‘This Is Our Country, These Are Our Rights’: Minorities and the Origins of Ontario’s Human Rights Campaigns

• Published in: The Canadian historical review Vol. 82; no. 1; pp. 1 - 35
• Main Authors: Patrias, Carmela, Frager, Ruth A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: North York University of Toronto Press 01.03.2001
• Subjects: Activism; Canada; Discrimination; Historical analysis; History; Human Rights; Interest Groups; Labor Movements; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Groups; Minority rights; Ontario; Prejudice; Racism; Rights; Ontario Canada
• DOI: 10.3138/CHR.82.1.1
• ISSN: 0008-3755

This article examines the social origins of the campaigns for human rights in Ontario, focusing on the period from the Second World War to the early 1950s. A wide variety of organizations eventually supported the human rights activists' struggles for legislation that would outlaw discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ancestry, & national origin in employment, the provision of services & housing, & the sale of property. Yet Eurocentric & racist attitudes often continued to influence even the view of those Anglo-Canadian individuals & groups who joined these campaigns. To reveal the forms & extent of prejudice & discrimination in Canada & to mobilize interested groups to fight for legal safeguards for human rights, the intervention of minority groups was necessary. Although many non-Anglo Protestant groups suffered from discrimination in Canada, not all were involved in the fight to eliminate it. In Ontario the most active groups were Japanese Canadians, African Canadians, & especially Jews, who drummed up support not only from a broad range of community groups but also from key elements in the labor movement. The activists in these campaigns drew from experiences of American human rights struggles, while taking care to adapt their strategies to distinctively Canadian conditions. This article emphasizes the ways in which the human rights activists helped reform ideas about the nature of Canadian society & assisted in making its institutions more responsive to, & reflective of, the diversity of Canada's people. Adapted from the source document.