Repression and resistance : Canadian human rights activists, 1930-1960 / Ross Lambertson.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Ross Lambertson demonstrates how certain Canadians - including members of ethnic, labour, religious, civil libertarian, and other organizations - were sufficiently "aroused by injustice" so as to fight for human rights.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This is a rather long book on an important subject in Canada: injustices and human rights. The constitutional powers of the Canadian government relate fundamentally to the British prescription--"peace, order and good government"--set down in Canada's founding British North America Act. There is not much about rights there; it could even be a recipe for tyranny. It is easy for the comfortable to ignore injustice; one really has to be burned by injustice to feel it. Yet Canadian liberals who felt uneasy about how far British principles of tolerance went could bridle sometimes at the arguments and antics of those further to their left. Lambertson (Camosun College) sees few enemies on the left and is frequently critical of those in authority on the right, worrying often about "the fragility of our freedoms." He believes that Canadians are too comfortable with the status quo, too ready to ignore injustices in the interest of peace and order. This is a compelling book--well indexed, well larded with notes, written with patience and skill--that would have been more compelling if it had pulled further away from the doctoral thesis that was its origin. ^BSumming Up: Essential. All library collections on Canada, upper-division undergraduates and above. P. B. Waite emeritus, Dalhousie University