"Race," Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada: Historical Case Studies

by James W. St.G. Walker (Editor)

Overview

Four cases in which the legal issue was “race” — that of a Chinese restaurant owner who was fined for employing a white woman; a black man who was refused service in a bar; a Jew who wanted to buy a cottage but was prevented by the property owners’ association; and a Trinidadian of East Indian descent who was acceptable to the Canadian army but was rejected for immigration on grounds of “race” — drawn from the period between 1914 and 1955, are intimately examined to explore the role of the Supreme Court of Canada and the law in the racialization of Canadian society. With painstaking research into contemporary attitudes and practices, Walker demonstrates that Supreme Court Justices were expressing the prevailing “common sense” about “race” in their legal decisions. He shows that injustice on the grounds of “race” has been chronic in Canadian history, and that the law itself was once instrumental in creating these circumstances. The book concludes with a controversial discussion of current directions in Canadian law and their potential impact on Canada’s future as a multicultural society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780889203068
Publisher:	Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Publication date:	10/27/1997
Pages:	463
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.72(h) x 0.94(d)

About the Author

James W. St.G. Walker is a professor of history at the University of Waterloo, where he specializes in the history of human rights and race relations. His books include The Black Loyalists and “Race”, Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada (WLU Press, 1998), and he has published numerous articles and book chapters analyzing campaigns for human rights reform.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents for
“Race,” Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada: Historical Case Studies by James W.St.G. Walker

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Invitation

Chapter 1: Orientation

“Race” and the Law

Approaching the Bench

Approaching the Past

Chapter 2: Quong Wing v. The King

The Legislation

The Chinese Problem

Restriction and Regulation

Litigation

Defending the Family

The Moral Crusade

Chinese Response

Quong Wing and Quong Sing

Quong Wing v. the King

Explanations

Quong Wing as Precedent

Chapter 3: Christie v. York Corporation

The Incident

“Jim Crow” in Canada

The Montreal Community

Issues and Initiatives

La Question de la Liberté

In the Supreme Court of Canada

Aftermath

Christie as Precedent

Chapter 4: Noble and Wolf v. Alley

Exclusive Clientele

Counter Attack

Principles and Policies

The Public Interest

Preparing for the Supreme Court of Canada

Noble and Wolf v. Alley

Noble and Wolf as Precedent

Chapter 5: Narine-Singh v. Attorney General of Canada

“Race” and Immigration

Restrictive Tradition

South Asian Immigration

Rehearsal: Narain Singh and Munshi Singh

West Indian Immigration

Policy Shifts, 1945–52

The Immigration Act, 1952

Campaign for Immigration Reform

The Inevitable: Harry Singh in the Ontario Courts

Anticlimax: The Supreme Court of Canada

Confirmation

Chapter 6: Implications

“Race” and “Race Relations”

Legal Sensibility

Historical Study

Afterword

Directions in Public Policy

Apprehensions

Reflections

Index

Editorial Reviews

‘‘This book has many strengths. Walker skilfully bridges the gap between legal history and social history in a compelling introduction which ‘orients' the reader to developments in scholarly work in the areas of race and race relations, social history, and legal history. Moreover, the author demonstrates an impressive grasp of the intricacies of legal procedure, tracing each case from lower courts through to Canada's Supreme Court. Walker also breathes life into each of these case studies by situating them intheir historical context....There are, however, a few questions one is left with after reading thiswork....Walker's work provides us a point from which to engage with these issues. This work, in sum, will surely cement the author's well-deserved reputation as one of the foremost thinkers on the subject of race in Canada.''

Barrington Walker

‘‘Walker chose well, as these four cases disclose a panoply of approaches to race regulation in the era prior to human rights legislation and the Charter....In short, the cases are presented as moments at which the concept of race itself was at stake.''

Kerry Rittich

‘‘Walker presents a superb study of four cases in which the Supreme Court of Canada grappled with the meaning of race....Walker writes with several audiences in mind, and his engaging prose and careful analysis should appeal to that mythical ‘well-educated general reader' as well as those who read books for a living. There are even sections that Walker suggests can be skipped by those who do not need background on law and legal process, race theory, the historiography of the race or the methodology of history — all excellent readings for introducing students to legal history.''

Margaret McCallum

''...this book is a major contribution to our understanding of the interaction of race and the law in the Canadian experience. It is history told with engaging detail, in a lively and comprehensible style and embodying wise and convincing reflection. Moreover, as Walker warns us in his afterword, the story has no neat historical end. It has relevance today. The fragility of assumptions about the tolerance of ethnic difference in contemporary Canadian society, especially at street and community levels, and the difficulties the Supreme Court has had with setting the interpretative matrix of the Charter and the Constitution Act on equality issues should warn us against undue complacency and smugness in assuming that racism is dead or, if alive, can be easily and predictably suppressed by the invocation of the law.''

John McLaren