Established in 1988, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the "CITT") replaced the Tariff Board, the Canadian Import Tribunal and the Textile and Clothing Board. Tasked with the responsibilities of advising the government on various trade related matters, conducting injury inquiries and reviewing certain decisions of the customs department, the CITT is an important source of Canadian trade policy and jurisprudence. This paper focuses on the role the CITT has played in the development of Canadian trade jurisprudence, with particular emphasis on the CITT's material injury inquiries and its appellate review of Canada Customs' classification and valuation determinations. Placing these decisions against the background of Canada's international trade commitments, the author gives a mixed review of the CITT's performance to date. That said, the author notes that a significant proportion of the CITT's failures in this area is more accurately attributable to the statutory limitations to its jurisdiction due to the incomplete manner in which Parliament has implemented Canada's international trade commitments into domestic law.

This thesis contains an analysis of the function and application of the doctrine of fiduciary obligation, illustrated by an examination of obligations Canada owes to Indians regarding reserve land transactions. / Chapters I and II describe the origin and development of the doctrine and the way in which fiduciary obligations are formulated. Chapters III and IV describe the Crown/Indian relationship and suggest how officials might estimate Crown obligations. The thesis concludes that the doctrine is legislative and that its function is to extend juridical protection to otherwise inadequately regulated relationships of social or economic importance. Rules developed to govern the trustee/beneficiary relationship are adapted and applied to useful relationships to prevent victimization through the use of inherent opportunities for exploitation. Acceptance by Indians of representative decision-making is critical to stable reconciliation of Indian and non-Indian interests. Pursuit of this objective informs the Crown/Indian relationship and shapes the content of Crown obligations.

The social authority of traditional organized Christian religion has changed dramatically over the twentieth century. In 2002, less than 25% of Canadians were members of a traditional faith community or regularly participated in formal or informal organized religious practices. Nonetheless, Reginald Bibby has claimed Christianity is making a comeback in Canada. He has argued that the continued reliance on religious rites of passage by nominal and non-affiliates represents the continued influence of traditional Christian religion on the lives of Canadians, and the return to traditional religious communities for rites of passage represents opportunities for those faith communities to bring the lost sheep back to the fold. This thesis tests Bibby's claim through an examination of the social authority of traditional organized religion over contemporary death rituals practiced in Canada. Although Bibby may be encouraged by the continued presence of traditional Christian religious leadership in many contemporary death rituals, the inclusion of religion is often a precarious one that is more often the result of a situational religious response to fulfill a cultural expectation than the desire to perform a sacred ritual that reinforces one's relationship with a traditional faith community or the transcendent being it worships.

Fundamental rights have been traditionally understood as prohibitions of state interference with the private affairs of citizens. Classic liberalism views human freedom generally as the absence of governmental restrictions, maintaining that happiness, prosperity and progress can be achieved only by limiting government. / The dissertation challenges these traditional assumptions by showing that the protection of fundamental rights depends on both restraint and intervention of the state. Therefore, the realization of freedom, equality and justice should not be left to market forces but requires active governmental participation. The state assumes positive as well as negative obligations under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This means that governmental authorities, legislatures and courts must respect, protect and promote Charter guarantees. The Charter makes space for economic, social and cultural fights, which presuppose a cooperative and dialogical relationship between the three governmental branches (executive, legislative, and judicial bodies). / The thesis also grapples with another issue in the current Canadian constitutional debate. It is widely believed that federalism is antagonistic to liberal values, in particular the guarantees of the Charter; that the nature and purpose of the Charter imply a superior role of Ottawa vis-a-vis the provinces because cultural diversity and decentralization of power undermine its effectiveness. The dissertation recasts the debate and proposes ways to reconcile human rights with federalism and its underlying objective---the preservation of cultural diversity. It offers an analytical framework that allows us to view fundamental rights and cultural pluralism as interdependent and indivisible values protected by the Canadian Constitution. / The thesis concludes with a proposal for a multicultural interpretation of the Charter on the basis of which cultural differences can be identified and accommodated. It stipulates that a pluralistic constitutional discourse is possible insofar as the Charter is seen as a document establishing substantive and institutional conditions for Canadians to engage in deliberative democracy and, thereby facilitating communicative actions by citizens from all walks of life.

Thèse (M.A.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2008. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 1 février 2007). In ProQuest dissertations and theses. Publié aussi en version papier.

This study explores the phenomena of Canadian identity in contemporary Canadian society. It looks at how CTV television show Canadian Idol constructs Canadian identity for its viewers and how they understand Canadian identity. It also looks at whether the representation of Canadian identity on Canadian Idol is reflected or mirrored in its viewers' discussion. Qualitative content analysis, agenda setting and encoding and decoding models are mobilized to examine whether the show sets the agenda for viewers' discussion on Canadian identity, and whether viewers decode the meaning as it is encoded. The results of this thesis reveal that Canadian Idol represents Canadian identity with specific dominant markers, which fuel forum members' discussion. This indicates that most viewers' discussions are motivated by the discourse on the show. Nonetheless, this thesis also finds that Canadian Idol's discourse is not always accepted by all viewers, in the same way, all of the time.

This thesis applies the political economy of communication, Giddens' (1984) theory of agency, and Lukes' (1974) conception of power to the Canadian Broadcasting infrastructure in order to understand how Neoliberal market policies impacts the production and distribution of Canadian television content. This research involves two types of analyses, structural and institutional, to study the Canadian Broadcasting Act, Canadian Content Regulations, Canadian Television Policy and the ownership structure of CanWest Global Communications Corporation, an example of a Canadian media conglomerate. The thesis concludes that the Neoliberal approach is adopted to attract Canadian audiences to Canadian content in a growing competitive and changing global media environment. It limits content diversity by creating a concentrated media infrastructure that favours the production of Canadian entertainment over news and information. This creates a heavily entertained culture but one that is less informed and viewed strictly within the confines of Neoliberal market Hegemony.

Images assist in the propagation of mythological narratives, as is the case for the basic unit of analysis of this study, the Vancouver 2010 brand. The use of images gives material existence to abstract ideas such as nationalism, religion or the notion of unity. Using the notion of triadic semiosis, as well as the social semiotic model to which it belongs, this study analyzes contemporary notions of Canadian identity, as represented visually, through the Vancouver 2010 Olympic brand. Two empirical findings have emerged as a result of this study: (1) The Canadian identity as conceptualized by scholars who have studied it in the past has undergone a process of change, namely a shift from a "traditional" Canada, deeply connected to the natural landscape and geography, to a "contemporary" Canada, composed of large metropolitan centers ready to do business with an increasingly globalized world. (2) A linguistic dualism continues to pervade within contemporary Canadian life, a fact visually represented within marketing materials used to promote the Vancouver 2010 brand.

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.