FEDERAL ASPECTS
ASPECTS FED]ERAUX
A View from Ottawa: The Role of the Federal Government
as Regards the Status of Women
Edythe I. MacDonald, Q.C.*
The role of the government in social reform relating to the
status of women may be discussed under various headings relating
to the functions of government. There are first of all the three func-
tions that form the traditional trichotomy of the power of the
state:
the legislative, administrative and enforcement functions.
Today many people would impose additional functions and argue
that it is a responsibility of the state to take special measures to
ensure continuing law reform in response to the expressed wishes of
the people and that it is a proper function of the state to guide or
develop public opinion. While the last two suggested responsibilities
really come within the scope of the first three, for the purposes of
this article they will at times be treated separately.
Each of the functions of the state has two components, a public
one and an internal one. Thus, amendments to the Canada Pension
Plan’ improve the pension position of all Canadian women whereas
corresponding amendments to the Public Service Superannuation
Act’ benefit only female government employees. Similarly, in the
field of administration, Canada Manpower programmes are directed
towards improving job opportunities for women in the private sector
whereas Public Service Commission equal opportunities program-
mes apply only to women employed in the public service. When it
comes to enforcement, the courts may have a role in both areas and,
in addition, administrative or quasi-judicial .tribunals may be estab-
lished to provide special enforcement procedures in either or both
the public and internal fields.
As may be seen from the foregoing, the role of the government
in attaining social reform involves a wide range of. activities.
* Senior Counsel: Special Advisor on the Status of Women and Family
Relations, Department of Justice of Canada.
1 R.S.C. 1970, c.C-5.
2 R.S.C. 1970, c.P-36.
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Because the field is so broad, this article will be principally directed
towards the problems of achieving law reform. It will treat the public
rather than the internal functions of government and will
(a)
examine the process of law reform as illustrated by status of
women problems;
(b) provide a progress report on legislative implementation of the
Recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Status of
Women; 3 and
suggest the future role of government in the development of
social justice through law.
(c)
The Process of Law Reform
The theme of social justice and the problems of law reform
were examined at the National Conference on the Law at Ottawa
in 1972. Two principal speakers at that conference made statements
that, while intended to have general application, are also particularly
relevant to contemporary demands of women for legal and social
equality. The Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable P. E.
Trudeau, in his opening remarks, stated as follows:
… [We] are adherents of a single catechism … : that law is one of the
fundamentals of social institutions; that law is not only a protector of
certain elements of the social structure, but that it is as well … one of
the best instruments for effecting social change; that law can better
discharge these obligations and opportunities in the future than it has in
the past.
We share as well a common motivation –
to seek a society which
emphasizes human dignity in all its manifestations.
After stating the functions and potential of the law, the Prime
Minister described some of the problems of achieving law reform.
He observed that we are a pluralistic rather than a monolithic
that when our forefathers chose federalism as the basic
culture –
constitutional structure, diversity not homogeneity was the value
that determined the course they followed. The Canadian value system
has been further split up by technology and changing values:
The life span of an idea or attitude … is now, in many instances, not
more than five years. Yet our normal legislative cycle for the processing
of law from proposal to statute often approaches the same length of
time… the speed of new ideas may make irrelevant some of our laws
even before they are proclaimed.
3 Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (1970).
1975]
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE STATUS OF WOMEN
603
Thus, in addition to the challenge of the diversity of interests and
needs in our pluralistic society, we face the further challenge of an
idea gap. As a result, the law stands as a structure that appears to
some people to be the “backbone of civilization”, and to others to
be “a barrier to their self-fulfillment that will be cracked by the winds
of change”.
Given the premise that law is one of the best instruments for
effecting social reform and recognizing the problems that relate
thereto, how then may that reform be brought about? A second
principal speaker at the Conference on the Law, Professor Julius
Stone, an Australian expert on jurisprudential thought, suggested
that several specific conditions must be present in order that legal
reform in the social order be achieved. He postulated that
… western societies have increasingly come to see human demands as valid
in themselves, and a just social and legal order as geared to the maximum
satisfaction of these demands … . Yet this version of justice … can fully
sustain the mediating role only under certain ideal conditions.
