Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Wednesday April 17, 2002
Mr. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg--Transcona, NDP): Mr.
Speaker, today we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms. Throughout this period of reflection around the 20th
anniversary much will be said about former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and
rightly so.
As he himself was not unwilling to acknowledge, one
of his formative influences was Frank Scott, a McGill University law professor
and one of the founding members of the CCF, the predecessor of the NDP. Indeed,
a constitutional charter of rights was a continuing demand of the CCF and the
NDP in the decades leading up to the adoption of the charter.
As one who was in parliament 20 years ago and who was
privy to much of the dialogue between the NDP and the Liberals at that time as
the charter proceeded from draft to reality, I give credit to my leader at that
time, Ed Broadbent, and to the NDP caucus of that parliament.
The political fact of the matter, as you may recall,
Mr. Speaker, was that Prime Minister Trudeau wanted our support and was
prepared to make changes in his proposals to get that support and keep it. As I
remember it, the NDP among other things wanted changes to the charter including
stronger language with respect to equality of women and recognition of
aboriginal rights.
In any event, the charter is with us and the supreme
court has delivered an interesting variety of judgments on it. Canadians it
seems are attached to the charter.
