Editing Pierre Trudeau (section)

=== Social policy ===
==== Bilingualism and multiculturalism ====
Trudeau's first major legislative push was implementing the majority of recommendations from Pearson's [[Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism]] via the ''[[Official Languages Act (Canada)|Official Languages Act]]'', which made French and English the co-equal official languages of the federal government.<ref>{{cite web |title=Official Languages Act – 1985, c. 31 (4th Supp.) |url=http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/O-3.01/page-1.html |url-status=dead |work=Act current to July 11th, 2010 |publisher=Department of Justice |access-date=August 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110105194649/http://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/O-3.01/page-1.html |archive-date=January 5, 2011 }}</ref> More controversial than the declaration (which was backed by the NDP and, with some opposition in caucus, the PCs) was the implementation of the Act's principles: between 1966 and 1976, the francophone proportion of the civil service and military doubled, causing alarm in some sections of anglophone Canada who felt they were being disadvantaged.{{sfn|English (2009)|p=141}}

Trudeau's Cabinet fulfilled Part IV of the Royal Commission's report by announcing a "[[Multiculturalism]] Policy" on October 8, 1971. It was the first of its kind in the world,{{sfn|English (2009)|p=142}} subsequently being emulated by several provinces such as Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba; even other countries, most notably Australia, which has had a similar history and immigration pattern, emulated the policy. Beyond the specifics of the policy itself, this action signalled an openness to the world and coincided with a more open immigration policy that Pearson had brought in. The policy recognized that while Canada was a country of two official languages, it recognized a plurality of cultures &ndash; "a multicultural policy within a bilingual framework".{{sfn|English (2009)|p=145}} This annoyed public opinion in Quebec, which believed that it challenged Quebec's claim of Canada being a country of two nations.{{sfn|English (2009)|p=146}}

==== Immigration ====
Following the [[Vietnam War]], a refugee crisis was caused by the flight of the [[Vietnamese boat people|boat people]] from Vietnam, as thousands of people, mostly ethnic Chinese, fled the country in makeshift boats across the [[South China Sea]], usually to the [[British Hong Kong|British colony of Hong Kong]]. The Trudeau government was generous in granting asylum to the refugees.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=218}} By 1980, Canada had accepted about 44,000 boat people, making it one of the top destinations for them.{{sfn|Granatstein|Bothwell|1991|p=219}}

==== Indigenous issues ====
{{further|The Canadian Crown and Indigenous peoples of Canada}}
In 1969, Trudeau, along with his then-[[Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations|Minister of Indian Affairs]] [[Jean Chrétien]], proposed the [[1969 White Paper]] (officially entitled "Statement of the Government of Canada on Indian policy"). The Paper proposed the general assimilation of First Nations into the Canadian body politic through the elimination of the ''[[Indian Act]]'' and Indian status, the parcelling of reserve land to private owners, and the elimination of the [[Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada|Department of Indian and Northern Affairs]]. The White Paper was widely seen as racist and an attack on Canada's indigenous peoples, and prompted the first major national mobilization of indigenous activists against the federal government's proposal, leading Trudeau to set aside the legislation.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kerr |first=Elisabetta |title=Pierre Trudeau's White Paper and the Struggle for Aboriginal Rights in Canada |url=https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=gljuh |journal=The Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History |date=September 2017 |access-date=May 15, 2022 |archive-date=March 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326233148/https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=gljuh |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=White Paper, Red Paper |url=https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-8/white-paper-red-paper |website=Facing History and Ourselves |access-date=July 31, 2019 |archive-date=March 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322183823/https://www.facinghistory.org/stolen-lives-indigenous-peoples-canada-and-indian-residential-schools/chapter-8/white-paper-red-paper |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Death penalty ====
On July 14, 1976, after a long and emotional debate, Bill C-84 was passed by the House of Commons by a vote of 130 to 124, abolishing the [[Capital punishment in Canada|death penalty]] completely and instituting a life sentence without parole for 25 years for first-degree murder.<ref name="Radio Canada">{{cite web |title = Le grandes etapes de l'abolition |url = http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/Dossiers/peinedemort/contenu_bas_03a.asp |publisher = [[Ici Radio-Canada Télé|Radio Canada]] |language = fr |access-date = November 19, 2013 |archive-date = February 22, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130222072734/http://www.radio-canada.ca/nouvelles/dossiers/peinedemort/contenu_bas_03a.asp |url-status = dead }}</ref>