The Long Road to Reform: Restructuring Public Education in Quebec

The Long Road to Reform analyses attempts to change the sectarian nature of schooling in Quebec, focusing on the fate of the radical proposals advanced by the Parti québécois in their White Paper of June 1982. The then minister of education, Camille Laurin, proposed to reform the existing system of "confessional" school boards, with its separate networks of schools for Catholics and Protestants, replacing it with school boards divided along regional lines. Under this plan, individual schools would have had considerable organizational autonomy through councils composed of parent and teacher representatives. Widespread opposition to this proposal led to its eventual modification and to the substitution of a much scaled-down version of thse reforms, Bill 3, which was declared unconstitutional by the Superior Court of Quebec in May 1985. In reviewing this effort at reform, Henry Milner describes the political and historical context in which the Quebec educational system developed and show how existing forces preventsed its modification. Milner shows that, when challenged, vested interests were still capable of erecting formidable obstacles to change and that churches were not the only institutions committed maintaining the status quo. His study not only examines why this attempt to restructure public education in Quebec failed, but also provides a fascinating picture of Quebec's turbulent and often contradictory political evolution during this period.

Education & Teaching

Milner, Henry

Schools & Teaching

John Deutsch Institute for the Study of

Do Conventions Matter?: Choosing National Party Leaders in Canada

Do Conventions Matter? provides a complete overview of national party conventions in Canada, from 1919, when the first convention was held, to 1993, including the selection of Stanfield, Trudeau, Broadbent, Clark, Mulroney, Turner, McLaughlin, Chrétien, Campbell, and Manning. Courtney compares leadership selection practices in Canada with those in the United States, Britain, and Australia, and shows that Canadian conventions remain a distinctive means of choosing party leaders. Focusing on modern developments in the convention process, Courtney highlights changes in representation over the last thirty years, addresses criticisms about costs and delegate selection practices, and examines the role of the media. He concludes with an examination of the future of conventions in the context of Canadian democracy, given sky-rocketing costs, the movement to reform political parties, and the push towards a universal membership vote. He argues convincingly that the objectives of greater representation and greater democracy explain both the emergence of conventions to choose the leaders of federal parties and their possible demise in the near future.

Courtney, John C.

History

The era the elders describe, from the end of World War I to the closing of York Factory in 1957, saw dramatic changes - both positive and negative - to aboriginal life in the North. The extension of Treaty 5 in 1910 to include members of the York Factory band, the arrival of police and government agents, and the shifting economy of the fur trade are all discussed. Despite these upheavals, however, the elders' accounts demonstrate the continuity of northern life in the twentieth century, from the persistence of traditional ways to the ongoing role of community and kinship ties.   Perceptions of aboriginal life have been shaped largely by non-Native accounts that offer limited views of Swampy Cree history and record little beyond the social and economic interaction that was part of life in the fur trade. The stories in this collection provide Cree perspectives on northern life and history, and represent the legacy of a younger generation of aboriginal people.

Voices from Hudson Bay: Cree Stories from York Factory (Rupert's Land Record Society Series) (Volume 5)

Beardy, Flora

Coutts, Robert

Americas

Damned Women: Lesbians in French Novel

While homosexual men are legion in the history of French literature and criticism, until now no critic writing in French or English has given the same sort of attention to lesbians. Waelti-Walters covers two hundred years of fiction, beginning with the publication of Diderot's The Nun in 1796 and ending with present-day lesbian writers Jocelyne François, Mireille Best, Hélène de Monferrand, and the authors connected to Geneviève Pastre's lesbian publishing house. While she deals with renowned authors such as Violette Leduc and Monique Wittig, including their respective literary and personal relationships with Simone de Beauvoir and Hélène Cixous, many of the writers discussed will be unknown to most readers. Their novels vary from the extraordinarily powerful to the utterly trite; by providing the first comprehensive guide to this body of work Waelti-Walters sheds light on French literary and cultural history. Waelti-Walters shows how the lesbian authors of this literature had little or no contact with each other, let alone with lesbians outside France. She describes their world and its effects on their work, showing how their situation differs from that of British and North American lesbians. Damned Women tells a story of alienation, persecution, and isolation within a culture. It is a cultural and literary commentary full of new information, forgotten or little known authors, poignant surprises, and unexpected interrelationships.

