Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Wright, Tucker, and Binnie on War and Peace in Canada

Continuing with our Commonwealth catch-up: the University of Toronto Press published Canadian State Trials, Vol.IV in 2015. Security, Dissent, and the Limits of Toleration in War and Peace, 1914-1939 is edited by Barry Wright, Carleton University; Eric Tucker, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University; and Susan Binnie, former legal historian at the Law Society of Upper Canada.

From the press:
Canadian State Trials, Volume IVThe fourth volume in the Canadian State Trials series examines the legal issues surrounding perceived security threats and the repression of dissent from the outset of World War One through the Great Depression. War prompted the development of new government powers and raised questions about citizenship and Canadian identity, while the ensuing interwar years brought serious economic challenges and unprecedented tensions between labour and capital. 
The chapters in this edited collection, written by leading scholars in numerous fields, examine the treatment of enemy aliens, conscription and courts martial, sedition prosecutions during the war and after the Winnipeg General Strike, and the application of Criminal Code and Immigration Act laws to Communist Party leaders, On to Ottawa Trekkers, and minority groups. These historical events shed light on contemporary dilemmas: What are the limits of dissent in war, emergencies, and economic crisis? What limits should be placed on government responses to real and perceived challenges to its authority?
Praise for the book:

“An excellent continuation of the Canadian State Trials series, this volume adds considerably to our understanding of the history of state repression, class and labour relations, and the administration of justice.” -R. Blake Brown

“This volume is a superb structural analysis of how Canada’s courts were, and can be, used as state instruments of tyranny. It represents a number of fascinating and valuable questions.” -Scott Eaton

Table of Contents after the jump.


1. Barry Wright, Eric Tucker, and Susan Binnie, “War Measures and the Repression of Radicalism”

2. Bohdan Kordan, “‘They Will Be Dangerous’: Security Legislation and the Control of Enemy Aliens in Canada, 1914”

3. Peter McDermott, “Enemy Aliens in World War One: Legal and Constitutional Issues”

4. Jonathan Swainger, “Erroneous and Detestable: Seditious Language and the Great War in Western Canada”

5. Patricia McMahon, “Conscription and the Courts: The Case of George Edwin Grey, 1918”

6. Benjamin Isitt, “Court Martial at Vladivostok: Mutiny and Military Justice during the First World War”

7. Reinhold Kramer and Tom Mitchell, “‘Daniel de Leon Drew Up The Diagram’: Winnipeg’s Seditious Conspiracy Trials of 1919–1920”

8. David Frank, “The Devil’s Drum: Seditious Libel in Industrial Cape Breton, 1923”

9. Andrée Lévesque, “Red Scares and Repression in Quebec, 1919–39”

10. Dennis Molinaro, “Section 98: The Trial of Rex v. Buck and the ‘State of Exception’ in Canada”

11. John McLaren, “The Canadian State, Ethnicity and Religious Non-Conformism: The Trials of Peter Petrovich Verigin”

12. Bill Waiser, “Wiping out the Stain: The On to Ottawa Trek, Regina Riot and the Search for Answers”

Appendix

Judi Cumming, “Archival Sources, 1914-39, and User Challenges at Library and Archives Canada”

Patricia McMahon, “A Note on Access to Information Challenges”

Supporting Documents


Further information is available here