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Today is:
Sat, 04 - Feb, 2012:
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This day in 1906...
Gladys Strum, pioneer in Saskatchewan and Canadian politics, was born
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Gladys Grace Mae Lamb was born on February 4, 1906 in Gladstone, Manitoba. At 16, she became a teacher in Saskatchewan, where she met her husband Warner Strum. Early in their marriage, Warner contracted tuberculosis and Gladys got an understanding of the deficiencies in Canada?s health care system. During travels to New Zealand, Strum gained an appreciation for that country?s progressive health care practices, which prompted her to get involved in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party in Canada. Although defeated in her bids for the legislature in 1938 and 1944 (the latter by six votes to Premier Patterson), Strum was actively involved in Canada?s first socialist government when Tommy Douglas became premier in the June 1944 election. The Saskatchewan CCF elected Strum president, making her the first woman president of a political party in Canada. The following year, she was elected the CCF Member of Parliament for Qu?Appelle, Saskatchewan, the only woman in the House of Commons during that session and the fifth woman MP elected to Ottawa. Among other achievements, Strum was successful in convincing the speaker of Parliament that women need no longer wear hats or handkerchiefs in the gallery. She was also famous for her line, ?No one has ever objected to women working; the only thing they have ever objected to is paying women for working.? Strum was defeated in 1949. However, she made her way back into politics in 1960 as a member of the Saskatchewan Legislature from Saskatoon. During that session she was proud to vote for the legislation that created Canada?s first socialized medical system. Strum died in Penticton, B.C. on August 15, 2005.
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Civil rights are the protections and privileges of personal power given to all citizens by law. Civil rights are distinguished from "human rights" or "natural rights." Civil rights are rights that are bestowed by nations on those within their territorial boundaries, while natural or human rights are rights that many scholars claim that individuals have by nature of being born. For example, the philosopher John Locke (1632 -1704) argued that the natural rights of life, liberty and property should be converted into civil rights and protected by the sovereign state as an aspect of the social contract.
Laws guaranteeing civil rights may be written down, derived from custom or implied. In Canada, the United States, and most continental European countries, civil rights laws are most often written. Examples of civil rights and liberties include the right of redress if injured by another, the right to privacy, the right of peaceful protest, the right to a fair investigation and trial if suspected of a crime, and more generally-based constitutional rights such as the right to vote, the right to personal freedom, the right to freedom of movement and the right of equal protection. As civilizations emerged and formalized through written constitutions, some of the more important civil rights were granted to citizens.
In Stephen Hammond’s book Steps in the Rights Direction: 365 human rights celebrations and tragedies that inspired Canada and the world, he has many civil rights events. For example, on July 3, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the U.S. Civil Rights Act, on April 4, 1968 civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated, and on March 17, 1912 future behind-the-scenes civil rights activist Bayard Rustin is born. There are many more examples of civil rights tragedies and triumphs in the book.
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