On October 2

On this day in ...
... 1980 (30 years ago today), Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announced that Canada's government would seek unilaterally to "patriate" its Constitution -- the term used in Canada to describe a revision that would permit modification within Canada's governmental structure rather than by the British Parliament, as then was required. The announcement took place amid internal political battles. One concerned the status of Québec within the Canadian federation, a question left unresolved following a referendum in May. Eventually the dispute moved to the judiciary. Finally, on April 17, 1982, British Queen Elizabeth II came to Canada to proclaim the new Constitution Act (above left). (credit for photo, also showing Trudeau, seated at left) Included in the package was an instrument on which we've posted, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

(Prior October 2 posts are here, here, and here.)

On August 26

On this day in ...
... 1969, C-150, an Omnibus Bill that revised Canada's Criminal Code to decriminalize sodomy, went into effect. The entry into force marked the end of a campaign touched off by the 3-2 Canadian Supreme Court judgment in Klippert v. The Queen (1967), which dismissed an appeal lodged by a gay man sentenced to an indefinite period of preventive detention on as "a dangerous sexual offender." Soon after the bill was introduced, and it became law after its parliamentary sponsor, Pierre Trudeau -- who'd defended the bill in a televised interview by saying: "There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation." -- became Prime Minister. The legislation Canada's laws with regard to not only to this aspect of sexual conduct, but also to abortion, contraception, and other matters.


(Prior August 26 posts are here, here, and here.)

On December 22

On this day in ...
... 1998 (20 years ago today), South Africa signed a pact agreeing to withdraw from southwest territories -- thus paving the way for Namibian independence -- in exchange for "an end to Soviet and Cuban involvement in the long civil war in neighboring Angola." The agreement was known as the New York Accords because it was signed at U.N. headquarters (left) in that city.
... 1967, Justice Minister Pierre Trudeau announced a sweeping reform of Canada's criminal laws. His Omnibus Bill proposed inter alia to increase restrictions on guns drunk driving, and to relax them on matters such as abortion, divorce, and homosexuality. With regard to the last of those 3, Trudeau (right), who would go on to serve as Prime Minister uttered, as may be seen in this Canadian television clip, "unforgettable words":

There's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.