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	– Pierre Trudeau declares 'Canada must be a just society' in 1968 – Sept. 9, 1968, CBC/Radio-Canada, (2:22 mins).

A Just society is a normative phrase used to describe what a society "ought" to be. It generally appeals to notions of fairness, equality, and liberty. There is no single definition, and authors disagree about social organization to achieve it.^[1]^[2]

History

The idea of a just society first gained modern attention when philosophers such as John Stuart Mill asked, "What is a 'just society'?"^[3] Their writings covered several perspectives including allowing individuals to live their lives as long as they didn't infringe on the rights to others, to the idea that the resources of society should be distributed to all, including those most deserving first. In 1861, John Stuart Mill published an essay entitled, "Utilitarianism".^[4] In this famous essay, Mill advocated the latter view, in which decision makers attended to the "common good" and all other citizens worked collectively to build communities and programs that would contribute to the good of others.^[1]

Canadian usage

The term was later used as a rhetorical device by Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to encapsulate his vision for the nation.^[5] He first used the term in the 1968 Liberal Party leadership contest, at the height of "Trudeaumania", and it eventually became identified as one of his trademark phrases.^[6] Unlike the "Great Society" of US President Lyndon B. Johnson, the label "Just Society" was not attached to a specific set of reforms, but rather applied to all Trudeau's policies, from multiculturalism to the creation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.^[7] Trudeau defined a just society before becoming the prime minister of Canada:

No one in the society should be entitled to superfluous or luxury goods until the essentials of life are made available to everyone. At first glance, that distribution would appear to obtain in Canada. Thanks to our abundant natural wealth and to the techniques of the industrial era, it no longer seems necessary to trample on one another in the scramble for riches. Consequently, most people take it for granted that every Canadian is assured a reasonable standard of living. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
...
The Just Society will be one in which all of our people will have the means and the motivation to participate. The Just Society will be one in which personal and political freedom will be more securely ensured than it has ever been in the past. The Just Society will be one in which the rights of minorities will be safe from the whims of intolerant majorities. The Just Society will one in which those regions and groups which have not fully shared in the country’s affluence will be given a better opportunity. The Just Society will be one where such urban problems as housing and pollution will be attacked through the application of new knowledge and new techniques. The Just Society will be one in which our Indian and Inuit population will be encouraged to assume the full rights of citizenship through policies which will give them both greater responsibility for their own future and more meaningful equality of opportunity. The Just Society will be a united Canada, united because all of its citizens will be actively involved in the envelope of a country where equality of opportunity is ensured and individuals are permitted to fulfill themselves in the fashion they judge best.
... On the never-ending road to perfect justice we will, in other words, succeed in creating the most humane and compassionate society possible.^[8]

The phrase is now an ingrained part of Canadian political discourse. Those on the social-democratic left consider themselves Trudeau's heirs and vigorously denounce any policy that would harm the Just Society legacy, while the neoliberal right attacks the notion that Trudeau's Canada was more "just" than other eras.^[9]