Canadian Relations And Law Essay, Research Paper

Essay on Material Covered in Grade 10 History

Part I. GOVERNMENT AND LAW

The Governor General represents the monarch in Canada. He/she is

appointed by the monarch on advice of the Canadian Government. Governors

General open Parliment and read the speech from the throne which outlines

the governments plans. They also give royal assent to bills, appoint

important officials, greet foreign leaders, and give out awards and medals.

The role of the Governor General is formal and symbolic.

The current Govener General is Ray Hnatyshyn. The Last one was Jeanne

Sauve. The Senate is, in essence, an independant House of Commons. It

appoints its own Speaker and runs its own affairs. The Prime Minister

(I’ll call him the PM) chooses new members for the senate whenever a

vacancy occurs. The Senate acts as a check on the power of the House of

Commons by rejecting bills. The Senate may also introduce bills itself,

pass them, and send ‘em to the House of Commons.

Elections for the House of Commons occur every five years, unless the PM

wants one sooner. Elected members of the House of Commons (MPs) each

represent a Constituency. How many members in the commons depends on how

many people in Canada. MPs must be over 18, and not disqualified by law.

The House only has to meet once a year, but usually there’s so much to do

they have to put in many months of work. Any MP can try to introduce a

bill, but the Cabinet usually controls the number of bills introduced. Most

bills come from the Cabinet, but the ideas can come from things like: A

senator, public servant, the media, party platform etc.

The PM chooses The Cabinet from fellow party members who have been

elected to the House of Commons. When choosing Cabinet members, the PM

must choose representatives of all regions and cultural groups of Canada

who together, represent and understand all of Canada. A Cabinet member is

usually made head of, and responsible for a department of government. For

example, the Minister of Finance prepares the federal budget and assumes a

big role in managing our economy. The Cabinet members meet together under

the leadership the of the PM to discuss the important decisions that the

government must make concearning proposed laws or bills. Each Cabinet

member is expected to accept decisions made by the Cabinet on the whole.

The Cabinet must always appear unified and capable to Parliment and to the

country.

How A Bill Becomes A Law:

-Cabinet Minister has idea for a bill

-Idea explained to Cabinet

-Cabinet approves idea

-Lawyers Draft bill

-Cabinet committee examines bill

-Cabinet and caucus approve bill

-Bill introduced to House of Commons or Senate (first reading)

-Second reading

-House debates and votes on principle of bill

-Parliamentary committee examines bill

-House amends bill

-Third reading, debate and vote

-Bill passes House

-Senate (or House of Commons if introduced in Senate) examines, debates, amends bill

-Bill passes Senate

-Govener general gives royal assent, Bill is now Law.

Criminal Law deals with the punishment of people who commit crimes

against the public such as murder, arson, and theft. These are considered

to be crimes against society. The rules for this are set down in the

Criminal Code of Canada. The federal government is responsible for

bringing criminal offenders to trial. Civil Law deals with the protection

of private rights. It is concearned with disputes between individuals or

groups. In civil cases, it is up to the injured party to take the case to

court. For an exmaple of a civil case, let’s say that a friend of yours

pulls out a gun and shoots a hole through your wall, but doesn’t want to

pay for it. It would be up to you to sue your friend for the cost of the

wall in a civil court.

Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme (or Superior) Court of The Province

TRIALS DIVISION APPEALS DIVISION

District (or County) Courts Provincial (Magistrate’s) Court

Family Court Youth Court

Indictable Offences Summary Conviction Offences

Classification Hearing

Alleged Offence

Rights Guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of rights and Freedoms

Fundamental freedoms:

Worship as you like, believe what you want, express your opinions,

associate with whomever you like, and gather together peacefully.

Democratic rights:

Vote in elections, run as a candidate in elections, elect a new government

at least every five years. (except, possibly in times of war.)

Mobility rights:

Enter or remain in or leave Canada, live and work wherever you wish within

Canada.

Equality rights:

Live and work and be protected by the law without discrimination based on

race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, arge, or mental or

physical disability.

(There are also Language rights and Enforcement.)

The Rights of The Accused in The Legal Process: (As outlined in the legal

rights of all Canadians in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The right to be secure from unreasonable search and seizure. This

prevents the police from searching you, your home, or your personal

belongings unless they have a good reason to believe that the search

will help them discover some information about a criminal activity.

The right of Habeus Corpus. This means that you have to be told the

reason you are being arrested. You must also be brought to trial

without undue delay.

The right to a fair trial. This means that you a right to have a

lawyer. If you cannot afford one, the court must appoint one to defend

you. You have a right to give your side of the case. The judge must

treat you in a fair manner.

The right not to be tried twice for the same crime. this means that

once you have been tried and sentenced, the government cannot decide to

take you to court again for the same crime.

