How Did Bill C-150 Change Canada

Bill C-150, also known as the Omnibus Bill, or the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1968, was created by Pierre Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada at the time to amend different codes and acts to update them to make them more suited for the modern society (Prober 180). Through this bill, Trudeau amended many different laws on gambling, firearms, driving, abortion, homosexuality, and more. (Prober 180). Prime Minister Trudeau made a lot of positive changes and helped the advancements of issues through Bill C-150. For example, he penalized anyone who refused to take the breathalyzer test when asked by an officer and tightened gun laws. An example of an advancement he made was for abortion. Before the bill had passed, it was criminal for women

Through Bill C-150, homosexuality went from being a criminal act, to a disease, which was not an ideal situation, but it did help to advance the topic of homosexuality. It also eventually led to more gay rights in Canada, when people had a better understanding of what homosexuality is and how it is not criminal and also not a disease.

Firstly, it is important to discuss the influences of the creation of Bill C-150 and why Trudeau made the bold decision to include a section which decriminalized homosexuality. As said before, Canada was trying to catch up to the policies of the United Kingdom. Trudeau took influence from the UK who had changed their criminal law in the 1950’s to make it so that homosexual behaviour between two consenting adults in private is not considered a criminal act (Chambers 252). The section included in Trudeau’s Omnibus Bill is similar to the one created in the United Kingdom, being that both bills do not explicitly state that they are decriminalizing homosexuality, but it is implied that private and consensual homosexual acts between two adults do not concern the state. Not only was Trudeau influenced by the laws of the UK, he

At first, there were too many people who had been influenced by the church, hence why homosexuality was seen as criminal in the first place. As Tom Warner, an activist for gay rights and writer says in David Churchill’s article: “This decision raised the chilling prospect that any gay man [any person] could be imprisoned for life unless he could prove he was unlikely to recommit a same-sex act” (Churchill 7). Through Warner’s words, it is seen how breath relieving the decision was to separate church from state for the gay community. The proposal of bill C-150 and the decriminalization of homosexuality made it so that the church would not affect any more political issues. As Trudeau has infamously said, “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation” (CBCnews). What Trudeau meant in his words was that the state or the government, should not have any say in what people do at home because it isn’t any of their business. He didn’t think that the state should have any say on what people did in private. Trudeau also said, “I believe in the necessity of state control to maximize the liberty and welfare of all, and to permit everyone to realize himself fully”, which shows that what he set out to do was to allow for people to be who they are and not be penalized for it (Chambers 255).