Title: Waiting for CORAF : a critique of law and rights /
Authors: Hutchinson, Allan C., 1951-
Publisher: University of Toronto Press,
Year: 1995
Subjects: Canada.; Civil rights Canada; Democracy Canada; Democracy; Canada Politics and government.
Abstract: The enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 was celebrated as the harbinger of a new dawn in Canadian democratic politics. In this book, Allan Hutchinson contends that it was and continues to be a serious mistake. In his central argument he shows that, far from enhancing civic life, the Charter has attenuated both its practice and potential. He extends his argument to rights litigation in general, showing how 'rights-talk' actually betrays the cause of democracy.
Contents: 1. Waiting for Coraf: Liberalism and the Charter -- 2. Indeterminately Speaking: From Axiom to Action -- 3. The Crisis of Legitimacy: Daydream Believing -- 4. An Abstraction of Vision: A Miserable Existence -- 5. The State of Rights-Talk: Private Rights and Public Wrongs -- 6. Down the Yellow Brick Road: Rights Talk Back -- 7. Talking the Good Life: From Rights-Talk to Democratic Conversation -- 8. In Waiting.