Canadian values

Part of a series on the
Culture of Canada
Culture of Canada
History
Topics
Research
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was intended to be a source for Canadian values and national unity.[1]

Canadian values are the commonly shared ethical and human values of Canadians.[2] The major political parties generally claim explicitly that they uphold these values, but there are no consensus among them about what they are and follow a value pluralism approach.[3]

Canada ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, education and gender equality.[4] Canadian Government policies—such as publicly funded health care; higher and more progressive taxation; outlawing capital punishment; strong efforts to eliminate poverty; an emphasis on cultural diversity; strict gun control; the legalization of same-sex marriage, pregnancy terminations, euthanasia and cannabis — are social indicators of the country's political and cultural values.[5][6][7] Canadians identify with the country's institutions of health care, military peacekeeping, the national park system and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[8][9]

Numerous scholars have tried to identify, measure and compare them with other countries. Baer et al. argue that "Questions of national character and regional culture have long been of interest to both Canadian and American social scientists. The Canadian literature has focussed largely on historical and structural reasons for regional distinctiveness and the possible role of regionalism in undermining a truly national Canadian character or ethos."[10]

  1. ^ Sniderman, Paul M.; Fletcher, Joseph F.; Tetlock, Philip E. (1996). The Clash of Rights: Liberty, Equality, and Legitimacy in Pluralist Democracy. Yale University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-300-06981-5.
  2. ^ Douglas Baer, Edward Grabb, and William Johnston, "National character, regional culture, and the values of Canadians and Americans." Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue canadienne de sociologie 30.1 (1993): 13-36.
  3. ^ Neil Macdonald (September 13, 2016). "A very short list of Canadian values: Neil Macdonald". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Provincial and Territorial Ranking". www.conferenceboard.ca.
  5. ^ Hollifield, James; Martin, Philip L.; Orrenius, Pia (2014). Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective, Third Edition. Stanford University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-8047-8735-2.
  6. ^ Bricker, Darrell; Wright, John; Ipsos-Reid (Firm) (2005). What Canadians think- about almost- everything. Doubleday Canada. pp. 8–20. ISBN 978-0-385-65985-7.
  7. ^ "Examples of Charter-related cases - Canada's System of Justice". Department of Justice - Government of Canada. 2018.
  8. ^ The Environics Institute (2010). "Focus Canada (Final Report)" (PDF). Queen's University. p. 4 (PDF page 8). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 4, 2016. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
  9. ^ "Exploring Canadian values" (PDF). Nanos Research. October 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2017. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  10. ^ Baer, Grabb, and Johnston, "National character, regional culture, and the values of Canadians and Americans." (1993) p 13.