First, citizens must have sufficient information, and sufficient initia-
tive, to know and express what they need …
. Second, the social frame-
work must be such that the demands of substantially all men and women
can make themselves heard and regarded … so justice [may] emerge
from the clash of competing demands …. Third, there must be standing
machinery of government alert to hear demands and to respond to them
with concern, with expertise and with action … . Fourth, the demands
which are heard and taken into account must be authentic….
Picking up the thread of argument from the Prime Minister and
Professor Stone, the author would agree that the maximum satis-
faction of human demands in a society that emphasizes human
dignity in all its manifestations
is a main touchstone of social
justice. The author believes that Canadian legal institutions are
capable of adapting to new challenges and of achieving social justice
through law. The law is, undoubtedly, one of the best instruments
for effecting social change, whether it lags behind and is revised only
in response to the demands of society, or whether it precedes and
encourages the development of new social attitudes in the com-
munity.
The application of the above premises in the process of law
reform is well exemplified by the struggle to secure equal rights and
obligations for women. Initiatives and action to secure equality of
status for women in Canada came into play and gained momentum
in the sixties. That these initiatives have been translated into legis-
lative action at this time whereas they failed to make headway in
the past may in part be attributable to the progressive emergence
during the late sixties and early seventies of the four conditions
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envisioned by Professor Stone as necessary to effect social change –
information, participation, response and authentication.
As an increasing number of informed and motivated women
began to express their demands, public awareness of, the problems
faced by women, particularly married women, mounted. The govern-
ment responded early in 1967 by creating a forum in which these
demands could be heard and considered –
the Royal Commission
on the Status of Women. As the Commission proceeded to hold
hearings across the country, it became evident, both to the Com-
mission and to the growing number of concerned citizens who
watched its progress, that the matters raised before the Commission
were the authentic requirements of a large segment of the population.
The Report of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women was
published in September 1970 and covered a wide area of jurisdiction,
including chapters on women in the economy, in society, in the
family and in public life, as well as chapters devoted to taxation,
child care, education, criminal law and women offenders, immigra-
tion, citizenship and poverty. Further, the Report contained a “Plan
for Action” proposing mechanisms for its own implementation, in-
cluding the creation of implementation committees and the establish-
ment of human rights commissions and a federal status of women
council. 4
The first cycle of information, participation, response and au-
thentication had been completed. The demands of Canadian women
had been expressed and found authentic. A new cycle of demands
based on the recommendations of the Royal Commission began
and it remained to be seen whether there was standing machinery
of government able to respond to the new (or newly expressed)
demands and take appropriate action. Since the recommendations
of the Royal Commission covered many fields and did not fall within
the jurisdiction of any one minister or department, the initial
response of the federal government to the Report was to create
special administrative machinery to respond to them. To this end,
a Minister responsible for the Status of Women was appointed and
the office of the Coordinator, Status of Women, was established in
the Privy Council Office.
The creation of the office of Coordinator, Status of Women, was
related to the establishment of an interdepartmental committee.
This committee was charged with studying the Report and other
related questions, and recommending to the government strategies
for the implementation of the recommendations and other means
4Ibid., 470, Recommendations 164-166.
1975]
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE STATUS OF WOMEN
605
of improving the status of women in Canada. Attached to the in-
terdepartmental committee were five working groups composed of
experts, both from government departments and from the com-
munity, who studied the Report in detail. After one year, the com-
mittee presented a comprehensive report to the government re-
garding the feasibility and means of implementing those recom-
mendations of the Royal Commission that came within federal
jurisdiction. The government reacted by approving the report, thus
providing a mandate to the various government departments and
agencies to begin implementation of the recommendations.
The implementation phase called for a variety of responses. Some
proposed changes could be implemented only by statutory amend-
ment. Others could be achieved by the establishment of new pro-
grammes or by a revision of existing administrative directives or
practices. Still others could be accomplished only through the slow
process of social attitudinal change.
Legislative Implementation
While the political policy endorsing equal status for women in
Canada was enunciated in the early seventies, the statutory enact-
ment of legislative proposals arising from that policy, apart from
simple amendments that could be included in legislation already
in progress, has taken considerable time. There have been a number
of reasons for. the delay. As already noted, the normal legislative
cycle for the processing of law from proposal to statute often
approaches five years. The proposals concerning the status of women
had to compete with the other demands of an overcrowded legislative
programme. Moreover, the political instability of the 29th Parliament
had the effect of stranding on the Order Paper many of the items
introduced during that Parliament, such as An Act to amend the
Canada Pension Plan” and the Statute Law (Status of Women)
Amendment Act,1974,” which were still awaiting final passage when
it was dissolved in the spring of 1974.
