Canada’s Changing Identity

1. Canada’s Changing Identity Theme 2

2. Universal Healthcare • All people have equal access to medical care. Every man, woman, and child can see a doctor and receive healthcare paid for by the government, no matter where they live in Canada and no matter how much money they have.

3. History of Medicare in Canada • 1945– Tommy Douglas first introduced free medical, hospital and dental care for senior citizens of Saskatchewan • 1947– All residents of Saskatchewan would have their hospital bills covered for a fee of $5 • 1959 – Universal health care for all people of Saskatchewan

4. History of Medicare in Canada • 1962 – Doctors in Saskatchewan went on strike to protest Douglas’ plan of universal health care • The provincial government brought in doctors from other provinces during the strike that lasted 23 days • In the end, almost all doctors participated to the government program of health care

5. Doctors on Strike in 1962, SASK.

6. History of Medicare in Canada • Other provinces started following Saskatchewan’s lead as the federal government agreed to help finance provinces’ hospital insurance costs • 1964—Royal Commission on healthcare reported that health care was “a right of citizenship” and recommended a national health care program • 1966 – the federal government passed the Medical Care Act, which created a non-profit, universal health care system for all Canadians

7. Canada Pension Plan • 1966 – CPP introduced that requires all working Canadians and employers to contribute a specified amount every year towards a pension to be received after retirement

8. Canada Assistance Plan • 1966– CAP introduced as a national plan to provide financial support to those who cannot meet their own basic needs. Also known as welfare.

9. Rights, Equality, and Fairness • 1960s --Africville, a small tight knit community of about 400 black Canadians on the north side of Halifax • 1964—the community of Africville began to be phased out. Developers has wanted the land for industries, the city wanted to build a bridge and a highway interchange.

10. Africville • 1968– entire community relocated to an area authorities said would provide better living conditions. • Residents of Africville were not given a choice nor were they consulted. Bulldozers destroyed all their houses, businesses, and historic church.

13. Women’s Rights/Feminism • In the 1960s and 1970s, women were openly rejecting the constraints of being a wife, mother, and homemaker. • They were also raising peoples’ awareness of the inequalities women had endured in traditional societies. • Women were forming support groups as well as protesting, rebelling, and running for political office in an effort to change their position in society.

14. Women’s Rights/Feminism • 1967—Royal Commission on the Status of Women was created to investigate and report on conditions for women in Canada. • 1970—167 recommendations by the commission included topics such as family law, equal pay for work of equal value, birth control, maternity leave, and conditions for Aboriginal women. • In the late 1970s, a major push of the women’s movement was ensuring that gender equality was written into the new constitution that Trudeau had promised. Many of their ideas made it into the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

15. Birth Control • Up until 1961, it was illegal for anyone to advertise, sell, buy, or promote any medicine or device that prevented a pregnancy. • The government responded to women’s rights groups and Planned Parenthood and approved the sale of and access to the birth control pill in 1967. • The legalization of the pill was one of many changes introduced by the Trudeau government in the Omnibus Bill that updated Canada’s Criminal Code.

16. Abortion • By the 1960s, between 35,000 and 120,000 Canadian women were getting illegal and dangerous abortions every year • Under the Omnibus Bill, abortion was legal only if an approved hospital declared that continuing the pregnancy would endanger the life or health of the mother. Usually the decision was made by a committee of male doctors. • Women still did not have a say in what happens to their own bodies.

17. Abortion • 1973—Doctor H. Morgantaler was jailed in Montreal for operating an abortion clinic. Morgantaler openly opposed the abortion law because he believed women had the right to choose themselves whether or not to have an abortion. • 1988—the Supreme Court of Canada finally struck down the abortion law and made it a women’s right to make decisions regarding their own pregnancies.

18. More Rights • 1962—Ontario was the first province to protect human rights with the Ontario Human Rights Code. • This act protects Ontarians from discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age and marital status.

19. More Rights • 1976—Trudeau’s government abolished the death penalty. It was first enacted in 1859. Canada has executed 710 people. • 1967—Homosexuality is legalized under the Omnibus Bill. Trudeau is famously quoted as saying, “the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation.”

20. Aboriginal Rights • 1960—Aborignals finally granted the right to vote, but many issues affecting Aboriginals were not changing, such as land claims, quality of life, and the government’s assimilation policy. • 1969—During the Trudeau government, minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien, produced a White Paper (government solution to a problem)

21. Contents of the White Paper • Suggested dissolving the federal Department of Indian Affairs and abolishing the Indian Act. • First Nations would lose their Indian status and be treated the same way as other minority groups in Canada. • Reserves and land claims would disappear. • Chrétien argued that the cultural distinctions between First Nations and non-Aboriginal Canadians would be removed so that there would be a shift from cultural protection to economic development that would benefit First Nations in the long run.

22. Responses to the White Paper • First Nations people were shocked by the White Paper as they were not consulted for its contents. This issue proved to be a turning point for Aboriginals in Canada. • Cree scholar, H. Cardinal voiced his concerns in a book, The Unjust Society. He focused on the struggles of Aboriginals and the promotion of their identity. • The 1970s and 1980s Aboriginal organizations focused on ensuring that they played a role in the constitutional debate and the issue of land claims. • 1974—federal government developed a process for resolving outstanding land claims.

23. Multiculturalism • 1962—government of John Diefenbaker introduced changes to the Immigration Act to eliminate most discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, or national origin. • 1971—official policy of multiculturalism adopted by Trudeau’s government • Debate is ongoing on this issue. Some support it, others believe that it divides Canadians. Many in Quebec feel that it’s designed to undermine Quebec nationalism.

24. Multiculturalism • 1976—A new Immigration Act passed which is the base for our current immigration laws • This act looked at immigration as a positive for the growth of Canada. • It included promoting Canada’s social and economic goals, reuniting families, and fulfilling Canada’s international humanitarian obligations under agreements such as the 1951 United Nations Convention

25. New Flag • In the 1960s, people debated on having a Canadian flag of its own. • The previous flag of Canada was called the Red Ensign and was red, that had a small British flag in the corner and the coat of arms of Canada in the middle.

26. Old Canadian Flag

27. New Flag • When Pearson was PM, he promised to settle the debate on our flag. The loudest opposition came from Diefenbaker who demanded a flag that honoured Canada’s “founding races” (the British and French). • There were 5900 designs submitted from Canadians for our new flag.

28. Pearson’s Favourite Design

29. The Winner! • Historian, George Stanley, designed a flag with a single maple leaf with red bars on both sides. • He argued that using a single leaf would reinforce it as a symbol of Canada, and only using the colours red and white. • The official Canadian flag was flown for the first time on February 15, 1965.

31. Environmentalism • 1971—best known environmental action group in the world, Greenpeace, was founded in Vancouver. • Greenpeace began with a group of people trying to stop a nuclear test on an island near Alaska which is in one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions. • Their strategy is to get in people’s way and get people’s attention.

32. Greenpeace in action

33. Great Lakes • 1972—Canada and the United States created the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement to clean up and protect the Great Lakes Basin. • 1978, 1987—Agreement was expanded to deal with other issues such as toxic waste and invasive species.

34. Acid Rain • 1991—Canada and U.S. Sign the U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement to deal with the problem of sulphuric acid coming from industrial smokestacks drifting into the atmosphere and creating acid rain. Much of the acid rain was coming from the U.S. and harms lakes and damages forests. • 2000—Agreement was expanded to deal with the deterioration of the Ozone layer.

35. What is the government doing now to protect our environment?