“These men only ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have.”- Abraham Lincoln. This quote fundamentally states that everyone wants fairness and the government should do what is in their power to give it to the people. On the contrary, the War Measures Act actually limits freedom and fairness. The War Measures Act is a law that gives the federal government comprehensive emergency power during a war, invasion or rebellion. It allowed the cabinet to do anything necessary for the “security, defence, peace, order and welfare of Canada” (Morton and Granatstein, 1989, p.7).The act severely limits the freedom of Canadians. It was used during World War One (1914), World War Two (1939) and the October Crisis (1970). It also has a negative effect on the esteem of Canada as it can be viewed as a hypocritical democratic nation, in which a model peacekeeping nation used a totalitarian force such as the War Measures Act. By unjustly punishing Canadians citizens, enforcing conscription as well as being used unnecessarily to address apprehended threats, the usage of the War Measures Act was neither fair nor necessary.
The unjust punishment of citizens that was allowed by the War Measures Act was iniquitous. When it was used in World War One, World War Two and the October Crisis, it led to the unjust punishment of Canadians by causing the internment of “enemy aliens” as well as the forced to registration with the government. In World War One, Canada had been in war with Germany, Austria, Hungary and Ukraine therefore immigration from there was suspended and people from there were considered “enemy aliens” and were interned. This meant that they had to register with the ...
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...the War Measures Act is not effective, fair or useful.
The War Measures Act is unjust and unessential due to the unjustified abuse of Canadian citizens, constraining conscription and needless use against apprehended threats. The War Measures Act is unfair and needless due to the fact that it allowed unjust punishment in both World Wars and the October Crisis. It helped conscription during World War One and Two which ultimately failed and caused a lot of division and hassle within Canada. Moreover, it took away the freedom and rights from citizens which Canada is renowned for. The act was not needed and was not fair. Fairness is treating people with respect and making decisions without self-interest, and is a part of our everyday life. “One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself”- The Golden Rule should always be used to the utmost extent.
Canada has had a long and storied history especially in the 20th century. A key part of this history is Canada’s road to autonomy. The first step on this road is Canada’s role in fighting and ending World War I. The second step is Canadian involvement in the United Nations’ early days to the mid 1950’s. The last step on the road to autonomy is the Constitution Act, 1982. These three moments in time form the backbone of Canada’s road to autonomy.
#8 I think the main goal of this act was to control Natives and assimilate them into Canada, and to bring First Nations’ status to an end. The act brought together all of Canada’s legislation governing First Nation people, which defined who Aboriginals were under Canadian law and set out the process by which people would cease to be Aboriginals. Under the act, the Canadian government assumed control of First Nation people’s governments, economy, religion, land, education, and even their personal lives.
Approximately 620,000 Canadians fought during the First World War. Nearly 700,000 if we account for the men and women that enlisted in the Canadian units outside of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and in the British forces. Of which, almost 173,000 Canadians were wounded and about 67,000 Canadians had lost their lives by November 11th, 1918. These casualties were devastating in numbers. Canada needed to regain the good faith of its people, despite the fact that it was still a colony of Britain. Canadians knew very little about why the war had started, or the significance of the events that instigated it. But, Canadians were called upon to fight it, therefore now was the greatest need for there to be better compensation for our returning Veterans than ever before. This was the time when the ground work for the Veterans Assistance Programs of today was laid down. Of ...
The War Powers Act of 1973. The War Powers Act limits the power of the President of the United States to wage war without the approval of the Congress. The War Powers Act is also known as the War Powers Resolution. The purpose of the War Powers Resolution is to ensure that Congress and the President share in making decisions that may get the United States involved in hostilities.
Prime Minister Trudeau put into effect the War Measures Act for the first time in Canadian history during peace time. He did this without consulting parliament. However, parliament voted three days later to approve the use of the act. The civil liberties of the citizens of Canada were suspended while the act was in force. In a few cities, officials used the WMA to clean up the streets, picking up "undesirables" and throwing them into jail. More than 450 people were jailed in Quebec for suspected connections to the FLQ. Most were later released without any charges being laid. After the War Measures Act was put into effect, no other public figures in Canada were kidnapped. Eventually Pierre Laporte was murdered by his captors and Cross was released unharmed after his kidnappers were flown to exile in Cuba. But for many in Quebec, the question was raised : what might the federal government do if Quebec ever did decide to leave Canada... the use of the army in the streets and the loss of civil liberties left a bad taste in many people's mouths.
