The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69 was introduced as Bill C-150 by then Minister of Justice Pierre Trudeau in the second session of the 27th Cana...
The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69 was introduced as Bill C-150 by then Minister of Justice Pierre Trudeau in the second session of the 27th Canadian Parliament on December 21, 1967. It passed third reading in the House of Commons after heated debates by a vote of 149 (119 Liberals, 18 New Democrats, 12 Progressive Conservatives) to 55 (43 Progressive Conservatives, 11 Créditistes, 1 Liberal) on May 14, 1969. It introduced major changes to the Criminal Code of Canada and it was literally a cornerstone of modern Canadian law. The bill decriminalized homosexuality, allowed abortion and contraception, and regulated lotteries, gun possession, drinking and driving offences, harassing phone calls, misleading advertising and cruelty to animals. This year it will be the 40th anniversary of the bill's passage.
Homosexuality was one of the biggest problems of the Bill-150. This change was influenced in the late 1960s by the British Parliament's adoption of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, which decriminalized homosexual acts in England and Wales. Naturally Canada wanted to follow this democratic decision. The biggest opposition was from the religious people, the Catholic Créditistes of Quebec held up debate for three weeks supported by the far-right Edmund Burke Society and the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada. Still at the end homosexuality was legalized with age of consent at 21; although it was later lowered to 18.
Contraception and therapeutic abortion under certain conditions were legalized by the bill. This was a step away form the influence of the Catholic Church's moral positions on these issues, basically one more separation of the Church and State. Bill C-150 made it legal for women to get an abortion if a committee of three doctors felt the pregnancy endangered the mental, emotional or physical well-being of the mother. These changes were very important and became a stepping stone for many other freedoms and options that have altered women's place in Canadian society. In 1988 the R. v. Morgentaler ruling, left Canada without any laws regulating abortion.
A number of minor but important changes were made to gambling, gun control and driving under the influence. Before the bill small scale gambling on behalf of charities was permitted, but only Bill C-150 gave the provincial and federal governments the opportunity to use lotteries to fund worthwhile activities, the best example were the 1976 Montreal Olympics. For the first time the bill made it illegal to provide firearms to persons of "unsound mind" or criminals under prohibition orders. The term "firearm" was also expanded; non-restricted, restricted, and prohibited firearm categories were also introduced. Bill C-150 made it a "per se" offence to drive with a blood alcohol content (BAC) in excess of 80 mg/100 ml of blood. The refusal of a police officer's demand to provide a breath sample was made an offence too. These are the basic rules against drunk driving now.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act 1968-69 basically changed almost all the complicated and important spheres (except for maybe immigration) and solved many ethical problems, creating laws suitable for modern society.
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