The right not to be subject to cruel and unusual punishment. This means

that if you are found guilty of a crime, the courts cannot decide to

torture you. (pity.) Also, your sentance must be the same as the

sentance of other people who have been found guilty of a similar crime.

Some other rights outlined in the same section of the charter are:

The right not to be arbitrarily detained and imprisoned.

The right against self-incrimination.

The right to an interpreter.

The right to be considered innocent until proven guilty.

The right to bail.

Governor Sir Guy Carleton was convinced that the Thirteen Colnoies were

on the verge of rebellion and he felt that he had to secure the loyalty of

the Canadiens (The French-speaking inhabitants of New France) to prevent

them from joining with the rebels. To accomplish this goal, he convinced

the British government to pass The Quebec act in 1774. The Anglophone

Colonists in Quebec felt that the act made Quebec a French Colony instead

of a British colony. Generally, Canadiens were pleased. The act meant that

they could keep their land, religion, and language and participate in

politics. Basically, here are the Main points of the Quebec Act:

- Quebec border is expanded far to the west. The new area included the best fur-trapping lands.

- Freedom of religion is granted for Roman Catholics. Roman Catholics are also permitted to hold public office.

- French civil law is retained, but British (fag) criminal law is established.

- Roman Catholic churches are permitted to own property and collect tithes.

- No land is taken from the French.

- No elected assembly is created.

Red River resistance

The settlement of Red River was occupied by some Metis, (people of mixed

European (usually French) and Native Ancestry) and some Anglophone

settlers. When the Canadian Government bought the Northwest from the Hudson

Bay Company in the 1860s, the Metis were angered that they were not

consulted in the sale of the land, nor had their intrests been safeguarded.

A Metis leader, Louis Riel felt that Metis rights had to be safeguarded

before Canada took over the settlement. So he organized groups of Metis

who forced a surverying team to leave, and prevented the new Governor,

Mcdougall, from entering the colony. In November 1869, The Metis organized

a provisional government (a temporary government) with Riel as president.

They drew up a list of rights which they wanted the government to grant

before Red River joined confederation. While these were being negotiated,

some Anglophones got mad at the provisional government and one of them,

Thomas Scott, was arrested and executed for treason. This execution stopped

the negotiations with the federal government. Macdonald had wanted to bring

Red River into confederation peacefully, but he had to forget about that.

Citizens of Ontario were outraged that an Anglophone had been killed by

Francophones. the longer Macdonald delayed action in the Read River

settlement, the more complex the problem became. English speaking Canadians

wanted a military force to be sent to Red River to stop Riel’s uprising.

French speaking Canadians wanted the Metis rights to be protected. Finally

Macdonald acted. His government passed a bill that made the province of

Manitoba, sent over a new governor who the Metis agreed on, gave each Metis

240 acres of land, gave the Metis the right to vote, and gave Red River a

representative in Parliment. French was made an official language.

Macdonald also sent a military force to Red River to keep order in the

colony. The crisis was over, in 1870 the French-English relations looked

good.

The Northwest Rebellion

During the 1880s many Metis moved farther west near to present day

Saskatchewan in search of buffalo, and because of loss of land in Red River

due to more settlers. By 1885 the buffalo again disappeared and more

settlers moved into Saskatchewan. The federal Government sent out

surveryers. The Metis demanded payments of money and land and were getting

concearned about their rights again. Anglophones too wanted the land issue

resolved. Macdonald’s government, did not respond. Riel came to

Saskatchewan on request of the Metis. He drew up yet another bill of rights

for the Metis and sent it to Ottawa. Macdonald still ignored the situation

in the Northwest. After waiting about four months, Riel concluded that the

government wasn’t going to meet any demands, so Riel decided to use force

and he appointed Gabriel Dumont as his military commander and an armed

clash between the Metis and the North West Mounted police occured. The

Anglophone settlers withdrew their support when Riel decided to use force.

Meanwhile, the Cree’s economy was hurt by destruction of the Buffalo and

they used the unrest caused by the Metis to launch several attacks on the

Blackfoot. The government mistakingly thought that the Metis were

encouraging the Cree to rebel. People in eastarn Canada were in a fenzy

after the news of these events reached them, so Macdonald ordered General

Middleton, the commander of the Canadian Militia to go to Red River and

kick some %&! So, using the new Canadian Pacifac Railway, troops were

rushed to the disturbances. Dumont and his allies beat the government in

early battles, but the government had superior military equipment and

greatly outnumbered the Metis, so eventually their stronghold at Batoche

was surrounded and defeated on May 12, 1885. Riel surrendered on May 15 and

he was tried and executed for treason, which became a national

French-English conflict. Strains on French-English relations worsened with

the outbreak of World War I. In the early years of the war, Canadians were

eager to help Britain and its allies, and Canadians served in the war on a

voluntary basis and it seemed like there would be enough volunteers. By

1916, however, the death tolls in Europe were staggering. No matter how

hard Canada tried, they couldn’t recruit enough volunteers. It became

apparent that Quebec was providing fewer volunteers than Ontario, although

their populations were similar in size. The government had to resort to

other methods of recrution such as conscription. (The compulsory enlistment

of citizens into military service.) The government was hesitant to bring in

conscription, because they knew it would damage French-English relations.

