2. Introduction
• Baby Boomers – Post WWII economy and baby boom
• Canada’s pop soared from 12 million in 1946 to 18 million in 1961.
• By 1965, more than half of the pop of NA was under the age of 25.
• Created a powerful culture of protest – “Youthquake”
3. How Did Canada respond to changing social
values after 1960?
• Counterculture & Protest - Youthquake
• The Women’s Movement
• Canadian Bill of Rights
• The Omnibus Bill & Beyond
4. 1. Counterculture & Protest
• Started with pop culture – “British Invasion”
• Hippie phenomenon of long hair for boys and shorter skirts for girls.
• Protest to mainstream society – rock music, clothing styles, sexual
promiscuity, drug experimentation, commune life – counterculture.
• Student-driven strong political beliefs – rejected post-war consumerism,
equal rights, environmentalism, Vietnam War.
• Protest music – Dylan, Baez opened it for songs from Beatles, Stones, The
Who – Woodstock music festival.
• The movement forced politicians to appeal to youth – voting age dropped
from 21 to 18 in 1972.
5. 2.) The Women’s Movement
• Women trapped at home after WWII or low-paying jobs – waitressing,
hairdressing, secretaries, retail.
• Employers could discriminate in wages and benefits.
• Betty Friedan’s book in 1963 began the feminist movement to fight for their
rights.
• 1967 PM Pearson set up the Royal Commission on the Status of Women –
examined how women were treated and problems they face.
• Recommendations included:
1. Right to work outside the home
2. Society should take resp for children – daycares provided
3. Should be entitled to receive paid maternity leaves
4. Gov’t should help to overcome discrimination
• NAC in 1971 acted to lobby gov’t to act on the recommendations – Charter, win.
• Feminists helped to change societal attitudes and role of women.
6. 3.) Canadian Bill of Rights
• John Diefenbaker’s gov’t introduced it in 1960 to protect a person’s
fundamental human rights. They include:
1. Freedom of life, liberty, security of person, and the enjoyment of property.
2. The right to equality before the law and its protection.
3. Freedom of religion
4. Freedom of speech
5. Freedom of assembly and association
• Provinces could not agree, so it could not be put into the Constitution.
• Only applied to Federal law, did not apply to provincial law.
• Courts never took it seriously because it was not part of the Constitution –
used pasts laws.
• Charter of Rights and Freedoms took over in 1982.
7. 4.) The Omnibus Bill & Beyond
• Trudeau’s Liberal gov’t passed Bill C-150 in 1969 which made major
changes in social legislation:
1. Right of women to have access to contraception
2. Right to abortion
3. Legalizing homosexuality between consenting adults
“There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation” – secular
society
• Change to divorce law – 1968
• End of death penalty - 1976
9. Politics in the 1960s
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• Kennedy Assassination
• The Flag Debate - textbook
• Tommy Douglas - video
• Bilingualism & Biculturalism
• Oil
10. Cuban Missile Crisis - Cold War
• US and USSR stockpiled nuclear weapons in parts of the world
• Oct 14 1962, US spotted Soviet missiles in Cuba through aerial
surveillance
• Possible Soviet nuclear attack now only minutes away
• US set up a naval blockade around Cuba to stop Soviet ships
• Crisis intensified as Soviet ships steamed towards Cuba protected by
Soviet submarines
• The Soviet ships finally turned back – US Pres Kennedy and Soviet
leader Khrushchev agreed that Soviets would remove missiles if US
did not invade Cuba.
11. Cuban Missile Crisis – Canada/US relations
• Created tensions between Canada and US
• Diefenbaker backed away from accepting nuclear weapons from the
Americans, and delayed putting aircraft on alert during the Crisis.
• Diefenbaker resented the fact that the Canadian govt had not been
informed of the US blockade until after the fact.
• By the time Canadian forces were put on alert, the crisis was almost
over.
• The Canadian inaction caused great anger and resentment among
Americans.
