John Diefenbaker

998 Words2 Pages

In the year 1957, Canada elected its first Prime minister without English or French root, John Diefenbaker. While growing up in the city of Toronto, because of his German name, he was often teased. [1] He grew up as an outcast, and so he was able to relate to the discrimination and inequality many of the minorities in Canada felt. This essay will attempt to answer the question: To what extent did Prime Minister John Diefenbaker help promote equality to the minority communities. . The minorities in this time period were the women, aboriginals, and immigrants. During his time as the Prime Minister, he was able to help protect the rights of this group because many of their rights were being abused by the society. Diefenbaker also helped the minorities to stand up for themselves and other groups. Diefenbaker was able to bring positive change to the minority communities by making an official Bill of Rights and appointing people of discriminated groups to the parliament while other members did not. John Diefenbaker was able to accomplish his main goal while he was in the Prime Minister’s chair. He was able to enact the Bill of rights “under which freedom of religion, of speech, of association…freedom from capricious arrest and freedom under the rule of law”. [2] He made it into an official document that would prevent the continuous abuse of the rights of many of the minority groups. He had seen the discrimination with his own eyes during his earlier years with the aboriginals, “[he] was distressed by their conditions, the unbelievable poverty and the injustice done them.”[3] The Bill would prevent many injustice incidents such as the case with the Japanese citizens in 1942. During WWII, the government gov’t declared that all people of ... ... middle of paper ... ...l in this country.”[13] Works Cited http://www.archivescanada.ca/english/search/ItemDisplay.asp?sessionKey=1149011692062_206_191_57_196&l=0&lvl=1&v=0&coll=1&itm=251492&rt=1&bill=1 http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/Files/Parliamentarian.aspx?Item=502cfd3e-8f6d-413d-a07f-9de82704f340&Language=E&Section=FederalExperience http://www.ourfutureourpast.ca/loc_hist/page.aspx?id=803591 http://www.cowboycountrytv.com/trailblazers/jamesgladstone.html "Bill of Rights (Canada), August 4, 1960." DISCovering World History. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Canada in Context. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. "Ellen Fairclough, 99, Member Of Canada Cabinet in 1950's." New York Times 16 Nov. 2004: A25. Canada in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. Burke, Marie. "Seven aboriginal senators: 40 years (looking back on the Senate's Aboriginal representatives)." Windspeaker Dec. 1998: 9. Canada in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.

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