil and democratic rights. Furthermore, Pierre Trudeau’s society was “just” legally as he made Canada bilingual and transferred the control of Canada over to our own hand.
Pierre Tredau impact Canada legally and politically and socially, he stood up for the rights of aboriginals and the LGBTQ community. Although Canada had been realizing the horrific actions of residential schools and the mistreatment of the First Nations, their voices were still not being heard. Pierre Trudeau brought attention to this matter and proposed to create a paper proposal, to put an end to the Indian Act. He created the White Paper Proposal. Pierre Trudeau integrated the First Nations into Canada’s new society and once said that he wanted First Nations to feel free to join the rest of Canada politically and economically as we are all equal. Finally, Pierre Trudeau’s most famous quote on his thoughts of the LGBTQ community, “The state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.” Pierre Trudeau was raised a Roman Catholic and being anything other than heterosexual was frowned upon. He rose from what was being said in his society growing up and adjusted to the new society. This shows how he was open-minded and respected everyone. His words made people realize that any ones person business no matter what sexuality they were are all equal. Together with his activism on aboriginal rights and LGBTQ advocacy he greatly impacted the social society in that time period continuing to justify his “just” society.
In conclusion, Pierre Treudeau made significant progress towards making Canada a “just” society by addressing inequalities facing many large minority groups across the nation. He had once said that the future is where we would find our greatness and his actions pushed us towards the greatness we experience today and we are still continuing in this direction. Throughout Trudeau’s time of influence he affected Canada positively, he achieved and accomplished many goals. In the course of his time as Prime Minister, Trudeau worked hard to keep Canada united, convincing Quebec to avoid separatism. Trudeau was admired and loved by the young and old because he improved the nation by passing equality and democracy laws and acts. The “just” society once seemed too good to be true but Pierre Trudeau made it happen through his belief that the nation would succeed as a united front.
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