Delay has also been occasioned by reason of the nature of certain
recommendations. Some of the statutes in respect of which proposals
were made have a complexity that has necessitated postponement of
their amendment until further study could be undertaken of the
total legal and social schemes of which they form a part, by a body
S.C. 1974-75, c.4.
; S.C. 1974-75, c.66.
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having the necessary legal expertise. In this category, one may
include the sexual offences in the Criminal Code7 and the Divorce
Act,8 amendments to which have been held in abeyance awaiting
reports of the Law Reform Commission of Canada. For example,
suggestions have been made by some people that the crime of rape
should be eliminated from the Criminal Code” and replaced, as
has happened in a number of American states, by a general crime
of aggravated assault. Other people strongly oppose this idea. So
far as seduction is concerned, the problem is not solved by a mere
deletion of the references to “previously chaste character”.”” Perhaps
it would be better to include seduction, as happens in some American
states, within the more general concept of a criminal imposition.
Alternatively, perhaps the Scandinavian approach to seduction of
basing the crime on the relative age, experience and authority of the
parties has merit. Decisions on matters such as these require lengthy
and expert study.
Still other provisions offensive
to women, such as certain
sections of the Canadian Citizenship Act,’ form part of a statutory
scheme that a department will wish to amend in whole rather than
on a piecemeal basis. Finally, still other matters, such as amendments
to the Indian Act” and abortion, come within the area where compet-
ing demands of different segments of the community have not yet
allowed the legislators to determine which demand is of paramount
importance to the majority of the population.
Although the problems in achieving legislative change have been
numerous, they have not been insurmountable and much has been
accomplished. As stated above, certain changes that could quickly
be incorporated in legislation in progress were so incorporated.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1972,12 amended the Criminal
Code to provide that no person may be disqualified, exempted or
excused from serving as a juror in criminal proceedings on the
grounds of his or her sex.13 By the same Act, several vagrancy provi-
sions of the Criminal Code were repealed,’ 4 the sexual distinctions
7 R.S.C. 1970, c.C-34.
8 R.S.C. 1970, c.D-8.
9 Supra, f.n.7.
9a Ibid.
10 R.S.C. 1970, c.C-19.
11 R.S.C. 1970, c.I-6.
12 S.C. 1972, c.13.
‘3 Ibid., s.46.
14 Ibid., s.12.
1975]
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE STATUS OF WOMEN
607
were removed from the prostitution provisions, ” and those provi-
sions were supplemented by a new offence of soliciting, intended to
apply to both males and females.'”
More recently, in the 1st Session of the 30th Parliament, the
Statute Law (Status of Women) Amendment Act, 197417 was enacted.
This Act represents an attempt to group together in one legislative
proposal most amendments necessary to remove provisions in federal
statutes that distinguish between men and women. This special
Status of Women Act removes from the Canada Elections Act’8
certain provisions that require enumerators to obtain different in-
formation from women than from men.”‘ It removes from the
Criminal Code a protection that is really a legislative vestige of the
Victorian concept that women are weak creatures unable to resist
the importunities of their husbands. Henceforth, a married woman
whose husband has committed a crime and who, at the instance of
her husband, aids another person who is a party to the crime for
the purpose of enabling her husband or that other person to escape,
will be held criminally responsible for her act.2″ Furthermore, under
the Act, she acquires the same criminal liability, upon failure to
provide her family with the necessaries of life,2’ as that now faced
by her husband. In addition, the Act amends the Unemployment
Insurance Act 2 2 to provide more flexible maternity benefits,2 3 enables
girls to join cadet corps2 4 formerly limited to boys only under the
National Defence Act 25 and removes the “head of family” references
from the Immigration Act.2. No longer will a woman be deported
merely because her husband, who was assumed to be the head of
the family, becomes subject to deportation.27
The 1st Session of the 30th Parliament also saw the enactment,
in separate legislation, of a number of other amendments of im-
Ir Ibid., s.14.
1, Ibid., s.15.
