Miriam Smith
Biographic Data
| ID | 3677155 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Miriam Smith |
| GIVEN NAMES | Miriam |
| FAMILY NAME | Smith |
| SIGNATURE | SMITH M |
| AFFILIATIONS | York University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9587-0129 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 41 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 261 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 40 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
‘Write Right About Me’: Writing the Voices of Children and Young People into Their Care Records
In this paper we outline a multi-agency collaborative project which focuses on a key concern: the absence of the voices of care-experienced children and young people in records written about them. The Aberdeen, Scotland based project, WRAM Write Right About me, took place over three years involving regular interprofessional meetings – from social work, health, education, policing, housing, youth justice– and collaboration with the Lead Investigat…
LGBTQ Politics in Anglo-American Democracies
This chapter surveys LGBTQ politics in the Anglo-American democracies, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Political change has followed a somewhat similar trajectory from the decriminalization of same-sex conduct through struggles over discrimination in areas such as employment to the recognition of same-sex relationships and families. From the emergence of gay liberation in the late 1960s to the …
Homophobia and Homonationalism: LGBTQ Law Reform in Canada
This article explores the tensions and contradictions between the recognition of same-sex relationships and the development of legal prohibitions against discrimination on the one hand versus the ongoing symbolic and actual criminal regulation of gay sex on the other hand. I describe these tensions as they have unfolded over the last 40 years through the most recent attempts by the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau, elected in 2015, to reform …
Canada: The Power of Institutions 1
This chapter argues that the rapid and extensive policy changes in Canada in areas such as criminal law and same-sex marriage should be read not as the story of the success of a social movement but, rather, as the result of political-institutional factors. It begins by situating the emergence of the lesbian and gay movement and the early policy change in the area of criminal law. The Canadian lesbian and gay movement might well be viewed as one o…
Invisible populations: LGBTQ people and federal health policy in C anada
This article reviews the state of federal health policy discourse toward the LGBTQ population in C anada. Despite the advent of greater attention to diversity and gender mainstreaming in federal public policy and the shift to legalized rights protections for LGBTQ people, symbolized by policies such as same‐sex marriage, LGBTQ health concerns continue to be marginalized in federal health policy. Based on a systematic review of federal policy docu…
Gary Kinsman and Patrizia Gentile The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2009, 554 p
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Evidence and equity: Struggles over federal employment equity policy in Canada, 1984-95
This article traces debates about federal employment equity policy in Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, focusing specifically on the role of data and statistics in policy-making. The authors interpret policy-makers' extensive use of evidence-based policy instruments in the implementation of employment equity as an attempt to offer a technical solution to the deeply politicized problem of workplace discrimination. By exploring policy debates from the…
Gender Politics and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate in the United States
This paper explores policy and legal debates over same-sex marriage in the United States, focusing on the indirect effects of the struggle over same-sex marriage and how these implicate the interests of women, including women in heterosexual relationships. The paper highlights the effects of the institutional structures of American politics, which have shaped the same-sex marriage debate in particular ways, privileging an incremental path of poli…
Social movements, knowledge and public policy: The case of autism activism in Canada and the US
This paper explores the role of social movements in the policy process and, in particular, the ways in which movements interact with, access, and deploy expert knowledge. In the technocratic model, citizens are conceptualized as undifferentiated, rather than considered in terms of distinctive identities or interests. Their inclusion in policy-making is viewed as a technical problem to be 'solved' through forms of citizen engagement, rather than v…
Diversity and Canadian Political Development: Presidential Address to the Canadian Political Science Association, Ottawa, May 27, 2009
This paper argues for a rethinking of how we approach the study of Canadian public policies on diversity and human rights. I explain how human rights can be considered as a distinctive policy field and I consider the advantages and disadvantages of this conceptualization. I then argue for a particular theoretical approach to understanding the evolution of comparative public policies on diversity over time, focusing on a historical, structural and…
Political Institutions and Lesbian and Gay Rights in the United States and Canada
