National Network for Equitable Library Service

In From Left to Right, Brian Thorn explores what motivated Canadian women to become politically engaged in the 1940s and ’50s. Although women in these decades are often depicted as being trapped in the suburbs, they joined diverse political parties, including the CCF, Social Credit, and the Communist Party of Canada. Thorn argues, controversially, that while women on the “left” and “right” had different goals, their activism continued to be informed by maternalism. They used their roles as wives and mothers to influence their parties’ positions and to break down barriers.

Capitán de Navío Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was the most important Spanish naval officer on the Northwest Coast in the eighteenth century. Serving from 1774 to 1794, he participated in the search for the Northwest Passage and, with George Vancouver, endeavoured to forge a diplomatic resolution to the Nootka Sound controversy between Spain and Britain. Freeman Tovell’s thorough and nuanced study presents this officer as a key figure in the history of the region.

Historically, Aboriginal People have had little influence on the development of Native policy from within government. As a result, national, provincial, and regional Native political organizations have developed to lobby government on Native Peoples issues. Joe Sawchuk defines the various native groups in Canada and examines the origins of the organizations that represent them.

Today's justice system and the legal profession have rendered the "lawyer-warrior" notion outdated, shifting toward conflict resolution rather than protracted litigation. The new lawyer's skills go beyond court battles to encompass negotiation, mediation, collaborative practice, and restorative justice. In The New Lawyer, Julie Macfarlane explores the evolving role of practitioners, articulating legal and ethical complexities in a variety of contexts.

Social inequality. Selective political attention. Insufficient funding and access. Caring for Children provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary examination of the crisis in care for Canadian children and their caregivers. The contributors explore the complex issues surrounding caring for children, analyzing the connections between services and programs to reveal how childcare, parental leave, informal care, live-in caregiver programs, and child tax benefits affect the well-being of Canadian children and their families.

Countless books and articles have traced the impact of colonialism and public policy on Canada's First Nations, but few have explored the impact of Aboriginal thought on public discourse and policy development in Canada. First Nations, First Thoughts brings together Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal scholars who cut through the prevailing orthodoxy to reveal Indigenous thinkers and activists as a pervasive presence in diverse political, constitutional, and cultural debates and arenas, including urban spaces, historical texts, public policy, and cultural heritage preservation.

The landmark decision R. v. Morgentaler (1988) struck down Canada’s abortion law and is widely believed to have established a right to abortion, but its actual impact is much less decisive. In After Morgentaler, Rachael Johnstone examines the state of abortion access in Canada today and argues that substantive access is essential to full citizenship for women. Using case studies, Johnstone assesses the role of both state and non-state actors in shaping access.

For decades, people living in communities along the Canada–US border enjoyed close social and economic relationships with their neighbours across the line. The introduction of new security measures during the First World War threatened this way of life by restricting the movement of people and goods across the border. Many Canadians resented the new regulations introduced by their provincial and federal governments, deriding them as “outside influences” that created friction where none had existed before.

The university is often regarded as a bastion of liberal democracy where equity and diversity are vigorously promoted. In reality, the university still excludes many people and is a site of racialization that is subtle, complex, and sophisticated. This book, the first comprehensive, data-based study of racialized and Indigenous faculty members’ experiences in Canadian universities, challenges the myth of equity in higher education.

Gendering the Nation-State explores the gendered dimensions of a fundamental organizational unit in social and political science -- the nation-state. Yasmeen Abu-Laban has drawn together work by both high-profile and emerging scholars to rescue gender from the margins of theoretical discussions on the nation, the state, public policy, and citizenship. Contributors bring the insights of feminist analysis to bear on three relationships central to popular and policy discussions in contemporary Canada and beyond: gender and nation, gender and state processes, and gender and citizenship.