17 Supra, f.n.6.
18 R.S.C. 1970, c.14 (1st Supp.).
19 Supra, f.n.6, ss.2-6.
20 Ibid., s.7.
21 Ibid., s.8.
22 R.S.C. 1970, c.U-2.
23 Supra, f.n.6, s.22.
24 Ibid., s.21.
25 R.S.C. 1970, c.N4.
26 R.S.C. 1970, c.I-2.
27 Supra, f.n.6, s.9.
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portance to women. These include amendments to the Canada
Pension Plan,28 the War Veterans Allowance Act2 and the Civilian
War Pensions and Allowances Act30 which have granted to qualified
women and their survivors the same rights to pensions as were
formerly enjoyed by qualified men and their survivors. Moreover,
a number of Bills relating to the status of women that were in-
troduced in that session of Parliament have not yet been enacted.
This legislation includes a new Citizenship Act,31 which would make
that law apply in the future equally to both sexes and would enable
a Canadian mother, as well as a Canadian father, to convey citizen-
ship to legitimate children born abroad.la (At present a mother
conveys citizenship only to illegitimate children born abroad.)
Some provisions that distinguish between men and women
still remain in the statutes. These include provisions that are non-
discriminatory, provisions that protect existing rights of persons in
classes in which there could not now be additional members,
provisions that are in the course of amendment in a subject matter
statute such as the new Citizenship Act,32 and provisions that are
still under study or awaiting policy decisions. Some of the pro-
visions under study will likely form the subject of future legislation
while others, such as those relating to closed classes of persons,
will not. Still other provisions that do not now distinguish between
men and women continue to reflect a social attitude based on the
repealed distinctions and are likely to see change either as the next
step of the rationalization of a legislative scheme or as a more distant
response to changing social attitudes and demands. For instance,
the rationale of man as the breadwinner, which led to the termination
of a pension when the widow of a pensioner remarried, makes
little sense when applied in the case of the remarriage of the widower
of a pensioner. Similarly, considerable legislation relating to the
family, especially provincial legislation, retains vestiges of medieval
property concepts relating to women and children.
2 R.S.C. 1970, c.C-5 as am. by An Act to amend the Canada Pensiohi Plan,
S.C. 1974-75, c.4.
29R.S.C. 1970, c.W-5 as am. by Statute Law (Veterans and Civilian War Allow-
ances) Amendment Act, 1974, S.C. 1974-75, c.8.
30 R.S.C. 1970, c.C-20 as am. by Statute Law (Veterans and Civilian War
Allowances) Amendment Act, 1974, S.C. 1974-75, c.8.
31 Citizenship Act, Bill C-20, 1st Sess., 30th Pan., 1974-75.
3Za Ibid., s.3(1)(b).
32 Supra, f.n.31.
1975]
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE STATUS OF WOMEN
609
Other Means of Implementation
As already noted, there are means of implementation other than
legislation open to a government. These include the introduction of
new programmes and the revision of administrative directives and
practices. While, in an article directed to legal issues such as this,
it would be inappropriate to dwell too long on administrative
matters, it must be remembered that they form an important part of
the structures and machinery for change and should not be over-
looked.
As an administrative matter, the government has taken initiatives
in a number of directions. It has, for example, revised Manpower
programmes in the community to require that employment op-
portunities be made available to both men and women. Furthermore,
as an employer, it has established in the Public Service Commission
an Office of Equal Opportunities for Women and an Anti-discrimina-
tion Branch to ensure that the policies of non-discrimination are
followed within government circles. Initiatives such as these not only
produce direct administrative changes but, over a period of time,
also contribute to the slow process of attitudinal change that, in
turn, is reflected in the subsequent legislative and social demands of
various segments of the community.
The Future Role of the Government in Developing Social Justice
Through Law
(1) Continuing obstacles to change.
Given an expressed government policy endorsing equal status for
women and legislative and administrative action to promote that
policy, what then are the obstacles to its implementation?
One of the most important challenges to reformers, as noted by
the Prime Minister, :3 is the diversity of interests and needs inherent
in our pluralistic society. The sure determination of what are the
most pressing claims to be satisfied at any given time is made more
difficult when the demands are expressed in a federal jurisdictional
framework. Thus, even when the need for reform in a particular
field is recognized, as in the case of family law, the division of
jurisdiction between the federal and provincial governments, and
the legislative variations among the provinces, tend to hinder the
bringing of a clear focus to bear on the underlying problem, which
: i See text, supra, “The Process of Law Reform”.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
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in essence may be similar in most provinces. The discriminatory
nature of the married women’s property law is recognized throughout
Canada but, except in Quebec (and to a lesser extent in British
Columbia and the Northwest Territories), comprehensive solutions
to the problem have not yet found their way into legislative form.