Lesbian and gay citizens today enjoy a much broader array of rights and obligations and a greater ability to live their lives openly in both the U.S. and Canada. However, while human rights protections have been exponentially expanded in Canada over the last twenty years, even basic protections in areas such as employment discrimination are still unavailable to many in the United States. This book examines why these similar societies have produce…
Legal Struggles and Political Resistance: Same-Sex Marriage in Canada and the USA
This article explores the nature of legal struggles surrounding same-sex marriage in the USA and Canada, focusing specifically on the ways in which the cultural power of law is used to frame claims of injustice and to develop strategies of political resistance. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from the literatures on 'law and social movements' and 'legal consciousness', the article compares the claims-making discourse and strategies of same-se…
Nationalisme et politiques des mouvements sociaux: Les droits des gais et lesbiennes et l’incidence de la charte canadienne au Québec
Cet article vise à analyser l’incidence de la charte canadienne sur les politiques des mouvements sociaux, et plus particulièrement sur le mouvement de défense des droits des gais et lesbiennes. La charte a-t-elle façonné le discours et les stratégies qui sous-tendent les politiques des mouvements sociaux et, si oui, comment? Étant donné que la constitution de 1982 est largement considérée comme illégitime sur le plan politique par bon nombre de …
Critical Policy Studies
"Traditional definitions of public policy in Canada have been challenged in recent years by globalization, the transition to a knowledge-based economy, and the rise of new technologies. Critical Policy Studies describes how new policy problems such as border screening and global warming have been catapulted onto the agenda in the neo-liberal era. The book also surveys the recent evolution of critical approaches to policy studies, which have trans…
The Impact of the Charter: Untangling the Effects of Institutional Change
This article provides an overview of the main debates on the impact of the Charter's entrenchment in Canadian politics. In doing so, it casts a wide net, providing a selective exploration of the impact of the Charter in three main areas: 1) public policy; 2) political institutions and 3) political mobilization. The paper argues that we should move away from thinking about the Charter as a constitutional document that sets out rights that are prot…
Critical Policy Studies
Traditional definitions of public policy in Canada have been challenged in recent years by globalization, the transition to a knowledge-based economy, and the rise of new technologies. Critical Policy Studies describes how new policy problems such as border screening and global warming have been catapulted onto the agenda in the neo-liberal era. The book also surveys the recent evolution of critical approaches to policy studies, which have transf…
Framing Same-sex Marriage in Canada and the United States: Goodridge, Halpern and The National Boundaries of Political Discourse
The article draws on post-positivist policy analysis and social movement theory to explore the impact of law in shaping the politics of social movement claims and discursive construction of same-sex marriage as public policy issue in Canadian and American politics. Using the concept of framing, the article discusses the ways in which lesbian and gay rights claimants in Canada and the USA have framed the issue of same-sex marriage in two landmark …
Activist knowledges in queer politics1
This paper examines the politics of knowledge production in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activism. It situates the development of LGBT activist research capacity within a broader shift towards evidence-based policy-making. The paper presents case studies of LGBT organizing from the US and Canada to demonstrate how LGBT activists utilize established social science methodologies such as statistics to claim legitimacy a…
A Civil Society? Collective Actors in Canadian Political Life
Good Government? Good Citizens: Courts, Politics and Markets in a Changing Canada
Diversity and Identity in the Non‐profit Sector: Lessons from LGBT Organizing in Toronto
The objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which diversity is taken into account in the conceptualization, definition and role of the voluntary sector as well as policy debates around the recasting of relations between the state and the voluntary sectors. The paper is based on a study of voluntary sector organizing among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens in the city of Toronto. It presents an overview of LGBT volun…
Resisting and reinforcing neoliberalism: Lesbian and gay organising at the federal and local levels in Canada
English This article explores the effects of neoliberal policies, discourse and practices on social movement and voluntary sector organising using a case study of lesbian and gay politics in Canada. The article shows how movements of ‘identity’ and ‘recognition’ play a role in resisting and reinforcing neoliberalism. By comparing lesbian and gay organising at the federal and local levels, the article shows that the federal and local spaces of pol…
The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage in Canada and the United States
Nobody listens to us. There is not a single person in Washington who will get us...anything but shit and more shit. I'm sorry. This is where we are now. Nowhere
The Politics of Multiscalar Citizenship: The Case of Lesbian and Gay Organizing in Canada
Citizenship is increasingly viewed as a multiscalar social practice, constituted and contested at local, urban, national and transnational scales. This paper attempts to bring this insight to bear on the study of queer social movement politics. A multiscalar perspective, we argue, enriches our understanding of contemporary LGBT citizenship struggles. Using qualitative case studies of lesbian and gay organizing at the pan-Canadian and urban levels…
