Human Rights A Day

Supreme Court of Canada upholds decision to imprison a homosexual as a "dangerous sex offender." Everett George Klippert unwittingly woke Canadians up to injustices against homosexuals, and inspired Pierre Trudeau’s famous quote, “The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation.” On the morning of August 16, 1965, when RCMP officers in Pine Point, Northwest Territories happened to speak to Klippert, he openly revealed his homosexuality, and mentioned he’d been sexually involved with a number of men during his adult life. They arrested him and the next day, in Hay River, he was charged with four counts of gross indecency under section 149 of the criminal code. Days later, he was sentenced to three years in prison, and on a subsequent charge, was declared a dangerous sexual offender to be held in prison indefinitely. Even on a final appeal, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Klippert on November 7, 1967. Despite the court’s majority opinion, many Canadians were shocked. Klippert’s case alerted them