Canadians believe that they live in a democracy. Those who say Canada is a democracy are thinking about the way we choose our leaders. Democracy is usually traced to ancient Greece, but it was also practised by some of the aboriginal governments that existed in North America long before the Europeans came here.
Democracy simply means government by the people. At the end of the day, its the people who must be consulted before governments are formed and before they make our laws. Canada is a democracy because we choose our political and government leaders by electing them.
We say that Canada's system of government is a parliamentary democracy. The Greeks gave us many of the political ideas that make our parliament a democratic institution. Some of these ideas include majority rule, the rule of law, the importance of debating issues in a public forum, and the idea that all individuals are legally and politically equal.