Social Movements and Judicial Empowerment: Courts, Public Policy, and Lesbian and Gay Organizing in Canada
This article explores the impact of judicial empowerment on social movement politics and public policy using a case study of the lesbian and gay rights movement in Canada before and after the 1982 constitutional entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The expanded role of courts in the Canadian political system has had substantial effects on public policy in the lesbian and gay rights area over a twenty-year period, putting C…
Social movements, knowledge and public policy: The case of autism activism in Canada and the US
This paper explores the role of social movements in the policy process and, in particular, the ways in which movements interact with, access, and deploy expert knowledge. In the technocratic model, citizens are conceptualized as undifferentiated, rather than considered in terms of distinctive identities or interests. Their inclusion in policy-making is viewed as a technical problem to be 'solved' through forms of citizen engagement, rather than v…
Social Movements and Judicial Empowerment: Courts, Public Policy, and Lesbian and Gay Organizing in Canada
This article explores the impact of judicial empowerment on social movement politics and public policy using a case study of the lesbian and gay rights movement in Canada before and after the 1982 constitutional entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The expanded role of courts in the Canadian political system has had substantial effects on public policy in the lesbian and gay rights area over a twenty-year period, putting C…
Activist knowledges in queer politics1
This paper examines the politics of knowledge production in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activism. It situates the development of LGBT activist research capacity within a broader shift towards evidence-based policy-making. The paper presents case studies of LGBT organizing from the US and Canada to demonstrate how LGBT activists utilize established social science methodologies such as statistics to claim legitimacy a…
Bourgeois Revolutions: The Policy Consequences of Resurgent Conservatism
Much of the literature on reform politics has focused on social democratic governments. This article reexamines the dynamics of reform by concentrating on conservative governments in four advanced industrial democracies during the 1980s: Britain, Canada, the United States, and West Germany. Conservative governments have attempted to dismantle well-institutionalized systems of government intervention in market economies. The authors argue that the…
The Politics of Multiscalar Citizenship: The Case of Lesbian and Gay Organizing in Canada
Citizenship is increasingly viewed as a multiscalar social practice, constituted and contested at local, urban, national and transnational scales. This paper attempts to bring this insight to bear on the study of queer social movement politics. A multiscalar perspective, we argue, enriches our understanding of contemporary LGBT citizenship struggles. Using qualitative case studies of lesbian and gay organizing at the pan-Canadian and urban levels…
Framing Same-sex Marriage in Canada and the United States: Goodridge, Halpern and The National Boundaries of Political Discourse
The article draws on post-positivist policy analysis and social movement theory to explore the impact of law in shaping the politics of social movement claims and discursive construction of same-sex marriage as public policy issue in Canadian and American politics. Using the concept of framing, the article discusses the ways in which lesbian and gay rights claimants in Canada and the USA have framed the issue of same-sex marriage in two landmark …
Resisting and reinforcing neoliberalism: Lesbian and gay organising at the federal and local levels in Canada
English This article explores the effects of neoliberal policies, discourse and practices on social movement and voluntary sector organising using a case study of lesbian and gay politics in Canada. The article shows how movements of ‘identity’ and ‘recognition’ play a role in resisting and reinforcing neoliberalism. By comparing lesbian and gay organising at the federal and local levels, the article shows that the federal and local spaces of pol…
Diversity and Canadian Political Development: Presidential Address to the Canadian Political Science Association, Ottawa, May 27, 2009
This paper argues for a rethinking of how we approach the study of Canadian public policies on diversity and human rights. I explain how human rights can be considered as a distinctive policy field and I consider the advantages and disadvantages of this conceptualization. I then argue for a particular theoretical approach to understanding the evolution of comparative public policies on diversity over time, focusing on a historical, structural and…
Social Movements and Equality Seeking: The Case of Gay Liberation in Canada
This article examines the impact of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on social movement politics in Canada using the case of the gay liberation movement. Drawing on the comparative social movement literature, the article situates equality seeking as a strategy and meaning game that legitimates new political identities and that is aimed at mobilizing a movement's constituency. The article demonstrates that equality seeking was a strateg…
Homophobia and Homonationalism: LGBTQ Law Reform in Canada
