Canada’s Rights Revolution

Book excerpt: In the first major study of postwar social movement organizations in Canada, Dominique Clément provides a history of the human rights movement as seen through the eyes of two generations of activists. Drawing on newly acquired archival sources, extensive interviews, and materials released through access to information applications, Clément explores the history of four organizations that emerged in the sixties and evolved into powerful lobbies for human rights despite bitter internal disputes and intense rivalries. This book offers a unique perspective on infamous human rights controversies and argues that the idea of human rights has historically been highly statist while grassroots activism has been at the heart of the most profound human rights advances.