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Historical Significant Human Rights Events in Canada (Law in Action, Blair, p.78)

1833 Slavery is abolished under the British Emancipation Act

1884 Indian Act is amended to outlaw cultural and religious ceremonies such as the potlatch

1900 Chinese Immigration Act increases $50 head tax to $100

1900 Dominion Elections Act excludes minorities from voting in federal elections

1908 "No stoppage" rule requires immigrants to travel directly to Canada, reducing the number of immigrants from India

1914Komagata Maru incident: officials allow only 20 of the 376 potential immigrants to enter Canada, forcing the rest to return to India

1916 Manitoba grants women the right to vote in provincial elections

1918 Women are granted the right to vote in federal elections

1919 Women are allowed to stand for Parliament

1920 Federal government makes the franchise universal, except for some minorities and Status Indians

1921 Quebec court upholds the right of a threatre owner to refuse to allow a black patron to sit in the orchestra

1927 Indian Act is amended to make it illegal for Aboriginal peoples to hire lawyers to pursue land claims without the consent of the superintendent general of Indian affairs

1928 Supreme Court of Canada decides that the word person does not apply to women

1928 Alberta passes the Sexual Sterilization Act, ordering the sterilization of patients in psychiatric hospitals

1929 "Famous Five"-Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards, and Irene Parlby---appeal "person decision" to the Privy Council in England, which rules that women are persons

1934 People libelled because of race or creed can get a court order to stop the libel

1940 Communist Party is outlawed under the War Measures Act

1942 Hutterites, Doukobhors, and enemy aliens are barred from buying land

1942 Japanese Canadians are forcibly removed from their homes and sent to detention camps

1945 Covenant restraining the sale of land to Jews is struck down

1947 Saskatchewan Bill of Rights Act is the first broad, human rights statute passed in Canada

1948 People of all races, except for Status Indians, are given federal franchise

1950 Supreme Court of Canada rules that Jehovah's Witnesses can distribute religious pamphlets

1953 Fair Employment Practices Act

1956 Female Employees Equal Pay Act

1960 Status Indians are granted the right to vote in federal elections

1960 Canadian Bill of Rights