This article explores the tensions and contradictions between the recognition of same-sex relationships and the development of legal prohibitions against discrimination on the one hand versus the ongoing symbolic and actual criminal regulation of gay sex on the other hand. I describe these tensions as they have unfolded over the last 40 years through the most recent attempts by the Liberal government of Justin Trudeau, elected in 2015, to reform …
Ghosts of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council: Group Politics and Charter Litigation in Canadian Political Science
This article examines the criticism of the activist Supreme Court of Canada in Canadian political science, as exemplified by the work of F. L. Morton and Rainer Knopff. It compares the debate over the legitimacy of judicial review with a previous generation's debates over the same question with reference to the role and impact of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the development of Canadian federalism. The article argues that, partic…
Recognizing same‐sex relationships: The evolution of recent federal and provincial policies
This article describes recent federal and provincial policies on relationship recognition for same‐sex couples. It argues that the evolution of policy in this area confirms the prediction that the entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution would lead to a homogenizing of policies across jurisdictions in Charter‐related areas. The author provides a brief overview of the development of relationship recognition a…
The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage in Canada and the United States
Nobody listens to us. There is not a single person in Washington who will get us...anything but shit and more shit. I'm sorry. This is where we are now. Nowhere
Questioning Heteronormativity: Lesbian and gay challenges to education practice in British Columbia, Canada
This paper explores social movement organizing within social institutions, using the cases of the Surrey book banning and the Trinity Western University, two cases of activist litigation in British Columbia, Canada. In these cases, lesbian and gay teacher activists challenged heteronormative constructions in educational practices, in one case by introducing lesbian and gay-positive reading materials in the elementary grades, in the other by chall…
Segmented Networks: Linguistic Practices in Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights Organizing
This article explores the linguistic practices of lesbian and gay social movement networks in Canada. It specifically focuses on Egale, the main advocacy group for lesbian and gay rights issues, describing its linguistic practices with regard to public presentation, recruitment and participation, as well as its relationships to other lesbian and gay rights groups. The main finding is that Frenchspeaking activist networks are largely separated fro…
Invisible populations: LGBTQ people and federal health policy in C anada
This article reviews the state of federal health policy discourse toward the LGBTQ population in C anada. Despite the advent of greater attention to diversity and gender mainstreaming in federal public policy and the shift to legalized rights protections for LGBTQ people, symbolized by policies such as same‐sex marriage, LGBTQ health concerns continue to be marginalized in federal health policy. Based on a systematic review of federal policy docu…
Gender Politics and the Same-Sex Marriage Debate in the United States
This paper explores policy and legal debates over same-sex marriage in the United States, focusing on the indirect effects of the struggle over same-sex marriage and how these implicate the interests of women, including women in heterosexual relationships. The paper highlights the effects of the institutional structures of American politics, which have shaped the same-sex marriage debate in particular ways, privileging an incremental path of poli…
A Civil Society? Collective Actors in Canadian Political Life
Evidence and equity: Struggles over federal employment equity policy in Canada, 1984-95
This article traces debates about federal employment equity policy in Canada in the 1980s and 1990s, focusing specifically on the role of data and statistics in policy-making. The authors interpret policy-makers' extensive use of evidence-based policy instruments in the implementation of employment equity as an attempt to offer a technical solution to the deeply politicized problem of workplace discrimination. By exploring policy debates from the…
From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States
Journal Article From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States Get access From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States by Craig A. Rimmerman. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2002. 239 pp. Cloth, $69.50; paper, $19.95. Miriam Smith Miriam Smith Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterl…
Diversity and Identity in the Non‐profit Sector: Lessons from LGBT Organizing in Toronto
The objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which diversity is taken into account in the conceptualization, definition and role of the voluntary sector as well as policy debates around the recasting of relations between the state and the voluntary sectors. The paper is based on a study of voluntary sector organizing among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens in the city of Toronto. It presents an overview of LGBT volun…
Canadian Unemployment: Lessons from the 80s and Challenges for the 90s
The Canadian Labour Congress: From Continentalism to Economic Nationalism
