The ''Ligue des droits et libertés'' (formerly known in English as the Quebec Civil Liberties Union) is a not-for-profit

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

organization based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

province of

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Under the Duplessis regime, some of the founders of the League were already very active in the defense of human rights in Canada. This is particularly the case of Frank Scott, who founded the Canadian Society for Human Rights in 1937,

Thérèse Casgrain Marie Thérèse Casgrain (; 10 July 1896 – 3 November 1981) was a French-Canadian feminist, reformer, politician and senator. She was a leader in the fight for women's right to vote in the province of Quebec, as well as the first woman t ...

, pioneer in the fight for women's suffrage and founder of the League for Women's Rights,

Pierre Elliot Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

, who participated in the creation of several groups intended to federate the opposition forces to the duplessist regime in the second half of the 1950s.

J.Z. Léon Patenaude JZ, J/Z, or J-Z may refer to: People: *Jay-Z (born 1969), American rapper and business executive *John Zachary Young (1907–1997), English zoologist * J. Z. Knight (born 1946), American psychic *Gesias Calvancanti (born 1983), Brazilian mixed mart ...

Jacques Hébert Jacques René Hébert (; 15 November 1757 – 24 March 1794) was a French journalist and leader of the French Revolution. As the founder and editor of the radical newspaper ''Le Père Duchesne'', he had thousands of followers known as ''the ...

, and

Gérard Pelletier Gérard Pelletier (; June 21, 1919 – June 22, 1997) was a Canadian journalist and politician. Career Pelletier initially worked as a journalist for ''Le Devoir'', a French-language newspaper in Montreal, Quebec. In 1961 he became editor-i ...

joined them to launch the Ligue des droits de l'homme on May 29, 1963, in Montreal.Andrew Duffy, "Senator, Katimavik founder dead at 84," ''National Post'', 8 December 2007, A14. The organization is committed to upholding the principles of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

History and policies

Pierre Trudeau, one of the co-founders of the union, served as

prime minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada () is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the Confidence and supply, confidence of a majority of the elected House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons ...

from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Jacques Hébert served as president of the union for part of this period and opposed Trudeau's use of the

War Measures Act The ''War Measures Act'' (; 5 George V, Chap. 2) was a statute of the Parliament of Canada that provided for the declaration of war, invasion, or insurrection, and the types of emergency measures that could thereby be taken. The Act was brough ...

to resolve the FLQ Crisis. The organization opposes Canada's policy of detaining people under

security certificate In Canada, a security certificate is a legal mechanism by which the Canadian government can detain and deport permanent residents and all other non-citizens (i.e., foreign nationals) living in Canada. It is authorized within the parameters of th ...

s.Interventions nationales
, Ligue des droits et libertés, accessed 4 January 2011.

References

Human rights organizations based in Canada Organizations based in Montreal Civil rights organizations in Canada

External links

Ligue des droits et libertés
{{Quebec-stub