Trudeau had to work quickly and efficiently in order to locate Cross before he was hurt, as well as make very difficult decisions. He chose to enact the War Measures Act because the FLQ appeared as a real threat at the time which could potentially overthrow the government. The various attacks that they planned before injured and killed innocent lives, and Trudeau was not going to stand and do nothing. Furthermore, the support of the FLQ was growing large at the time, with about 3000 people gathering up at the Paul Sauvé Arena during the October Crisis in order to show their support. If Trudeau did not diminish this revolution, it may have grown into an actual terrorist threat at
61, 000 Canadians died during World War I and another 172, 000 were injured. World War I was supposed to be “the war to end all wars” however it did not achieve that. Another negative effect was the War Measures Act that Prime Minister Borden introduced in 1914 which gave the government undemocratic powers to deal with war and power to limit the freedom of Canadians. The act suspended habeas corpus which is recourse in law when a person can report unlawful detention or imprisonment before a court. Anyone that was thought to be an enemy alien could be imprisoned or deported, so recent immigrants from Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to carry ID cards with them at all times and more than 8, 500 were held in isolation in internment camps. Another negative effect of World War I on Canada was that of conscription, which made it mandatory to enlist after Borden introduced the Military Service Act in 1917. Conscription was very controversial and emotional issue that divided English and French Canadians lasting in scars. French Canadians felt no patriotic connection to Britain or France; they saw the Military Service Act as a way of forcing them to fight in a distant war that had no connection to them. Many French Canadians felt like second class citizens of the home front; there were violent conflicts in Quebec between those
Equality rights protect the identity of Canadian citizens by ensuring equal treatment from the government. Without the CRF, acts such as War Measure Acts would be put into action. The War Measures Act was acts done by the government at critical times such as war to ensure the security of the country by putting ‘enemy aliens’ into labour camps without pay. Canada used to us this act in WW2, but after the CRF they compensated the victims.
The discrimination suffered by the “ethnic Canadians” increased during the war was inflicted by both society and the government. An example of the discrimination suffered by “ethnic Canadians” is Sarah Mann, a Canadian-German living though World War 1. Before the people of the town knew she was of German descent, she lived a normal life. But, that all changed when they found out; they vandalized her house by breaking the windows, painting harsh words in red paint or blood, which is overall person to person discrimination. However, throughout the war, it was not just the Canadian-Germans who suffered from discrimination, all ethnicities either than English-Canadian or French-Canadian. Also, they did not only receive discrimination through vandalism, and other person to person discrimination, “ethnic Canadians” faced discrimination by the Canadian government. The governments’ discrimination was caused by the pressure of frightened public experiencing panic because of the Great War. Therefore, the government took action by passing the Wartime Elections Act and the Wartime Measures Act. The Wartime Elections act meant the “ethnic Canadians” would lose their right to vote. The “ethnic Canadians” would also be put into concentration camps or have to register to the police on a regular basis. The historical significance...
MacDonnell, Vanessa A. "The Protective Function And Section 7 Of The Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms." Review Of Constitutional Studies 17.1 (2012): 53-85. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
It was December 8th, 1941, the day after the attack in Pearl Harbour, that the Canadian government imposed the War Measures Act which changed the lives of more than 21000 Japanese Canadians forever (Paolini). The War Measures Act allowed the government to impose certain conditions on the population in times of crisis. This gave the government the power to intern the Japanese-Canadians during World War Two. These Japanese-Canadians were first tar...
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted under the Pierre Trudeau government on April 17, 1982. According to Phillip Bryden, “With the entrenchment of the Charter into the Canadian Constitution, Canadians were not only given an explicit definition of their rights, but the courts were empowered to rule on the constitutionality of government legislation” (101). Prior to 1982, Canada’s central constitutional document was the British North America Act of 1867. According to Kallen, “The BNA Act (the Constitution Act, 1867) makes no explicit reference to human rights” (240). The adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms significantly transformed the operation of Canada’s political system. Presently, Canadians define their needs and complaints in human rights terms. Bryden states, “More and more, interest groups and minorities are turning to the courts, rather than the usual political processes, to make their grievances heard” (101). Since it’s inception in 1982 the Charter has become a very debatable issue. A strong support for the Charter remains, but there also has been much criticism toward the Charter. Academic critics of the Charter such as Robert Martin believe that the Charter is doing more harm than good, and is essentially antidemocratic and UN-Canadian. I believe that Parliament’s involvement in implementing the Charter is antidemocratic, although, the Charter itself represents a democratic document. Parliament’s involvement in implementing the Charter is antidemocratic because the power of the executive is enhanced at the expense of Parliament, and the power of the judiciary is enhanced at the expense of elected officials, although, the notwithstanding clause continues to provide Parliament with a check on...
“Book Review | The Wars by Timothy Findley; Out of the Shadows: Canada in the Second World War by W. A. B. Douglas and Brereton Greenhous | Canadian Literature.” N. p., n.d. Web. 4 Jan. 2014.
The year is 1914, and war has broken out across the globe. Canada is currently against Germany. The Canadian government is taking Canadian citizens that are of German or Ukrainian descent and shoving them into internment camps which cut them off from the rest of their world. Internment is the detention or confinement of a person during a time of war. In Canada, such persons were denied certain legal rights, notably habeas corpus, though in certain cases they had the right to appeal their custody. Habeas corpus is a legal action in which detainees may seek relief from unlawful punishment. There is a term that is going around that is referring to the detainees as “enemy aliens”. Over 8000 Germans and Ukrainians are considered enemy aliens at this time, more are being hunted down and taken from their homes. Due to unclean living, disease has begun to spread among the camps affecting detainees with tuberculosis and pneumonia.
Canada was still technically part of Britain in 1941. Throughout the conflict in Europe Canadian military tried to remain an exclusive military force. British controlled Canada was having trouble recruiting more Canadians to fight, and was later known as the Conscription Crisis. British leadership had to develop a draft to replenish its ranks in Canada. This showed the remaining rift between the French and English speaking Canadians who felt little obligation to British. Of the 620,000 Canadians who served in World War 1, 59,544 were killed in action with 154,361 were wounded. The Canadian war effort in WWI was historically regarded as remarkable. Following World War 1 the British Empire reformed into Free states called the British Commonwealth of