12. John F. Kennedy Assassination
• Nov 22, 1963 Dallas, Texas
• Profound event as it was on television &
people have recollections of where they
were when it occurred (like 9/11)
• Lee Harvey Oswald was caught, but shot
2 days later in custody leaving Dallas
police station.
• Oswald was a communist, but denied the
shooting. Conspiracy theories deny lone
shooter theory.
13. Diefenbaker vs Pearson (p. 215)
• Make a ‘T’ chart to describe the different styles and visions of Canada
from both politicians:
14. Quebec Nationalism
• Jean Lesage came to power in 1960 as a Liberal Permier when Duplessis died
– “Time for Change” slogan. Economic growth slow after WWII.
• Began to modernize Quebec’s economy, politics, education, and culture –
Became known as the Quiet Revolution.
• Took control of health, social services and education system from the church.
• Individualism stressed as citizens of the 20th century – think for themselves
and prepare for a modern future.
• As a result, influence of the Roman Catholic Church began to decline.
• Slogan “Masters in Our Own House” in 1962 election – aim of strengthening
Quebec’s control of its own economy.
• Govt bought hydro companies and turned them into a provincially owned
power company – Hydro Quebec.
15. The Birth of Quebec Separatism
• Take notes from p. 218:
• Why?
• Who?
• What?
• How?
16. Bilingualism
• Pearson was convinced that Canada faced a grave crisis unless French
Canadians felt more at home in Canada – long history of inequality.
• In 1963, he appointed the Royal Commission on Bilingualism & Biculturalism
(the “Bi & Bi Commission) to investigate solutions.
• Recommendations:
1. That Canada become bilingual and English and French be declared official
languages of Canada.
2. That bilingual districts be created in regions of Canada where members of
the minority community, either French or English, made up 10% or more of
the local population.
For example, that parents be able to have their children attend schools in the
language of their choice in regions where there is sufficient demand.
17. Official Languages Act
• In 1969, PM Trudeau signed this Act giving all Canadians the
legal right and ability to deal with the fed gov’t in either
French or English.
• All products sold in stores across the country had to be
labeled in both French and English.
• French Immersion programs were implemented across the
country.
• What was the reaction? (p. 219)
18. The FLQ & the October Crisis
• The Front Liberation du Quebec (FLQ) was a separatist group founded in the
‘60s based in Montreal.
• They spoke of Marxist objectives and of Quebec’s separation from Canada.
• They were committed to using violent actions if necessary to achieve their
goals and were trained by revolutionaries who were supporters of the Cuban
revolutionary, Che Guevara, and also by Palestinian commandos in Jordan.
• From 1963-70, the FLQ committed over 200 political actions including
bombings and bank hold-ups.
• Targets included English-owned businesses, banks, McGill U, and the homes
of prominent Canadians.
19. • In October 5, 1970, four men kidnapped British Trade Commissioner
James Cross at gunpoint in Montreal. They demanded a ransom of $500,000,
transport to Cuba, to read the FLQ Manifesto in public, and the release of FLQ
“political prisoners” jailed for terrorist bombings.
• On October 10th, another cell of the FLQ kidnapped the Quebec Vice-Premier
and Minister of Labour, Pierre Laporte.
• On October 17th, Laporte’s body was discovered in the trunk of a car.
• PM Trudeau agreed to broadcast the Manifesto over the radio, and to
transport 5 FLQ terrorists to Cuba in exchange for Cross’ release.
• Over the years most of these terrorists eventually returned to Canada and
received light sentences. 23 people wen to prison as a result of the October
Crisis. It was the first political kidnapping in Canadian history.
20. • The War Measures Act was invoked by Trudeau in response to the October
Crisis.
• It gave the gov’t the power to take away certain civil rights – the gov’t had
the ability to arrest, question, and detain suspects without charge for 90
days.
• The Act was invoked based on the belief that there was a widespread
conspiracy to overthrow the gov’t.
• As a result, thousands of searches were conducted and over 400 arrests
were made.
• Membership in the FLQ became criminal, and all political rallies were
banned.
