This thesis offers a comparative analysis of the Constitutional law mechanism for human rights protection in Canada and Russia. Russia is experiencing a transition from the former soviet regime towards democracy and civil society. Since the beginning of the transition in 1991 Russia has made three major steps in that direction: the adoption of the Declaration of Rights and Freedoms of the Individual and Citizen of 1991, the Constitution of 1993 and the ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights in 1998. However, the existent constitutional law mechanism for human rights protection is not fully effective due to its novelty for Russian society. A number of lessons can be learned from the Canadian and European experiences of human rights protection. Among them is the necessity to build the mechanism for human rights protection that will be based on the rule of law, direct application of the Constitution, and the creation of a human rights culture, supported by the people's trust in independent judicial institutions.

Within the framework of international trade liberalization which has given rise to considerable thought about the fundamental contribution of cultural diversity to sustainable development, we explore the upholding of the educational rights of recognized linguistic minorities and of the aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations under the Constitution Act, 1982. We examine these rights in the light of relevant judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada in order to confirm our initial hypothesis that the highest court in the land can show governments here and abroad the steps to take to ensure that the cultural rights specific to some communities and the citizenship common to the population as a whole can coexist in a free and democratic nation. / Our analysis shows that, while relying on the historical, equality and cultural-based justification of the existence of these rights, the Court favours an approach centred on three fundamental principles: the duty of the State to act equitably in the "best interest" of cultural minorities through a flexible approach to the interpretation of established rights; a fair participation in the management of and access to resources by minority groups; and finally, the fostering of social cohesion in order for unity in diversity to be maintained through a reconciliation of existing rights which must be achieved, first and foremost, by political discussion aimed at finding durable solutions. / From a cultural sustainable development perspective, the specific cultural rights of minority groups must thus favour a common citizenship within a context of respect for cultural diversity, while still being compatible with and promoting the values of a liberal democracy.

For much of the last twenty years, political leaders and academics have assumed that the survival of Canada depends on constitutional reform, and never more so than in the wake of the 1995 Quebec referendum. This thesis updates the literature by explaining the remarkable story of the last several years: the achievement of a national unity peace in the absence of constitutional reform. The explanation centres on the post-referendum shift in federal strategy from constitutional reform to Plan B, a strategy based on the rules of secession that has its origins, it is argued, in the Reform Party's response to Mulroneyera constitutional reform. The thesis concludes that Plan B was a successful national unity strategy because it made secession seem risky and undesirable, but also because the strategy - unlike constitutional reform - was based on widespread national support and on the viability of the constitutional status quo.

The idea that Canada was transformed into a "constitutional democracy" in 1982 is widely believed by the public, yet rarely examined in academic literature. This article identifies what it calls a "theory of Constitutional democracy" and then applies it to a test case, the Supreme Court of Canada's decisions on the equality claims of lesbians and gay men. It concludes that if the public expected such a transition, it has yet to be made.

Although Ronald Inglehart's New Politics theory has attracted criticism, its influential distinction between materialist and postmaterialist values tends to go unquestioned. The influence of this distinction is particularly apparent when analysts interpret the "new" social movement emphasis on esteem and belonging as a "postmaterialist" departure from a traditional, or "materialist" focus on security. This way of understanding contemporary feminist and ethnocultural-minority movements is misleading because it rests on a onedimensional view of esteem and belonging. By treating esteem and belonging as expressive, which is to say as purely aesthetic or psychological goods, New Politics obscures the instrumental significance of esteem and belonging for movements that represent traditionally, marginalized constituencies. This work undertakes a qualitative study of the participation of national socialmovement organizations, "old" and "new," in Canadian constitutional politics. The analysis is based on these actors' presentations to parliamentary hearings and royal commissions on major constitution-related issues between the years 1938 and 1992. Above all, the study illustrates what New Politics theory neglects: the instrumental role of social esteem and civic belonging as bases of voice and self-defence. I argue that attending to this role can help analysts to understand better the postwar politics of recognition. The work develops this argument in three major ways. First, I demonstrate the instrumental importance of esteem and belonging for the mid-century traditional left. Second, I show that problems of misrecognition and disesteem presented feminists and ethnocultural minorities with severe difficulties in garnering a meaningful hearing for their security needs. Third, I analyze the discursive ways in which postwar "new" movement participants came to pursue forms of respect that had proved elusive in the past. The work's overall conclusion is this: the material nature of the politics of recognition is demonstrated by the extent to which increased esteem and belonging for traditionally disrespected groups has been paralleled by an expanded menu of recognized security concerns. The study's major message follows from this conclusion: because struggles over esteem and belonging have crucial material stakes, they should not be contrasted a priori with struggles that may appear to target questions of security more directly. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

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