Another barrier to change is the retention of obsolete social con-
cepts and attitudes by large segments of the population. It is not
only the reformers who write letters and bring pressures to bear
on legislators. Moreover, even people with the best of conscious
intentions may be victims of ingrained, subconscious discriminatory
attitudes.
(2) Possible solutions.
To meet the challenge of constantly-evolving social attitudes and
to break down the barriers to change, it is not sufficient merely to
amend the law to eliminate existing discriminatory provisions and to
proclaim fair and just administrative practices. It is necessary to
build into the legal machinery of the state provision for continuing
review and study for the purposes of reform. This may be done in a
number of ways. One of the most important is the establishment of
a law reform commission having the expertise and facilities to
study serious existing legal problems and offer solutions that may
stimulate action in one or more of the jurisdictions that make up the
Canadian mosaic. To this end, the Law Reform Commission of
Canada was created with the object of studying and keeping under
review
… on a continuing and systematic basis the statutes and other laws com-
prising the laws of Canada with a view to making recommendations for
their improvement, modernization and reform, including, without limiting
the generality of the foregoing, …
(d)
the development of new approaches
to and new concepts of the
law in keeping with and responsive to the changing needs of modern
Canadian society and of individual members of that society.3 4
The Law Reform Commission has now published a number of
working papers, four of which, the working papers entitled Family
Courts,3 5 Family Property,6 Maintenance on Divorce,31 and Divorce, 3
3 Law Reform Commission Act, R.S.C. 1970 (1st Supp.), c.23, s.1l.
35 Law Reform Commission of Canada, Thie Family Court (1974), Working
36 Law Reform Commission of Canada, Family Property (1975), Working
Paper No.1.
Paper No.8.
3TLaw Reform Commission of Canada, Maintenance on Divorce (1975),
38 Law Reform Commission of Canada, Divorce (1975), Working Paper No.13.
Working Paper No.12.
1975]
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE STATUS OF WOMEN
611
are of considerable importance in the search for more rational
and just family laws, both at the federal and provincial levels. In
the working paper on family property, the Commission states:
The conscience of Canadians was shocked by the application of the present
law in the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision of Murdoch v.
Murdoch, in which a married woman unsuccessfully sought to obtain
a property interest in a valuable ranch to which her husband held legal
title. The Court dismissed her contribution of work and management,
which was about the same as her husband’s, as being what was expected
of an ordinary ranch wife in any event. The fact that she was as res-
ponsible as her husband for the value of the property did not give the
Court any grounds for interfering with his legal title. When the law re-
quires such results, then nothing could be more apparent than the fact
that such law is no longer tolerable in a society that professes its laws
to be both humane and just.3 9
Speaking further on the subject of married women’s property rights,
the Commission laments the social concepts that have embodied in
certain property laws a “patronizing and unnecessarily protective
attitude towards married women”.40 The Commission concludes:
Marriage should be a partnership between persons who are legal equals.
It is within the power of the people of Canada, acting through their elected
representatives, to ensure that this ideal is realized. In our view, nothing
short of this goal should be sought and no law short of this goal should
be tolerated. 41
While a law-oriented entity such as the Law Reform Commission
performs an essential function in the evolution of social justice, by
means of its in-depth studies and reports on legal subjects, there is
also a place for non-professional advisory groups attuned to the
expressed needs and wishes of the community as one of the con-
tinuing structures for social change. In recognition of the im-
portance of such groups, and in response to the recommendations
of the Royal Commission, an Advisory Council on the Status of
Women was created by the federal government in 1973 to bring
regularly to the attention of the government and the public the
advances that have been made and the obstacles that continue to
hinder improvement in the status of women. This Council has a
full-time Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson and a small support
staff and has adopted, inter alia, the following terms of reference:
(a)
to advise and consult on matters pertaining to women and
report annually on the progress being made in improving the
status of women in Canada;
‘3 Supra, f.n.36, 2-3.
