The Progressive Conservative Party, supported by laborites and members of the Liberal Party, introduced a motion today in the Canadian Parliament asking for a Bill of Rights to guard civil liberties. John Diefenbacker, a leading member of the Progressive Conservative Party, who introduced the motion, pointed out that freedom of speech, religion and press are matters of vital concern. "Freedom needs an anchor in a written bill of rights," he declared.
Supporting the motion, M.J. Coldwell, laborite leader, said that civil rights are frequently denied in Canada to individuals because of their race and color. "We have so-called clubs which are really resorts like the Seigniory Club not many miles away from here, where no accommodation can be obtained by anyone of the Jewish race or religion," he stated. "In the city of Toronto, there is the lawyers’ club in which no Jewish application is accepted. That is all the more surprising because one of the safeguards of our democracy must come from those who practice the law. They at least should exercise no discrimination in any way."
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
