Grade 9 Social Studies
A Timeline of Human Rights Development in Canada
Manitoba women become the first in Canada to win the rights to vote and to hold provincial office.
January 28th, 1916
All female citizens aged 21 and over become eligible to vote in Canadian federal elections.
May 24th, 1918
Women in Canada gain the right to hold a seat in the House of Commons
July, 1919
The Dominion Elections Act gives the right to vote in federal elections to all adult
Canadians, male and female (however, the federal vote is not given to First Nations and
Inuit peoples nor to minorities).
1920
Women in Canada gain the right to hold a seat in the Senate.
1929
Manitoba passes a Libel Act that allows action to stop personal attacks based on race or religion that
expose people to hatred, contempt, or ridicule.
1934
Women in Quebec gain the right to vote in provincial elections.
1940
The Second World War ends and the United Nations is founded. Canada is one of the
original members.
September 2nd, 1945
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is signed.
December 10, 1948
The Federal Elections Act is changed so that race is no longer grounds for exclusion from voting in federal
elections.
1948
Equal Pay for Equal Work is adopted in Manitoba, preventing discrimination in salary based on gender.
1956
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker brings in the Canadian Bill of Rights.
August 10, 1960
First Nations people receive the unrestricted right to vote in federal elections.
1960
The last executions take place in Canada.
1962
Laws requiring separate schools for Blacks in Ontario are removed.
1964
The Criminal Code is amended to decriminalize homosexuality.
1968
The Criminal Code makes it a crime to advocate genocide or publicly incite hatred against people because of their race,
colour, religion, or ethnic identity.
1971
Capital punishment is removed as a penalty for crime in Canada.
1976
The federal government passes the Canadian Human Rights Act and sets up the Human Rights Commission.
1977
The Immigration Act removes all restrictive regulations based on ”nationality, citizenship, ethnic group, occupation,
class, or geographical area of origin.”
1977
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms becomes part of Canada’s Constitution.
April 17, 1982
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney acknowledges Canada’s wrongful actions against Japanese Canadians during the Second World War and offers a compensation program.
September 22, 1988
The federal government announces a five-year national plan to help bring persons with disabilities into society’s
mainstream.
1991
Sexual orientation is added as grounds for discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act.
June 20, 1996
The federal government recognizes and apologizes to those who experienced physical and sexual abuse at Indian residential schools, and acknowledges its role in the development and
administration of residential schools for First Nations children.
January 7, 1998
Canada’s Extradition Act states that Canada will refuse to forcibly return anyone to any country that wants to punish that person in a way that violates their human rights. The territory of Nunavut was
created. As of 2003, most people living here are Inuit.
1999
The federal government introduced its same-sex marriage bill in the House of Commons, setting the stage so that gay
people in Canada may legally marry.
February 1, 2005
The federal government agrees to pay $1.9 billion to former students of residential schools as a compensation for the
abuses and assimilation they suffered.
May 10, 2006
On behalf of the Canadian federal government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offers an apology to all the
survivors of residential schools.
June 11, 2008
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