40 Ibid., 11.
41 Ibid., 45.
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
[Vol. 21
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
to undertake research on matters relevant to the status of
women and suggest research topics that can be carried out by
governments, private business, universities and voluntary asso-
ciations;
to establish programmes to correct attitudes and prejudices
adversely affecting the status of women;
to propose legislation, policies and practices to improve the
status of women;
to consult systematically with women’s bureaux or similar
provincial organizations, and with voluntary associations partic-
ularly concerned with the problems of women 2
Although continuing structures for social change, such as the Law
Reform Commission and the Advisory Council on the Status of
Women, will probably play increasingly influential roles in the
emerging framework of Canadian society, other machinery designed
to protect the basic elements of the social structure and the gains
already achieved must also be incorporated into that framework. Not
all social reforms are achieved in response to general social demands.
Some are produced in response to the innovative proposals of re-
form-minded legislators or interested citizen groups and may out-
reach the social attitudes of large segments of the population. In
such cases, it is especially important that enforcement procedures
be written into the new laws to ensure that they are respected. While
law enforcement has long been a function of the courts, it is expected
that it will also be a concern of any new anti-discrimination agency,
such as the Canadian Human Rights Commission, proposed in the
Canadian Human Rights Act introduced in the current session of
Parliament.4 ”
Conclusions
What then is the immediate role of governments as regards
women’s rights, and what should that role be in the future? –
1. It is submitted that it is the responsibility of governments, both
federal and provincial, to progress along the path to social justice
by continuing to repeal explicit discriminatory provisions in the
law with the greatest possible expedition. Sexually based enact-
42 Advisory Council on the Status of Women, What’s Been Done? (1974),
29; see also, supra, f.n.3, 470, Recommendation 166.
4: Bill C-72, 1st Sess., 30th Pan., 1974-75.
1975]
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE STATUS OF WOMEN
613
ments that, while not distinguishing between men and women,
still have a differential impact or perpetuate an obsolete social
attitude that impedes the personal growth of women, and their
integration into the mainstream of Canadian society, should also
be eliminated.
2. The governments should ensure that their programmes and
administrative practices are conducive to the full participation
of women as equals with men in economic and social structures.
3. They can further discharge their responsibility by providing
enforcement machinery, such as human rights commissions, to
protect the gains already achieved.
4. They can -and should provide machinery for the continuing
review and reform of the law.
5. They should be prepared to reconsider and redesign the struc-
tures for -change in response to changing needs and demands.
New policies and structures for change designed and intended
to achieve the above goals are now either in place or being created.
Where do we go from here? Is it the proper function of governments
to content themselves with the establishment of an egalitarian
legal framework through which the competing demands of the
population may be heard and evaluated in the search for social
justice? Or should a government proceed further by indicating the
direction it considers that social attitudes should take? And if it
does, at what stage should the government cease to interfere in the
social evolution of its people or run the risk of appearing to be a
totalitarian regime? To apply the question more directly, to what
extent does the worthiness of ensuring full legal and social equality
for women justify a government in taking measures to modify
social attitudes?
These are questions that all lawyers and other persons interested
in pursuing the ideal of social justice must ask themselves. The
author is confident that, so long as a government concerns itself
with the maximum satisfaction of the demands of its people.in a
society that emphasizes human dignity in all its manifestations, one
need not be too concerned about policies designed to secure atti-
tudinal change towards this end. The active pursuit of social justice
for one segment of the population tends to trigger concerns as to
the human rights of other elements of society. As the Honourable
Marc Lalonde, Minister responsible for the Status of Women, said
recently:
McGILL LAW JOURNAL
(Vol. 21
Only through the presentation of facts contradicting the myths on which
prejudice is based can people be persuaded to adopt new attitudes, and
as a result, new modes of behaviour. 4
To finish on an optimistic note, it is submitted that, as social
attitudes become more attuned to the demands of social justice, the
law will be better able to discharge its obligations as an instrument
for effecting social change. It is to be anticipated that the law, while
continuing to serve as the “backbone of civilization”, will in time
cease to appear to any segment of the population, and to women in
particular, to be “a barrier to their self-fulfillment that will be
cracked by the winds of change”.4 5
44 Address entitled Equality: A Principle in Practice, by the Honourable
Marc Lalonde, Minister responsible for the Status of Women, to Action ’75+,
Ottawa, Oct. 15, 1975.
45 See text, supra, “The Process of Law Reform”.