(Which it did.) Many Francophones had refused to volunteer for the army.

How would they react if they were forced to join? Robert Borden was PM of

Canada when World War I broke out. He felt that Britain and its allies

would need all the help Canada could give. He thought Canada should supply

arms, ships, food, and above all, soldiers. In 1917 he attended the

Imperial War Cabinet, which convinced him even more that Britain needed

help. Consequently, when he found that he couldn’t wait for enough men to

volunteer, he passed the Military Service act (which made conscription

legal) in 1917. In 1918, conscription began, but a large number of

Canadians (mostly Francophones) refused to join the army. What wimps! Henri

Bourassa was the founder of the Francophone daily paper, Le Devoir. He used

the paper to express his ideas. Bourassa felt that Canada should think of

itself as an independant nation, not as a colony of Britain, and as far as

he was concearned, World War I had nothing to do with Canada so we

shouldn’t help Britain. He thought that Britain and France were

imperealistic and that they were just fighting Germany to see who could

build up the greatest empire. In 1960 the “impatient generation”

(Basically, these people were proud of being Francophones and felt that

Francophones were not being treated as well as they deserved to be by

Anglophones. They wanted to change this by gaining political power.) gained

political power and great changes occurred in Quebec. This period of

Radical change has become known as the Quiet Revolution. These changes were

introduced by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage, who became premier of

Quebec in the 1960 election.

Here is a list of some of the concearns of Quebeckers in 1960:

- Wages in Quebec were less than the national average.

- The unemployment rate in Quebec was 9.1%.

- Only 18% of Canada’s federal jobs were given to Francophones.

- Majority of businesses in Quebec were owned by Anglophones.

- Hospital and health care were not adequate.

- Education system was not geared towards an industrial society.

Here are the Lesage Government’s solutions to Quebec’s concearns:

- Get more hospitals and doctors in Quebec.

- Increase old age pensions.

- Have new laws which increase wages paid to workers.

- Provide more schools and education facilities.

- Provide jobs by providing money to start businesses.

- Develop Quebec’s vast natural resources.

- Take over all the hydro-electric companies in Quebec.

In 1962 Lesage campaigned under the slogan “maitres chez nous”. This

suggested that he wanted to change the relationship between Quebec and

Ottawa. He felt that English Canada had too much control over the economy

and the federal government. After the Conscription Crisis, English Canada

thought that Quebec was reletively satisfied with their situation, ergo

they were suprised when Lesage used that above mentioned slogan. The

federal government and English Canada did not see why Quebec should be

given special status over the other provinces. (i.e. Quebec wanted complete

control over all of its taxes.) French Canada argued that they are one of

Canada’s founding people, and they are Canada’s largest minority, (28%) and

they have their own language and culture to preserve, therefore they should

have special status to determine their unique way of life. Thus, during the

’60s Canada was divided into two parts. On one side were French Canadians

who demanded special status. On the other side were the rest of Canadians,

who felt that Quebec should not be given special privileges.

The Official Languages Act of 1969 had four main points:

- English and French are the official languages of Canada.

- Both languages must be recognized in parts of the country where there are large minorities of French or English speaking people.

- Both languages must be recognized in certain sections of the federal civil service.

- Both languages must be offered as the language of instruction in all schools in Ottawa.

When Trudeau made this act, it led to big changes such as all labels being bilingual, and all civil servants learning french. Bilingualism was a symbol that all Francophones were accepted in Canada. The government wanted to prove that the French didn’t have to seperate form Canada to protect their way of life. Trudeau was so sure that this act was the solution to all French-English relation problems that he made four more proposals, which were:

- All of the provinces of Canada should provide French services for their French-speaking minorities.

- Provinces with large French-speaking minorities should recognize both French and English as an official language.

- All provinces should provide both French and English schools.

- Businesses in Quebec should use both French and English.

Meanwhile, Anglophones were unhappy with being asked to give a greater

share of power and influence to Francophones. They were afraid that they

would either learn French, or be excluded form many jobs and politics.

Also, they didn’t like that fact that Trudea was spending so much of their

tax money on bilingualism.

In October 1970, members of the FLQ (FRONT DE LIBERATION DU QUEBEC.

