Through insightful essays, Revisiting Human Rights in Canadian History challenges the national myths that celebrate Canada's inclusivity, frame this country as a global human rights leader, and minimize persistent inequalities at home. Contributors to this volume critically examine how Canadian citizens and governments have historically understood and mobilized human rights, as well as who has fought for, benefitted from, and been excluded from them. Spanning topics such as incarceration and criminalization, women's rights, labour movements, Indigenous sovereignty, grassroots activism, immigration, and foreign policy, this collection reflects the diversity of research driving the rapidly developing field of human rights. Both a timely intervention and call to mobilize for social justice, Revisiting Human Rights in Canadian History offers a nuanced reassessment of Canada's history and historiography of human rights.
Jennifer Tunnicliffe is a human rights historian with a particular interest in how domestic and transnational activism shapes cultural attitudes and legislative approaches to rights and freedoms. She teaches in the department of History at Toronto Metropolitan University. Stephanie Bangarth is a Professor in History at King's University College, at the University of Western Ontario. She teaches courses on human rights advocacy and history in Canada and the United States and immigrant experience in North America.
Introduction by Jennifer Tunnicliffe and Stephanie Bangarth Chapter 1. Reflections: Current Trends in Historical Writing on Human Rights in Canada by James W.St.G. Walker Part I. Human Rights for Whom? Chapter 2. A Child's Right to be Civilised? Human Rights, Children's Rights, and Indigenous Rights by Jasmine Holding Brown Chapter 3. Whose Rights Count? Antiracist Activists, Feminists, and Canada's Human Rights Codes from the early 1950s to the early 1970s by Ruth A. Frager Chapter 4. On the Edge of Freedom: The Re-enslavement of Elizabeth Watson in Nova Scotia by Franco Paz and Harvey Amani Whitfield Part II. Incarceration, Criminalization, and Human Rights in Canada Chapter 5. Internment is a Family Affair: One Pro-Communist Ukrainian-Jewish Extended Family's Experiences with Political Incarceration in World War II Canada by Rhonda L. Hinther Chapter 6. "Injurious Effects on Mind and Body": Solitary Confinement and the Limitations of Rights in Canadian Penitentiaries by Janet Miron Chapter 7. Performative Justice? Canada's Response to Alleged War Criminals in the Country, the Case of the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration v. Vladimir Katriuk by Katelyn Arac Part III. Human Rights Activists and Activism in Canada Chapter 8. The Battle of Church Street: Queers, Police, and the Streets of Toronto, 1981 by Tom Hooper Chapter 9. From Demanding Exclusion to Joining the Human Rights Community: Labour, Human Rights, and Immigration Policy in 1940s Canada by David Goutor Chapter 10. Universal Rights in Local Contexts: Postwar Human Rights Debates in Quebec (1945-60) by Paul-Etienne Rainville Chapter 11. Native Non-Governmental Organizations: Grassroots Constructions of Aboriginal Human Rights in Canada by Maria Cristina Manzano-Munguia, Dan Smoke, and Mary Lou Smoke Part IV. Canada, Foreign Policy, and Transnational Human Rights Approaches Chapter 12. Inside Out: The Rights Revolution and Canadian Foreign Policy since 1948 by Asa McKercher Chapter 13. "Eyes on the Prize": Canada, Human Rights, and South African Apartheid in the Transition Years by Daniel Manulak Chapter 14. Pacific Flows: Asia, Canada, and Human Rights Norms Diffusion by David Webster
