Browse "Politics & Law"

The Wartime Elections Act of 1917 gave the vote to female relatives of Canadian soldiers serving overseas in the First World War. It also took the vote away from many Canadians who had immigrated from “enemy” countries. The Act was passed by Prime Minister Robert Borden’s Conservative government in an attempt to gain votes in the 1917 election. It ended up costing the Conservatives support among certain groups for years to come. The Act has a contentious legacy. It granted many women the right to vote, but it also legitimized in law many anti-immigrant sentiments.

This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on March 6, 2000. Partner content is not updated. They are an unlikely class of political provocateurs: the water entrepreneurs. In Vancouver, fast-talkers with dreams of getting in on the ground floor of a 21st-century boom once touted their plans for taking pure British Columbia mountain water in tankers to California. Shut down by a B.C.

The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, signed 9 August 1842, was negotiated by US Secretary of State Daniel Webster and Alexander Baring, First Lord Ashburton, for Britain.

The welfare state in Canada is a multi-billion dollar system of government programs that transfer money and services to Canadians to deal with an array of societal needs.

West Coast Longshore Strikes, 1923 and 1935 On 8 Oct 1923 the 1400 members of the International Longshoremen's Assn (ILA) in Vancouver struck for higher wages.

As other Canadians prepared last week to celebrate the country's 131st birthday, families of the 26 men who died in the May, 1992, Westray mine explosion girded themselves for a more sombre undertaking.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on July 13, 1998

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

White-Collar Crime consists of occupational crime and corporate crime. Occupational crime refers to offences committed against legitimate institutions (businesses or government) by those with "respectable" social status.

A government white paper is a Cabinet-approved document that explains a political issue and proposed legislation to address it. The purpose of a white paper is to introduce a new government policy to test the public’s reaction to it. The name derives from the custom of binding the document in white paper, rather than using a cover page. White papers are different from green papers, which seek public reaction not to new policy but to more general proposals. The most controversial white paper in Canada was issued in 1969; it sought to redefine the relationship between the federal government and Indigenous peoples. (See The 1969 White Paper.)

A 6-volume review of foreign policy conducted 1968-70 by the Department of External Affairs (now FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE) with the involvement of many other departments and agencies, invited academics, business people and others.

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

The Wildrose Party was a political party in Alberta that promoted fiscal conservatism and rural values. In the 2015 provincial election the party, once known as the Wildrose Alliance, was elected as the official opposition. It also replaced the former governing Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta as the main conservative voice in the legislature. In 2017, the party merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the United Conservative Party under the leadership of Jason Kenney, a former federal cabinet minister.

The Williams Treaties were signed in October and November 1923 by the governments of Canada and Ontario and by seven First Nations of the Chippewa of Lake Simcoe (Beausoleil, Georgina Island and Rama) and the Mississauga of the north shore of Lake Ontario (Alderville, Curve Lake, Hiawatha and Scugog Island). As the last historic land cession treaties in Canada, these agreements transferred over 20,000 km2 of land in south central Ontario to the Crown; in exchange, Indigenous signatories received one-time cash payments. While Chippewa and Mississauga peoples argue that the Williams Treaties also guaranteed their right to hunt and fish on the territory, the federal and provincial governments have interpreted the treaty differently, resulting in legal disputes and negotiations between the three parties about land rights. In 2018, the Williams Treaties First Nations and the Governments of Ontario and Canada came to a final agreement, settling litigation about land surrenders and harvesting rights.

Friends and neighbors recall them as one of the happiest couples they had ever met. Even after nearly six decades of marriage, Jean and Cecil Brush still held hands, more like love-struck teenagers than a husband and wife in their twilight years.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on March 13, 1995

Women have looked to the law as a tool to change their circumstances, while at the same time the law is one of the instruments which confirms their dependent status as citizens (see Status of Women). The first phase of the Women's Movement, in proclaiming that women were capable of reason as well as reproduction and nurturing, claimed a place for women in the public sphere, while also relying upon the concept of "separate spheres" to delineate their areas of strength and competence.