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Friday, May 30, 2014

Congratulations to Eric Adams for CALT scholarly paper award

For winning the 2014 Canadian Association of Law Teachers scholarly paper award.

Eric Adams is a legal historian and constitutional scholar at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.

Well done, Eric!

Justice Bob Sharpe to star in re-enactment of 1884 Lazier murder trial

For those who do not follow Christopher Moore's History News blog (shame on you!) and those who would miss this post because he's not on twitter (shame on him!) here's his post on the re-enactment of the Lazier murder trial of 1884, with Robert J. Sharpe of the Ontario Court of Appeal and author of the book on which the re-enactment is based in the role of Judge Patterson.

Click here for Chris's post Cool History: The Lazier murder trial to be reenacted

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Jensen on Labour Relations Laws and British Columbia's Agricultural Workers, 1937-1975

In the Spring 2014 issue (not yet available on open access) Labour/Le Travail, Saskatchewan labour lawyer Heather Jensen, "A History of Legal Exclusion: Labour Relations Laws and British Columbia's Agricultural Workers, 1937-1975."
Here's the abstract:
The article discusses labour relations laws affecting agricultural workers in British Columbia (BC) from 1937 to 1975. Topics include collective bargaining provisions in the 1937 BC law Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, the 1975 inclusion of agricultural workers in the BC Labour Code, and the organization of agricultural workers in labour unions after the 1975 legislative reform.

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Human Rights and Social Justice Series (University of Manitoba Press) is looking for manuscripts

Presumably those not present at Congress 2014 can contact Rhonda if interested:

Are you completing a dissertation or book manuscript related to human rights and social justice? Consider publishing it with the Human Rights and Social Justice Series (University of Manitoba Press)! Series co-editor, Rhonda L. Hinther, will be actively soliciting new manuscripts at Congress 2014. From 10:30-12:00 on Tuesday, 27 May, she’ll be available at the University of Manitoba Press’ booth at the Congress Expo to answer your questions. Headed by series editors Karen Busby (Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba) and Rhonda Hinther (Department of History, Brandon University), the Human Rights and Social Justice series publishes work that explores the quest for social justice and the basic rights and freedoms to which all human beings are entitled, including civil, political, economic, social, collective, and cultural rights. We are particularly interested in works that consider the denial or the realization of human rights and social justice . The series publishes books that are both academically rigorous and accessible to the public. All the best, Rhonda L. Hinther, PhD Associate Professor, History Co-Editor, Human Rights and Social Justice Series (University of Manitoba Press) Department of History Brandon University 270-18th Street Brandon, Manitoba R7A 6A9 204-727-7421 hintherr@brandonu.ca
(via H-Canada)

Monday, May 26, 2014

New release: Clément, Equality Deferred: Sex Discrimination and British Columbia's Human Rights State, 1953-84

The first of the Osgoode Society's four publications for 2014 has just arrived in my mailbox.

A co-publication with UBC Press, and part of the Law and Society series, Equality DeferredSex Discrimination and British Columbia's Human Rights State, 1953-84 by Dominique Clément

traces the history of sex discrimination in Canadian law and the origins of human rights legislation, demonstrating how governments inhibit the application of their own laws, and how it falls to social movements to create, promote, and enforce these laws. 
Focusing on British Columbia -- the first jurisdiction to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex -- Clément documents a variety of absurd, almost unbelievable, acts of discrimination. The province was at the forefront of the women's movement, which produced the country's first rape crisis centres, first feminist newspaper, and first battered women's shelters. And yet nowhere else in the country was human rights law more contested. For an entire generation, the province's two dominant political parties fought to impose their respective vision of the human rights state. This history of human rights law, based on previously undisclosed records of British Columbia's human rights commission, begins with the province’s first equal pay legislation in 1953 and ends with the collapse of the country's most progressive human rights legal regime in 1984. 
This book is not only a testament to the revolutionary impact of human rights on Canadian law but also a reminder that it takes more than laws to effect transformative social change.
Here's the table of contents:

Foreword 

Preface 

Additional Resources 

Introduction 

1 Sex Discrimination in Canadian Law 

2 "No Jews or Dogs Allowed": Anti-Discrimination Law 

3 Gender and Canada's Human Rights State 

4 Women and Anti-Discrimination Law in British Columbia, 1953-69 

5 Jack Sherlock and the Failed Human Rights Act, 1969-73 

6 Kathleen Ruff and the Human Rights Code, 1973-79 

7 Struggling to Innovate, 1979-83 

8 Making New Law under the Human Rights Code 

9 The Politics of (Undermining) Human Rights: The Human Rights Act, 1983-84 

Conclusion 
And some comments by reviewers:

"Curious about the origins of our human rights protections? This marvelous book presents fascinating insights. It romps through stories of the courageous individuals who claimed those human rights. It profiles the discriminators in all their egregious glory. And it probes the underbelly of the Canadian state that mediated between the two. Dominique Clément is by turns brilliant, challenging, and inspiring. Read this and ponder our history ... and our future." -- Constance Backhouse holds the positions of Distinguished University Professor and University Research Chair at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
 
"Dominique Clément's book is timely. The purpose and value of human rights are being challenged in the press and even in parliament. If we are to avoid an extended era of human rights retrenchment, it is important to learn what has been accomplished and how human rights codes and commissions have affected our lives."  -- James W. St. G. Walker is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo 
"Dominique Clément has written a balanced account of the importance of human rights codes in promoting ideals of fairness and tolerance in Canada, and the simultaneous failure of human rights litigation (and education) to dismantle systemic discrimination. This book will be essential reading not only for human rights scholars but also for all those interested in equity and the promotion of social justice." -- Lori Chambers is a professor in the Department of Women's Studies at Lakehead University
 
If you did not order the book through the Osgoode Society, here's how to order:

In Canada, order your copy of Equality Deferred from UTP Distribution at:
UTP Distribution
5201 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario
M3H 5T8
Phone orders: 1(800)565-9523 or (416)667-7791
Fax orders: 1(800)221-9985 or (416)667-7832
Email: utpbooks@utpress.utoronto.ca



Thursday, May 15, 2014

Fyson on Law, Justice and State Formation in colonial Quebec, 1760-1867

Don Fyson of the Université Laval has published "Between the Ancien Régime and Liberal Modernity: Law, Justice and State Formation in colonial Quebec, 1760-1867" in the May issue of History Compass

Here's the abstract:
This article surveys the historiography of state formation in colonial Quebec, from the British Conquest of 1759/1760 to Canadian Confederation in 1867, focussing on law and justice. It is structured around three key themes: the Conquest as a point of rupture, with the imposition of a British colonial state and English law on top of a largely French-origin society; the nature of the ancien-régime state over the 80 years that followed; and the historiographical debate over the creation of a new liberal order in Canada and Quebec from the 1840s onwards. The article ends with a discussion of six factors, both local and transnational, which help account for legal change and state formation in Quebec in the period. 

Friday, May 9, 2014

Huskins, "Who Owns the Church Buildings? Writing the History of Canadian Anglican Schisms"

In the Journal of Canadian Church Historical Society, Archdeacon Harry Huskins addresses some religious and social conflicts of Canadian Anglican Churches in the context of canon law and real property litigation:

The article discusses parish controversies regarding the ownership of church buildings after schisms in Canada's Anglican Church, focusing on the 1874-1875 Cridge Controversy in Victoria, British Columbia, between Bishop George Hills and cathedral dean Edward Cridge. Topics include Anglican canon law precedents from the Canons of 1603, the history of church disputes before the Canadian Supreme Court, and the 2010 court case "Bentley v. Anglican Synod of the Diocese of New Westminster."