The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA; french: Association Canadienne des Libertés Civiles) is a nonprofit organization in Canada devoted to the defence of
civil liberties
Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
and
constitutional rights
A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...
The CCLA was founded in 1964 in Toronto, prompted by the Ontario government's proposal of a bill that would have granted special powers to the police in the face of a rise in organized crime. Its predecessor was the Association for Civil Liberties (ACL), which at its foundation had been intended to address national issues, but had become focused primarily on issues in Ontario. The ACL was led by
Irving Himel Irving may refer to:
People
*Irving (name), including a list of people with the name
Fictional characters
* Irving, the main character's love interest in Cathy (comic strip)
* Lloyd Irving, the main protagonist in the ''Tales of Symphonia'' vide ...
, and in response to the bill, he gathered human rights leaders in Toronto, including
Pierre Berton
Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, CC, O.Ont. (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a Canadian writer, journalist and broadcaster. Berton wrote 50 best-selling books, mainly about Canadiana, Canadian history and popular culture. He also wr ...
,
June Callwood
June Rose Callwood, (June 2, 1924 – April 14, 2007) was a Canadian journalist, author and social activist. She was known as "Canada's Conscience".
Callwood achieved acclaim and a loyal following for her articles and columns written for na ...
,
Bora Laskin
Bora Laskin (October 5, 1912 – March 26, 1984) was a Canadian jurist who served as the 14th chief justice of Canada from 1973 to 1984. Laskin was appointed a puisne justice of the Supreme Court in 1970, and served on the Ontario Court of ...
,
Mark MacGuigan
Mark Rudolph MacGuigan, (February 17, 1931 – January 12, 1998) was a Canadian academic and politician.
Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the son of Mark Rudolph MacGuigan and Agnes Violet Trainor, he was educated at Saint ...
John Keiller MacKay
Lieutenant-Colonel John Keiller MacKay (July 11, 1888 – June 12, 1970) was a Canadian soldier, lawyer and jurist. MacKay served as the 19th lieutenant governor of Ontario from 1957 to 1963.
Early life and education
John Keiller MacKay ...
, and they formed the CCLA with Mackay as its honorary president.
In 1968, the CCLA won a grant from the Ford Foundation to study due process in Canadian lower courts and used the findings as a guide for its advocacy in the ensuing years.
The CCLA was one of the few groups in Canada that protested the 1970 invocation of the ''
War Measures Act
The ''War Measures Act'' (french: Loi sur les mesures de guerre; 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 coul ...
October Crisis
The October Crisis (french: Crise d'Octobre) refers to a chain of events that started in October 1970 when members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cr ...
Dominique Clément
Dominique Clément is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Alberta and a member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. He is a Canadian historical sociologist who specializes in human rights and s ...
, its most enduring contribution was its influence on the drafting of the ''
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...
'', which was enacted in 1982.
Leadership
Alan Borovoy
Alfred Alan Borovoy, (March 17, 1932 – May 11, 2015) was a Canadian lawyer and human rights activist best known as the longtime general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA).general counsel of the organization from 1968 to 2009 and under his leadership, he and the CCLA became famous throughout Canada as defenders of free speech and civil liberties. He continued as general counsel emeritus from 2009 until his death in 2015.
Nathalie Des Rosiers
Nathalie Des Rosiers (born 1959) is a lawyer, academic and former politician in Ontario, Canada. She is the 6th and current Principal of Massey College at the University of Toronto. She was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario ...
was CCLA's general counsel from 2009 to 2013.
Sukanya Pillay
Sukanya ( sa, सुकन्या, lit=wonderful virgin, translit=Sukanyā) is a princess In Hindu mythology. She is the daughter of Sharyati, the son of Vaivasvata Manu, and the wife of the sage Chyavana.
Legend
Marriage
According to ...
was executive director and general counsel from 2014 until 2017, and had been acting general counsel from 2013 to 2014.
Former
Attorney-General of Ontario
The Attorney General of Ontario is the chief legal adviser to His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario and, by extension, the Government of Ontario. The Attorney General is a senior member of the Executive Council of Ontario (the cabinet) an ...
Michael Bryant was appointed executive director and general counsel in 2018 and served until January 1, 2022 when he left to become executive director of
Legal Aid BC Legal Aid BC (formerly the Legal Services Society) is the legal aid provider in British Columbia, Canada.
Services are available for family, immigration, and criminal law matters and include legal information, advice, or representation, depending ...
.Noa Mendelsohn-Aviv was appointed executive director and general counsel on February 9, 2022. She had previously been acting executive director and general counsel from 2017 to 2018.
British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) is an autonomous, non-partisan charitable society that seeks to "promote, defend, sustain, and extend civil liberties and human rights." It works towards achieving this purpose through l ...
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American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
*
American Civil Rights Union
The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) is an American legal organization founded by former Reagan Administration official Robert B. Carleson in 1998 as a conservative counter to the American Civil Liberties Union.
History
Due to a lack of reso ...
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New York Civil Liberties Union
The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is a civil rights organization in the United States. Founded in November 1951 as the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, it is a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with nearly ...