Human Rights Activism

Protest on Parliament Hill, 1970 | Copyright Dominique Clément / Clément Consulting

Documents relating to Canadian human rights and civil liberties groups that were active from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Civil liberties and human rights organizations are dedicated to realizing the aspirations of the modern human rights movement. Unlike groups representing specific constituencies (e.g., women or minorities), “rights associations” are self-identified ‘civil liberties’ or ‘human rights’ groups (e.g., Alberta Human Rights Association or the Nova Scotia Civil Liberties Association). Rights associations seek to defend the rights of all citizens. Each one is fervently non-partisan; the preservation of human rights, and not political power, is their goal. Only a handful of rights associations had been active in Canada before 1960. However, by the 1970s, more than forty rights associations had emerged, at least one in each province. The following documents are related to the activities of rights associations since the 1930s.