Who Is Pierre Elliott Trudeau?

The definition of important is “having serious meaning or worth,” (Merriam- Webster’s Dictionary). Pierre Elliott Trudeau is the representation of this. Trudeau was born in Montreal to Joseph Charles Trudeau and Grace Elliott. Joseph was of French descent and Grace was of Scottish, therefore Trudeau was bilingual. He was appointed the Minister of Justice and gained national attention for his social reforms. These include divorce laws, abortion, laws on homosexual marriage and regulations on public lotteries. Afterwards, he became the 15th Prime Minister Of Canada. He was the Prime Minister from April 20th, 1968 to June 4th, 1979, and once more from March 3rd, 1980 to June 30th, 1984, obtaining the role after Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.
The FLQ stood for ‘Front de libération du Québec. It was a radical group that wished to separate Quebec out of Canada, by using any power, resorting to force (The October Crisis). This group orchestrated many bombings and protests, especially in 1968 and 1969. They took it a step further by abducting British diplomat, James Richard Cross and Pierre Laporte. This was a moment of panic and fear for Canadians as this had never taken place before. Conspiracies arose on how the FLQ was a big organization with many members. Amid this situation, known as the October Crisis, Trudeau remained calm and stood for a united and stronger Canada. The FLQ persevered in trying to get what they wanted, by blackmailing the parliament into releasing their captured members from jail otherwise the two government officials would perish. Canada could have plunged into a civil war with Quebec on one side and English Canada on the other side, if this continued. However, Trudeau kept the country in order by invoking the war and measures act. There was a lot of criticism over this but he succeeded in saving more lives by doing so. This act limited the civil rights of a citizen as police could arrest anyone that was suspected of a crime without a warrant creating some controversy. Decisions were drastic at that time, yet without these measures Quebec may have
Before, there were laws that protected what rights citizens had, but none of them were very compelling as they were all federal statutes and not part of the Constitution. The Charter was enacted on April 17 1982, and was instituted into the Constitution Act, declaring it as a part of the Canadian identity. It gives us democratic, mobility, legal and equality rights and basic fundamental freedom (Gwyn, Richard). This attracts immigrants and refugees to come to Canada knowing that they would have a greater quality of life in such country than any third-world or developing countries, as they have their rights and freedoms protected. If anyone was to violate that liberty, even the government, then the consequences would be executed on the offenders. The laws that were instituted in the Charter, have had a long lasting effect because it still stands to this day. Canada is respected as a nation because of the steps that were taken by Trudeau to improve the rights of Canadians. “Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms: a) freedom of conscience and religion; b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and d) freedom of association,” (Constitution Act 1867-1982, para 2). These are just the fundamentals. Canada also accepts