Summary: What do human rights mean to Canadians? Is there a distinctly Canadian understanding of human rights? Clément explores how human rights transformed law, politics, social movements and society in Canada: from civil liberties to human rights, from a British constitution to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and from only the most basic understandings of equality to the most sophisticated human rights legal regime in the world. Clément explores governments’ tendency to suppress rights during emergencies; how our understanding of human rights was shaped by key moments like the Rebellions and Confederation; debates surrounding the constitution; how global forces shaped domestic politics and foreign policy; and more.

Biographical Note: Dominique Clément is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta. He is the author of Canada’s Rights Revolution, Equality Deferred and Human Rights in Canada. His edited collections include Alberta’s Human Rights Story and Debating Dissent. Clément has been a Visiting Scholar in Australia and the United Kingdom. He has consulted for the Canadian Human Rights Commission and Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and has served on the board of numerous community organizations, including the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights. His website, HistoryOfRights.ca, serves as a research and teaching portal on human rights history in Canada.

www.HistoryOfRights.ca facebook.com/HistoryOfRights Twitter @ HistoryOfRights

This event is co-sponsored with the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies (Human Rights).