Engaging ideas, transforming minds
Engaging ideas, transforming minds

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271 pages
6.75 x 9.75 inches
June 2009
Print ISBN: 9781551303567

Overview

Human rights, equality, and social justice are at the forefront of public concern and political debate in Canada. Global events—especially the "war on terrorism"―have fostered further interest in the abuse of human rights, especially when sanctioned or perpetuated by democratic governments. This groundbreaking contributed volume seeks to shed light on this topic by uniting original essays that examine the history of human rights in Canada.

Contributors explore a variety of themes integral to the post-confederation period, including immigration and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, disability, state formation, and provincial-federal relations. Three key issues emerge throughout: incidents of discrimination in both government and society, the efforts of human rights and civil liberties activists to create a more open and tolerant society, and the implementation of state legislation designed to protect or enhance civil rights.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction

PART I: Activism and Human Rights Movements

Chapter 1: Domination and Dissent: Equality Rights before World War II, Ross Lambertson

Chapter 2: Suppression and Subversion: Libertarian and Egalitarian Rights up to 1960, Ross Lambertson

Chapter 3: "Rights without the Sword Are but Mere Words": The Limits of Canada's Rights Revolution, Dominique Clement

Chapter 4: The Second World War and Canada's Early Human Rights Movement: The Asian Canadian Experience, Stephanie Bangarth

PART II: Defining, Defining, and Demanding Rights in Social, Political, and Economic Context

Chapter 5: Finding Jim Crow in Canada, 1789-1967, Barrington Walker

Chapter 6: A Brief History of the Denial of indigenous Rights in Canada, David T. McNab

Chapter 7: "Mixing with People on Spadina": The Tense Relations between Non-Jewish Workers and Jewish Workers, Ruth A. Frager

Chapter 8: The Right to Consent?: Eugenics in Alberta, 1928-1972, Jana Grekul

PART III: Social, Political, and Legislative Change

Chapter 9: Transnational Movements for Children's Rights and the Canadian Political Culture: A History, Dominique Marshall

Chapter 10: From Repression to Renaissance: French-language Rights in Canada before the Charter, Matthew Hayday

Chapter 11: Pierre Elliott Trudeau's Legacy: The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Michael D. Behiels

Chapter 12: Social Movements and Judicial Empowerment: Courts, Public Policy, and Lesbian and Gay Organizing in Canada, Miriam Smith

Appendix A: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1958)
Appendix B: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)

Copyright Acknowledgements
Index

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