Pierre Elliot Trudeau was born on October 18, 1919 in Montreal to Emile Trudeau a wealthy lawyer and Grace Elliot, a woman of mixed French and Scottish descent. Trudeau's mother spoke English and French and she raised her son to do the same. Pierre's father died when Pie

Trudeau's economic policies were less popular with the Canadian electorate. In 1980 Trudeau passed legislation establishing the National Energy Program which the Liberals said was aimed at safeguarding the country's oil supply from foreign takeovers. "Many westerners remember NEP as a sign of unwanted government intervention. It also established a range of new taxes and price controls over domestically produced oil and natural gas"(Maclean's T4). NEP was a symbol of the way, which central Canada was prepared to siphon money from the west to boost its own economy.

In 1982 Trudeau regained some of his popularity by first playing a large part in severing our British ties to the Privy Council. Then the patriation of the Constitution with it's new Charter of Rights and Freedoms made Canada a fully independent nation. Critics complained that that "the charter puts too much power in the hands of the judges instead of elected representatives"(Maclean's T5). Still Trudeau had his vision for Canada that included "a peaceful co-existence of many cultures within a society that cherished the values of equality and diversity" (Dickerson 170).

On June 30th 1984 after 16 years of office, Trudeau resigned. He decided to focus on his children and withdrew from the public life, although he broke his silence in 1987 and 1992 to debate the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords. The death of his close friend Gerrard Pelletier in 1997 and the death of his son Michel in 1998 left Trudeau in deep depression. This was only made worse by Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer.

Until 1969, Trudeau had experienced little political opposition. However, this changed with the 1969 White Paper policy. This policy announced Canada's intention to dissolve Indian nations and encourage the assimilation of Indian people into Canadian mainstream society. Here Trudeau faced strong dissatisfaction from the aboriginal people. "In countless meetings, interviews, strategy sessions they (the natives) beat the drum of resistance to Canada's assimilation policy"(Sasked). Trudeau portrayed the 1969 White Paper, as an instrument to include the First Nations peoples in his idea of a just society. Trudeau believed that the special status the aboriginal peoples received set them apart from the rest of the nation. In order to achieve his dream of equality for all people he believed that these exceptions had to be abolished. Trudeau wanted to repeal the Indian Act, eliminate the Department of Indian Affairs and do away with reserves. The First Nations people would receive services through the same government agencies as other Canadians. The White Paper "politicized many aboriginal peoples who saw the paper as simply a reaffirmation of the long-standing government goal of assimilation"(Sasked). The near-universal opposition of the First Nations people resulted in the government shelving the paper in 1971. Despite the rejection of the White Paper by Canada

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Approximate Word count = 1989
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)