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The following section is a portal to the entire collection of the primary documents available on this site. Most of these documents are saved as PDF files (download Adobe Acrobat Reader). New primary documents are regularly added to this site. Visitors are encouraged to collaborate on this project by submitting any material to the webmaster that would be relevant to this site.
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Documents relating to the defection of Igor Gouzenko, the RCMP's investigation, the espionage commission, the spy trials and the public's response to the defection.
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The Special Joint Committee was mandated to solicit feedback from Canadians about the government's proposal to patriate the constitution and entrench a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The committee heard from over 900 individuals and organizations, many of whom had a direct impact on the final drafting of the constitutional proposal. This section is a collection of briefs presented to the committee.
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Documents relating to the federal government's use of the War Measures Act in response to the activities of the Front de libération du Québec in October 1970. This section includes newspaper articles, government documents and materials relating to the response from human rights activists. In addition, there are links to documents posted external to this site.
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Documents relating to human rights and civil liberties groups in Canada that were active from the 1930s to the 1980s.
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A collection of anti-discrimination posters produced by the Jewish Labour Committee in Canada and the United States.
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Links to other websites were you can find primary sources for historical research on Canada.
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Several of the sections above include a box titled 'Key Documents'. The Key Documents boxes provide a large sample of raw primary documents and a proposed classroom assignment. The documents have been digitized from their original format. It as close as you can get to the actual archival collection.
Key Documents 1:
Gallup Polls
Opinion polls are a relatively new political tool. John Diefenbaker, for instance, often refused to accept the results of opinion polls while he was Prime Minister between 1957 and 1963. Instead, he relied on personal letters sent to him by people across the country to gauge public sentiment. Today, of course, opinion polls are the lifeblood of the political process.
Early Gallup Polls were crude, but they do offer some raw data on Canadians' attitudes on some issues. Three documents are available below. The first is a copy of the questionnaire used in the Gallup Poll, and the second is a copy of the results of the poll. None of this material has been edited or organized for your convenience; you have to plow through the documents and connect the results to the questionnaires. First, determine the questions on the questionnaire that catch your interest; second, identify the answers in the results sheet; and, third, determine (using both documents) how many people were sampled in the poll.
The third document is a detailed cross-tabulation of the results the pollsters received from the question on freedom of speech. For instance, as you can see below, the pollsters asked people if freedom of speech should apply equally to communists, fascists, and others. What can we learn from this document? [be careful to avoid broad generalizations from this small sample]
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Key Documents 2:
Denominational Education
Denominational education has been one of the most divisive social and political issues in Canadian history. One of the few rights entrenched in the constitution in 1867 was the right of Protestants and Catholics to operate their own schools. But did this mean that the government was obliged to fund religious education? This question has bitterly divided Canadians for generations. Until the 1990s, the Newfoundland education system was monopolized by Christian denominations. Although there was a system of secular schools by the late 20th Century, religious institutions continued to enjoy a great deal of influence within the Newfoundland education system. It would take two referendums in the late 1990s to secularize the education system.
In the following exercise you are required to sort through a large file (approximately 100 pages) of documents relating to the history of denominational education in Newfoundland. These documents include surveys, opinion polls, news articles, briefs by the Newfoundland-Labrador Human Rights Association to the government, and briefing notes. First, read the recommended readings below. Second, examine the documents in the file below and answer the following questions:
- What were the arguments in favour and against the denominational education system in Newfoundland?
- How did the majority of Newfoundlanders feel about the education system by the late 1980s?
- How did the denominational education system affect teachers?
- What was the position of the Newfoundland Labrador Human Rights Association?
- Dominique Clément, “Searching for Rights in the Age of Activism: The Newfoundland-Labrador Human Rights Association, 1968-1982," Newfoundland Studies (Vol.19, No.2, Spring 2003): 347-372.
- William A. McKim, eds., The Vexed Question: Denominational Education in a Secular Age, (St. John's: Breakwater, 1988).
- Frederick W. Rowe, Education and Culture in Newfoundland (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd., 1976).
- D.A. Schmeiser, Civil Liberties in Canada (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1964) [chapter on education].
- Newfoundland and Labrador, 1972. Report of the Royal Commission on Labour Legislation in Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Newfoundland and Labrador, 1992. Our Children, Our Future: Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Delivery of Programs and Services in Primary, Elementary, Secondary Education
Document: Newfoundland-Labrador Human Rights Association, Denominational Educational File. (5MB)
Document: A survey of opinions on denominational education, 1986. (2MB) |
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