The English Canadian labour movement, under the leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), played an important role in the anti-free trade campaign. For the Congress, the campaign was the culmination of a fifteen-year battle against continentalism. Yet, during an earlier series of debates on Canada's economic and political relationship with the United States - the debates of the sixties - the CLC had taken quite a different tack; instead o…
The Canadian Labour Congress: From Continentalism to Economic Nationalism
The English Canadian labour movement, under the leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), played an important role in the anti-free trade campaign. For the Congress, the campaign was the culmination of a fifteen-year battle against continentalism. Yet, during an earlier series of debates on Canada's economic and political relationship with the United States - the debates of the sixties - the CLC had taken quite a different tack; instead o…
Canadian Unemployment: Lessons from the 80s and Challenges for the 90s
Bourgeois Revolutions: The Policy Consequences of Resurgent Conservatism
Much of the literature on reform politics has focused on social democratic governments. This article reexamines the dynamics of reform by concentrating on conservative governments in four advanced industrial democracies during the 1980s: Britain, Canada, the United States, and West Germany. Conservative governments have attempted to dismantle well-institutionalized systems of government intervention in market economies. The authors argue that the…
Le Canada anglais et la souveraineté du QuébecMichel Sarra-Bournet Montréal: VLB éditeur, 1995, 217 p
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
New Trends in Canadian Federalism
Introduction, Fran ois Rocher and Miriam Smith Part One: Constitutional Developments and Canadian Political Identity Chapter 1: The Four Dimensions of Canadian Federalism, Fran ois Rocher and Miriam Smith Chapter 2: The Constitutional Debate and Beyond, Jennifer Smith Chapter 3: Executive Federalism: Beggar Thy Neighbour?, Kathy Brock Chapter 4: Conceiving Diversity: Dualism, Multiculturalism, and Multinationalism, Kenneth McRoberts Chapter 5: Th…
Paul and Ancient Bisexuality: A Rejoinder
Paul and Ancient Bisexuality: A Rejoinder Get access Mark D. Smith Mark D. Smith Albertson College Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume 65, Issue 4, Fall 1997, Pages 867–870, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/65.4.867 Published: 01 October 1997
Social Movements and Equality Seeking: The Case of Gay Liberation in Canada
This article examines the impact of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms on social movement politics in Canada using the case of the gay liberation movement. Drawing on the comparative social movement literature, the article situates equality seeking as a strategy and meaning game that legitimates new political identities and that is aimed at mobilizing a movement's constituency. The article demonstrates that equality seeking was a strateg…
Lesbian and Gay Rights in Canada: Social Movements and Equality-Seeking, 1971-1995
Using archival material that has largely been ignored, as well as interviews with Canadian activists, Smith investigates the ways in which the Canadian lesbian and gay movement has changed in response to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Sortir de l’ombre: Histoires des communautés lesbienne et gaie de Montréal sous la direction d’Irène Demczuk et Frank Remiggi, Montréal, VLB Éditeur, 1998, 409 p. Des droits à reconnaître : les lesbie…
Sortir de l’ombre : Histoires des communautés lesbienne et gaie de Montréal sous la direction d’Irène Demczuk et Frank Remiggi, Montréal, VLB Éditeur, 1998, 409 p. / Des droits à reconnaître : les lesbiennes face à la discrimination sous la direction d’Irène Demczuk, Montréal, Les éditions du Remue-ménage, 1998, 214 p.. An article from journal Politique et Sociétés (Volume 18, Number 3, 1999, pp. 3-192), on Érudit
Partisanship as Political Science: A Reply to Rainer Knopff and F. L. Morton
One of the main points of “Ghosts of the JCPC” is that the study of Charter politics is currently dominated by a sterile and well-worn debate over the legitimacy of judicial review. Rainer Knopff and F. L. Morton return to these issues in their reply. They frequently refer to their own position or to my putative positions in their reply to my work. But, they do not engage in a discussion of what is , or in making arguments about how we might unde…
Recognizing same‐sex relationships: The evolution of recent federal and provincial policies
This article describes recent federal and provincial policies on relationship recognition for same‐sex couples. It argues that the evolution of policy in this area confirms the prediction that the entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution would lead to a homogenizing of policies across jurisdictions in Charter‐related areas. The author provides a brief overview of the development of relationship recognition a…
Ghosts of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council: Group Politics and Charter Litigation in Canadian Political Science
This article examines the criticism of the activist Supreme Court of Canada in Canadian political science, as exemplified by the work of F. L. Morton and Rainer Knopff. It compares the debate over the legitimacy of judicial review with a previous generation's debates over the same question with reference to the role and impact of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the development of Canadian federalism. The article argues that, partic…
L’héritage institutionnaliste de la science politique au Canada anglais
