The Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Today marked the 25th Anniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, a document that came into being with the patriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982. The Charter guaranteed Canadians freedom from persecution or discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, religion, and language. It has also been used to extend these rights in to many other realms by the courts, earning it the scorn of conservatives who have long felt that it has allowed the judiciary to make laws, instead of simply interpreting them. That this is still the feeling today was evidenced by the silence coming out of Stephen Harper's government today. Left-leaning and liberal Canadians will argue that it was the reluctance of conservatives to implement the Charter, or avoid dealing with its implications in areas such as sexual orientation that forced the Canadian courts into their current role.

The patriation of the constitution also saw Quebec remain aloof from Federation, creating a constitutional crisis that led to the failures of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords, as well as the second Quebec Sovereignty Referendum. Ironically, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had envisioned the patriation of the constitution as the first step in taking the institutions of the Canadian government into the 20th century. Charter of Rights and Freedoms
was meant to deal with the lingering 19th century antagonisms between Canada's French and English populations. While individual rights have certainly flourished, Canada is no further down the road Trudeau and hoped for than we were twenty-five years ago.

Young Trudeau book wins prize

When we initially read the first volume of the Nemni's biography of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau, we thought to ourselves that this was historical revisionism in action. The image of Trudeau in the Canadian psyche is so strong, that he dominates our collective imagination, either as the saviour or the devil of Canadian politics. Regardless of one's opinion, and indeed, everyone has an opinion on Trudeau, we all reacted to the same pieces of public knowledge and public acts - the Trudeau we thought we knew, for good or ill. The Nemni's then, succeeded in showing us a new Trudeau, troubled by contradictory ideas and trying to come to grips with ideals given to him through his educational institutions, and those provided by his experiences in the wider world.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2007/02/28/cohen-prize.html

Similarly, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. served as one of the key "official"historians of the Democrats in the 1960s, being an intimate of the Kennedys, and one of the guardians of Camelot.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/01/schesingerobit.html