Literature & Fiction

Waelti-Walters, Jennifer

History & Criticism

Chinese Shadow Theatre includes several rare transcriptions of oral performances, including a didactic play on the Eighteen Levels of Hell and Investiture of the Gods, a sacred saga, and translations of three rare, handcopied shadow plays featuring religious themes and women warrior characters.

Chinese Shadow Theatre: History, Popular Religion, and Women Warriors

Arts & Photography

Chen, Fan Pen Li

Individual Artists

A look at the coming increase in Canada's seniors, its effect on communities, and how to plan for it.

The Geography of Aging: Preparing Communities for the Surge in Seniors

Politics & Social Sciences

Hodge, Gerald

Politics & Government

What happens when the world changes in ways that make Canada's physical capital, natural resources, and geography - once the ultimate competitive advantages - less important than knowledge, information, technological know-how, and human capital? What happens to Canadians? In A State of Minds Thomas Courchene examines the political structures that link local, provincial, and federal governments and challenges many longstanding beliefs about how society should be organized and financed. While focusing on Canadian competitiveness in a global economy, Courchene shows us how an open federal state like Canada can achieve both economic prosperity and social justice. Always provocative, Courchene blends compelling analysis and reasoned insight with a prescription for change: To stay ahead of the competitive curve and protect the Canadian way of life, Canada must become a "state of minds."

A State of Minds: Toward a Human Capital Future for Canadians (Institute for Research on Public Policy)

Business & Money

Courchene, Thomas J.

Economics

The 1997 Federal Budget: Retrospect and Prospect (Queen's Policy Studies Series) (Volume 36)

In this collection of essays leading Canadian policy analysts focus on a range of issues and implications arising from the 1997 federal budget. Essays include a comparative assessment of the Paul Martin and Michael Wilson budgets, an assessment of the emerging fiscal dividend and an evaluation of alternative ways in which it can be spent, a comprehensive overview of the proposed child benefits package, an in-depth examination of new proposals for both the Canada Pension Plan/Quebec Pension Plan and employment insurance, and an empirical review of the fiscal stance as it relates to employment and the output gap. Essays also examine provincial budget issues, including a retrospective on the series of budgets tabled by retiring Alberta treasurer Jim Dinning and an overview of the deficit and deficit performance of the provinces over the last decade.

Wilson, Thomas A.

Women and Work (Volume 47) (Queen’s Policy Studies Series)

Women and Work offers analyses of women and the labour market with respect to a wide range of topics that include technological change, skill requirements, and training; income security programs and work decisions of lone parents; the dynamics of welfare participation; school-to-work transitions; equality legislation; and collective bargaining, remuneration, and workplace benefits. Contributors include Gordon Betcherman (Canadian Policy Research Networks and Ekos Research associates), Marie-Thérèse Chicha (Université de Montréal), Ross Finnie (Queen's University and Statistics Canada), John Greenwood (Social Research and Demonstration Corporation), Andrew Jackson (Canadian Labour Congress), Constantine Kapsalis (Data Probe Economic Consulting), Darren Lauzon (HRDC and Statistics Canada), Norm Leckie (Ekos Research Associates), Brenda Lipsett (Human Resources Development Canada), Mark Reesor (Human Resources Development Canada), Ted Wannell (Statistics Canada), Caroline L. Weber (Queen's University), and I'ik Urla Zeytino'lu (McMaster University).

Women and Work (Queen's Policy Studies Series) (Volume 47)

Powell, Lisa

Chaykowski, Richard

Social Sciences

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