THE BASIC NORM OF CANADIANS


The Commission reported a factor common to the submissions it received, a factor that is reflective of the liberal democratic foundation of Canadian society:

The basic constant is that human concerns need to be central to our response to future change. (4)

This constant is actually a norm in our society. It derives from the philosophy of liberalism in which the highest value is the individual human being. It is sometimes important to remind those charged with policy making tasks, of the liberal foundation of our society.

Liberalism, in the words of C. Wright Mills, (1971) "is at once the main line of our intellectual heritage and our official political philosophy". (5) Within this philosophy is the idea of the individual as a master less and autonomous being whose strength is her reason and whose law is her conscience. She alone is responsible for her well-being; and, being the master less, reasoning creature, is free to respond to her needs (perceived or otherwise) in any way that her reason suggests and her conscience dictates. In this scheme, the State becomes an instrument for the realization of the will of the individual in society. Hallowell (1954) describes this relation between the individual and the State in the following way:

The only basis of civil society which the liberal could conceive was a contract... The State is regarded not as a necessity arising out of men's needs and social nature with a purpose transcending the subjective wills of individuals, but as an artificial instrumentality based upon the claims of individuals. The State exists to satisfy men's claims and to reflect their interest. (6)

Some important values of liberalism are:

* the individual is the highest unit of value in society;
   
*

the individual is the measure of all things;

   
*

the individual is responsible for, and should control her fate;

   
*

the individual has the right to be dealt with in accordance with rational and

understandable laws to which all power is also subject;
   
*

there are rational ways to acquiring knowledge;

   
*

the individual, through her innate reason can acquire knowledge;

   
*

education is the key to the progress of the individual;

   
*

the State exists to serve the individual;
   
*

all individuals are equal before the State, and as such, equally entitled to

opportunities provided by the State.

In a society where the individual is responsible for her well being, self-reliance must be a major aspiration. The State, as an instrument of the individual must provide the latter with opportunities through which the individual can work toward becoming self-reliant. Moreover, if each individual is to have a fair chance of becoming self-reliant, she must have equal access with others to these opportunities, not only in law but in actual everyday life. Equality of opportunity is a necessary means for self-reliance.

In 1929, women in Canada became persons. This was a legal event with wide-ranging social and economic ramifications. On February 14, 1981, the status of women as persons with the right to equal opportunities in all areas of society, was firmly entrenched in the new Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

When women became persons in Canada, they ceased being (legal) dependents of husbands, fathers and other male "guardians". They ceased being nonentities, legally speaking. They became individuals responsible for their well-being, and thereby, individuals who must work toward becoming self- reliant. They became individuals with the same rights to State-provided opportunities as men.

Today, while women have in law, equal rights as men, they do not have these rights in their everyday lives, for the patriarchal, institutional barriers to their full participation in society, persist. Until these barriers are removed, women cannot be self-reliant persons, for these barriers are barriers to equal opportunities for women.


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