L’article explore la tradition institutionnaliste du Canada anglais et présente un bref historique de sa montée et de son développement à la lumière de documents clés propres à différentes périodes historiques. L’article compare l’évolution de cette tradition au Canada anglais à celle qui s’est manifestée dans le cadre plus large de l’institutionnalisme historique en politique comparée. On y fait valoir que l’institutionnalisme du Canada anglais …
From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States
Journal Article From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States Get access From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States by Craig A. Rimmerman. Philadelphia, Temple University Press, 2002. 239 pp. Cloth, $69.50; paper, $19.95. Miriam Smith Miriam Smith Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterl…
Questioning Heteronormativity: Lesbian and gay challenges to education practice in British Columbia, Canada
This paper explores social movement organizing within social institutions, using the cases of the Surrey book banning and the Trinity Western University, two cases of activist litigation in British Columbia, Canada. In these cases, lesbian and gay teacher activists challenged heteronormative constructions in educational practices, in one case by introducing lesbian and gay-positive reading materials in the elementary grades, in the other by chall…
Segmented Networks: Linguistic Practices in Canadian Lesbian and Gay Rights Organizing
This article explores the linguistic practices of lesbian and gay social movement networks in Canada. It specifically focuses on Egale, the main advocacy group for lesbian and gay rights issues, describing its linguistic practices with regard to public presentation, recruitment and participation, as well as its relationships to other lesbian and gay rights groups. The main finding is that Frenchspeaking activist networks are largely separated fro…
Diversity and Identity in the Non‐profit Sector: Lessons from LGBT Organizing in Toronto
The objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which diversity is taken into account in the conceptualization, definition and role of the voluntary sector as well as policy debates around the recasting of relations between the state and the voluntary sectors. The paper is based on a study of voluntary sector organizing among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens in the city of Toronto. It presents an overview of LGBT volun…
Resisting and reinforcing neoliberalism: Lesbian and gay organising at the federal and local levels in Canada
English This article explores the effects of neoliberal policies, discourse and practices on social movement and voluntary sector organising using a case study of lesbian and gay politics in Canada. The article shows how movements of ‘identity’ and ‘recognition’ play a role in resisting and reinforcing neoliberalism. By comparing lesbian and gay organising at the federal and local levels, the article shows that the federal and local spaces of pol…
The Politics of Same-Sex Marriage in Canada and the United States
Nobody listens to us. There is not a single person in Washington who will get us...anything but shit and more shit. I'm sorry. This is where we are now. Nowhere
The Politics of Multiscalar Citizenship: The Case of Lesbian and Gay Organizing in Canada
Citizenship is increasingly viewed as a multiscalar social practice, constituted and contested at local, urban, national and transnational scales. This paper attempts to bring this insight to bear on the study of queer social movement politics. A multiscalar perspective, we argue, enriches our understanding of contemporary LGBT citizenship struggles. Using qualitative case studies of lesbian and gay organizing at the pan-Canadian and urban levels…
Social Movements and Judicial Empowerment: Courts, Public Policy, and Lesbian and Gay Organizing in Canada
This article explores the impact of judicial empowerment on social movement politics and public policy using a case study of the lesbian and gay rights movement in Canada before and after the 1982 constitutional entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The expanded role of courts in the Canadian political system has had substantial effects on public policy in the lesbian and gay rights area over a twenty-year period, putting C…
A Civil Society? Collective Actors in Canadian Political Life
Good Government? Good Citizens: Courts, Politics and Markets in a Changing Canada
Critical Policy Studies
"Traditional definitions of public policy in Canada have been challenged in recent years by globalization, the transition to a knowledge-based economy, and the rise of new technologies. Critical Policy Studies describes how new policy problems such as border screening and global warming have been catapulted onto the agenda in the neo-liberal era. The book also surveys the recent evolution of critical approaches to policy studies, which have trans…
The Impact of the Charter: Untangling the Effects of Institutional Change
This article provides an overview of the main debates on the impact of the Charter's entrenchment in Canadian politics. In doing so, it casts a wide net, providing a selective exploration of the impact of the Charter in three main areas: 1) public policy; 2) political institutions and 3) political mobilization. The paper argues that we should move away from thinking about the Charter as a constitutional document that sets out rights that are prot…
Political science (35 works) · Law (27 works) · Politics (26 works) · Sociology (25 works) · Law (21 works) · Gender Studies (14 works) · Lesbian (13 works) · Canadian Identity and History (12 works) · Gender Studies (11 works) · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy (10 works)