This is a political terrorist group in Quebec which used violence to

promote the separation of Quebec from the rest of Canada during the 1960s

and early 1970s.) kidnapped James Cross, the Britsh Trade Commissioner, and

Pierre Laporte, the Quebec Labour Minister. As a result of this, the War

Measures Act was put into effect. (This is an act giving police and the

armed forces sweeping powers of arrest, search and detention. It was also

used in World War I and II.) The FLQ killed Laporte and then released

Cross. The kidnappers were allowed to fly to Cuba. Some people were

arrested in connection with the Laporte case, and they are tried and

sentanced.

Meech lake is a lake in Quebec near Ottawa where the Mulroney cabinet

goes for it’s out ot town meetings. The Meech Lake Accord is a deal between

Ottawa and the Provinces for changing the Constitution, worked out at Meech

Lake on April 30, 1987 and refined in an all-nighter June 2-3 1987, at the

Langevin Block across the street from the Parliment buildings in downtown

Ottawa. The objective of this accord is to get Quebec to sign the

constitution of April 17, 1982. All provinces must ratify the Meech Lake

amendment or it dies because it tries to change parts of the 1982

Constitution that need agreement by Ottawa and all provinces. Mulrony’s

government has set the deadline for all the provinces to sign the accord

for June 23, 1990, although some people say there is no deadline.

Here are some of the key points in the accord:

- The “Quebec Clause” is the key clause in this accord. It means that no matter what happens, Quebec must always be recognized within Canada as a distinct society and the Quebec government must be allowed to preserve and promote the distinct society.

- Other provinces are just given the job of preserving the fundamental characteristic of Canada, which is the fact of Francophones centered in Quebec and present in the rest of Canada, and Anglophones concentrated outside of Quebec but also present inside Quebec.

- Changes to the Senate will need consent of all province.

- Supreme Court goes into constitution, provinces get right to propose people when new justices are being names, Quebec gets 3/9 judges.

- Each province gets a guarantee on it’s share of immigrants

The International Joint Commission handles conflicts in which an action by a country on one side of the border effects the country on the other side of the border. It was created in 1912 and has three American and Three Canadian members which are appointed by each country’s federal government. It makes dicisions by majority rules. It has one headquarter in Ottawa and one in Washington. There are three main functions of the commission:

- To regulate.

- To investigate.

- To survey and coordinate.

With the creation of The Autopact in 1965, the makers of cars could freely move cars across the Canadian-US border without tariffs. The pact required that a certain proportion of the cars manufactured in North America be made in Canadian factories. Despite the tensions of the two countries being mad that the flow of trade sometimes went in the other countries favour, the Autopact allowed car makers to better plan production. This was to the benefit of both Canada and US.

In 1957 Canada and US made a formal agreement to join defence efforts against attack from the air. This is the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD). Billions of dollars from Canada and US have been spent on radar stations, fighter planes, and command centres. Also, Canadians and Americans train with each other. The basic function of NORAD is to detect any attack on North America and respond to it quickly. The American bomber forces need to be kept from suprise attack, so the US wanted Canada’s help to provide the land for radar warning sights.

There is a big debate as to whether or not Canada should remain in NORAD, some arguments for Canada remaining in NORAD are:

- NORAD provides protection of Canada’s airspace.

- North America would be a single target in any nuclear war.

- NORAD protects the US deterrent force.

Some arguments for Canada not remaining in NORAD are:

- The US doesn’t need Canada to help with air defence.

- It is unlikely that the Soviet Union would Launch an all-out war on NA.

- Costly CF-18 fighters are not needed to meet intruders into our airspace.

Canada’s contribution to victory in World War I.

The Canadian army entered combat in the spring of 1915. Thousands of

Canadians died, and Canada’s army soon gained a reputation for its bravery

and good organization. (note – a lot of Canadians were forced to join the

army with conscription) General Currie, Commander of the Canadian Corps,

was rated among the best generals on the Allied side. Some Canadian

victories were the battle of Ypres, and Hill 70. Canadians also fought in

Britsh Empire forces. Billy Bishop, a Canadian in the flying corps, was an

outstanding pilot.

Canada’s contribution to victory in World War II.

In World War II, Canada only sent a few soldiers to the war (there was

NO conscription, as PM Mackenzie King didn’t want the country divided again

like in world war I. Most Canadian help took the form of food and

manufactured goods such asvehicles and weapons. After the defeat of France

in 1940, Canada made a full-scale war effort. In 1941, Canada declared war

on Super Mario 3 Japan. By 1942, Canada, with its many volunteers, was

ready to make a major contribution to the fighting. By 1944, King was

forced to send 13 000 soldiers oversees because the war was going pretty

badly.

b) The United Nations is the international organization (formed in 1945) of

nations dedicated to world peace and security. Canada was one of the

fifty original members. Canada has been one of the United Nations

Security Council non-permanent members in 1948-49, 1958-59, 1966-68, and

1977-78.