Canada’s Awokening Under Justin Trudeau

Assessing Canada’s Wokeness: A Progressive Paradigm Or Cause for Concern?

H. R. Richards

CANADA, UNDER JUSTIN TRUDEAU, has sought to position itself as the global bastion of progressive politics.  

Son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Justin has taken his father’s progressive motions, like liberalising divorce laws, decriminalising homosexuality and legalising abortion, into more “woke,” and as many regard extreme, territories. Now, with gender ideology being commonplace in elementary schools, law enforcement and regulation surrounding dangerous drugs becoming relaxed, and significant changes to euthanasia laws, it almost seems that Canada is becoming something of a dystopian nightmare – if not already there.  

In 2018, Canada became just the second country in the world to legalise cannabis. And, just a year later, an experiment in British Columbia saw the decriminalisation of small amounts of hard drugs like heroin, cocaine and fentanyl. This comes off the back of a drug poisoning crisis that has already killed more than 32,000 Canadians since 2016, and escalated during the Covid 19 pandemic, which saw street drugs being increasingly laced with toxic or unknown ingredients, resulting in drug users overdosing and dying. 

Part of Canada’s social revolution can also be witnessed in its extreme new euthanasia laws. In 2016, the Liberal Party in power passed legislation allowing assisted suicide for terminally ill Canadians. Dr. Konia Trouton, an advocate for euthanasia, emphasises the importance of allowing some freedoms and opportunities within an organised society, noting that “Canada is not pursuing a communist-style approach that seeks to restrict such liberties.” Campaign groups, like the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, estimate that around 13,500 people opted for state-assisted suicide last year.  Gender ideology is another example, now promoted in schools across Canada. 

Ultimately, the assessment of whether Canada is potentially ‘too woke’ is a matter of opinion. To some, these aforementioned changes are radical, but for others important strides needed to bring liberty, autonomy and recognition.