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OTTAWA Ten months before the Canadian government marked the 30thanniversary of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with little morethan a press release, bureaucrats predicted the sort ofcelebrations held for previous milestones would "be a toughsell . . . given the current government" and were therefore"highly unlikely," an email obtained by Postmedia Newsreveals. The email, obtained through Access to Information, is among severalthat suggest Justice Canada and Canadian Heritage staffers wereinquiring about official celebrations and being told not to expectany. The email citing a Canadian Heritage adviser goes on to say:"So far nothing's in the works and there have been nodiscussions with Justice." In another email dating back to December 2011, a seniorcommunications official with Justice Canada asks a director ifshe'd be required to "take on an advertising campaign and(organize) events to celebrate (the) 30th anniversary of theCharter next year just like we did in 2002." The response: "It is unlikely that we will be asked to run anadvertising campaign or any celebratory activity of thatmagnitude." Despite considerable criticism suggesting the Conservatives wereavoiding marking the event because the Charter charge was led bythen-Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau, the government opted tokeep the April 17 celebration low-key. Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted at the time that the Charterwas "inextricably linked to the patriation of theConstitution" which never won the support of Quebec. Canadian Heritage bureaucrats did submit a detailed event plan lessthan two months before the anniversary calling for a big splash onParliament Hill that would include a display of the original 1982proclamation and which would be attended by Heritage Minister JamesMoore, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and Gov. Gen. David Johnston. Officials hoped to "underline the importance of theConstitution Act on Canada's system of government, laws and civilrights" and show "Canadians are united by core values, ashared history and a sense of common purpose." Officials predicted it would be widely publicized through bothtraditional and social media and even sought to prepare theminister for any blowback from those who might argue acommemoration was divisive because Quebec never signed theconstitution. Moore's director of communications said Thursday that thedepartment regularly submits communications proposals. "Some of them we take, some of them we don't," JamesMaunder said. In the end, the government marked the occasion with afour-paragraph joint statement. A draft version of the release, however, shows changes were made toinclude a reference to former Conservative prime minister JohnDiefenbaker and his 1960 Bill of Rights, the Charter's predecessor.The official release also bumped up a reference to Queen ElizabethII. Several criticisms highlighted by a senior Justice Canada mediaadviser in an email accompanying the draft, however, don't appearto have been addressed. In the email, Carole Saindon noted the Constitution Act didn't"empower 'our government' to amend every part of theConstitution" as the release suggested, and that it would havebeen more accurate to say the "federal and provincialgovernments together." According to the documents, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson also wasasked to be the keynote speaker at a conference dubbed Checking OurConstitution @30: the Influence of the Canadian Constitution andthe Charter of Rights on Legislation, Identity and Federalism.Sponsored by the Institute for Canadian Studies, the event was totake place at the University of Ottawa on April 17. A letter issued on the minister's behalf indicated he could notattend "due to other commitments." It appears Justice Canada also was asked to contribute $500 to be a"featured exhibitor" during the conference. Twitter.com/tobicohen. I am an expert from slimming-machines.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Ultrasound Cavitation Slimming Machine , Diode Laser Hair Removal Machine Manufacturer, Ultrasound Cavitation Slimming Machine,and more.
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