They quietly helped shape our idea of Canada

U of S folks have played key roles, write Ken Norman and Sarath Peiris

“There are clearly things we as a country need to come to terms with, but there are wonderful things to celebrate,” Patricia Monture of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and a passionate advocate for Indigenous peoples, said in an interview with the University of Saskatchewan’s On Campus News in 2009.

“I love Canada. It’s a wonderful political act of faith that exists atop a breathtakingly beautiful land,” renowned author Yann Martel said of Canada’s sesquicentennial.

Human rights have much to do with these statements by two eminent Canadians, each of whom chose Saskatoon as their home.

Others with deep roots at the University of Saskatchewan have had a hand in fostering the human rights values that lie at the core of the idea of Canada. (Key contributions of a few such people are noted at canada150 .usask.ca, the university’s website.)

It should come as no surprise that on the site you will find John Diefenbaker, who introduced Canada’s first Bill of Rights in 1960 and changed the federal Elections Act to extend the right to vote to Indigenous people. Political scientist Don Story, writing in The Diefenbaker Legacy: Canadian Politics, Law and Society since 1957, aptly noted the bill “raised national awareness of human rights issues.”

Nor will Roy Romanow’s hand in creating the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, in negotiating the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and in authoring the Royal Commission Report on the Future of Health Care in Canada come as news.

However, here are a few U of S folks whose substantive contributions to our idea of Canada may not be so well known. We hope their contributions will be of interest.

Patricia Monture: She served on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women and the Task Force on Solitary Confinement. Monture was also a key member of the advisory committee for the establishment of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

David Arnot: As Chief

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Commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission, he launched a “Teaching treaties in the classroom” initiative. He was federal director general of Aboriginal justice and served as Saskatchewan’s treaty commissioner, introducing us to the phrase: “We are all treaty people.”

Ellen Schmeiser: As a

■ special adviser to the department of the Saskatchewan Attorney General, drafted recommendations leading to the 1980 Matrimonial Property Act, considered trail-blazing legislation that became a model for the rest of Canada. Schmeiser was a founding commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, representing the three Prairie Provinces.

Albert Johnson: He played ■ a pivotal role in the introduction of medicare plans, both provincially and nationally. Johnson also helped develop Canada’s federal equalization formula, designed at balancing “have” and “have-not” provincial economies. He administered a major review of Canada’s social security system. He went on to serve as president of the CBC. The Johnson-Shoyama School of Public Policy at the U of S and the University of Regina proudly carries his name.

In the spirit of reconciliation, we suggest that Monture’s balanced statement has urgent currency in Martel’s “wonderful political act of faith” that is Canada.

As a country, we must come to terms with difficult knowledge of our colonial past. However, in this Canada 150 year, there are some wonderful things — including some notable human rights contributions to the nation by local people — to celebrate.

Ken Norman, Emeritus Professor of Law and Sarath Peiris, Assistant Director, Research Profile and Impact, Office of the VP Research, U of S.

In this Canada 150 year, there are some ... notable human rights contributions to the nation by local people to celebrate.