Archive for the ‘Equality History’ Category
Trudeau’s words about aboriginals resonate
Jan. 3, 2012
“We will recognize treaty rights,” continued Trudeau, those 42 years ago. “We will recognize forms of contract which have been made with the Indian people by the Crown and we will try to bring justice in that area and this will mean that perhaps the treaties shouldn’t go on forever”… After considerable opposition from Indian politicians, the Trudeau government backed away from this so-called red paper proposal. Who is to know if his proposals would have made a difference among our First Nations communities?
Tags: ideology, Native, participation, rights, standard of living
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Happy birthday to Canadian multiculturalism
Oct 08 2011
Unlike in Europe, where multiculturalism-lite was left to the whim of governments, our policy is anchored in the 1982 Charter of Rights as well as the 1988 Multiculturalism Act. No government, regardless of political stripe, is going to axe that act, let alone contemplate constitutional change. There are also positive reasons for the endurance of the policy, rooted as it is in our history… The 1867 British North America Act recognized aboriginal peoples, English-speaking Protestants and French-speaking Catholics on the basis of race, language and religion. The DNA of BNA was pluralism.
Tags: ideology, multiculturalism, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality History | 2 Comments »
Few cracks in the glass ceiling
Sep 04 2011
A new Conference Board of Canada study shows that women’s advancement to the top echelons of business came to a dead halt in the mid-1980s. It has been stalled ever since… The mainstream think-tank did not call for a radical shakeup of corporate culture… It merely stressed that “fostering gender diversity is a natural extension of good business practice.” … the report does serve one valuable purpose. It shatters the long-standing myth that time corrects gender equities. It’s true that a few female stars have cracked the glass ceiling. But the path to the top is still blocked for most women.
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, rights, women
Posted in Equality History | 1 Comment »
Pierre Trudeau saved Canada
Mar 25, 2011
Trudeau left his lasting mark following the Referendum by pushing through, by sheer determination, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms… Approval of it has remained consistent at the 90% level over the last two decades… In that vision, individual Canadians possess defined rights, and no province or region has a special status. In this bilingual, pluralist Canada, it would not all turn on Newfoundland’s cod, Alberta’s oil, or, most decisively, Quebec’s language. We would be masters in our house, but our own house would be all of Canada.
Tags: ideology, multiculturalism, rights
Posted in Equality History | 1 Comment »
A century of women’s rights: A struggle that continues
Mar 08 2011
The struggle for women’s political and economic rights was big news in Old Toronto, 100 years ago. British suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughter Sylvia were drawing sizable crowds… editors at the Toronto Daily Star devoted much of the front page to eldest daughter Christabel Pankhurst’s stunning declaration in London that the suffragists had embarked on a “real war” to claim women’s rights.
Tags: ideology, participation, rights, standard of living, women
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IMF chief twists Adam Smith’s view of inequality
February 1, 2011
Smith lived in an age of personal responsibility. Poor relief was a local, personal affair, as was the “beneficence” that Smith praised as the highest virtue. “Beneficence,” wrote Smith, “is always free, it cannot be extorted by force.” Forced redistribution would have offended Smith’s notion of justice, and he would instantly have spotted that “social justice” is a weasel concept that reverses the notion of justice entirely… Smith would have thought it ridiculous to suggest that a nation might become wealthier or happier by forced “redistribution”.
Tags: economy, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Redirecting our rage at the real gravy train
Jan. 17, 2011
In the 1930s, outrage at the pre-Depression extravagance of the rich, contrasting with the dislocation experienced by masses of Americans, sparked a decade of left-leaning foment. Government expanded income security, directly hired millions of unemployed, and actively supported a new generation of unions to fight for the common folk. Meantime, it reined in business excess through tough financial rules, anti-trust policies, and high taxes on the rich. This time around, there’s been plenty of populist anger – but (so far) it’s been steered in exactly the opposite direction
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Equality or barbarism?
Oct 16 2010
For four decades after the war Canadians joined with citizens in other North Atlantic democracies in creating the most productive and equitable societies in history… For both ethical reasons and the functional need for stability, an expanding role for government and increasing equality came to be taken for granted. Left behind was the belief that individuals and the economy should be left to fend for themselves. In its place was… an idea retrieved from ancient Greece, that democracy meant more than the right set of procedures for selecting and maintaining governments. It also meant government action for the people.
Tags: featured, ideology, participation, poverty, rights, standard of living, tax
Posted in Equality History, Equality Policy Context | No Comments »
Diefenbaker’s Bill of Rights an act worth remembering
Aug 10 2010
“I was struck,” Pierre Trudeau said, “by his vigorous defence of human rights and individual liberties. The Bill of Rights remains a monument to him.” August 10 is the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Canadian Bill of Rights. Had this lifelong dream of Diefenbaker’s not become a reality, one could argue that Trudeau’s own Charter of Rights might not have come into being… “I believe the time has come for a declaration of liberties to be made by this Parliament,” he thundered in the Commons in 1946.
Tags: rights
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The Martin Luther King for the disabled
Jul 16 2010
In Canada, the Americans With Disabilities Act helped spark the Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act —this is still the only province with specific legislation — and continues to be “a model for many other countries,” says Penny Hartin, CEO of the World Blind Union. The union, whose headquarters are in Toronto, has members in 190 countries… Roberts’s campaign to live independently, with paid attendants, began California’s groundbreaking policy of supportive services for people with disabilities.
Tags: disabilities, rights, standard of living
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