National Network for Equitable Library Service

During the twentieth century, child care policy in British Columbia matured in the shadow of a persistent political uneasiness with working motherhood. Charting the growth of the child care movement in this province, Working Mothers and the Child Care Dilemma examines how ideas about motherhood, paid work, and social welfare have influenced universal child care discussions and consistently pushed access to child care to the margins of BC’s social policy agenda. Lisa Pasolli also celebrates those who have lobbied for child care as part of women’s rights as workers, parents, and citizens.

Recent Canadian foreign policy has fixated upon Canada's former status as a middle power within a small club of western, democratic states. The emergence of a US-dominated world and of an integrated North American economy and the decline of multilateral rules and institutions as prime instruments of global governance have left Canadian foreign policy searching for new purpose and direction.

Legal traditions respond to social and economic environments. Māori author and legal scholar Carwyn Jones provides a timely examination of how the resolution of land claims in New Zealand has affected Māori law and the challenges faced by Indigenous peoples as they attempt to exercise self-determination in a postcolonial world. Combining thoughtful analysis with Māori storytelling, Jones’s nuanced reflections on the claims process show how Western legal thought has shaped treaty negotiations.

The Liberal Party of Canada is one of the most successful parties in the democratic world. It dominated Canadian politics for a century, practising an inclusive style of “big tent” politics that enabled it to fend off opponents on both the left and right. This book traces the record of the party, unwrapping Liberal practices and organization to reveal its distinctive “brokerage” approach to politics and franchise-style structure.

When Canada committed forces to the military mission in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, little did Canadians foresee that they would be involved in a war-riven country for over a decade. The Politics of War explores how and why Canada’s Afghanistan mission became so politicized. Through analysis of the public record and interviews with officials, Boucher and Nossal show how the Canadian government sought to frame the engagement in Afghanistan as a “mission” rather than what it was – a war.

The wars on terror, economic crises, climate change, and humanitarian emergencies have challenged decision makers to institute new measures to maintain security. Foreign policy analysts tend to view these decisions as being divorced from ethics, but is this the case?

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.

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.