The first edition of this text quickly established itself as the classic introduction to the Canadian constitution. Setting it in its historical context, noting especially the complex interaction of national and regional societies, it shows how the constitution continues to morph and shape itself. These changes are explored through key constitutional themes: democracy; parliamentarism; the rule of law; federalism; human rights; and Indigenous rights, and describes the country that has resulted from the interplay of these themes. Clarity of expression and explanation, which never veers into simplicity, combined with the author's expertise, makes this the ideal starting point for the student or comparative lawyer keen to gain a strong understanding of how Canadian democracy and government works.

The political concept of recognition has introduced new ways of thinking about the relationship between minorities and justice in plural societies. But is a politics informed by recognition valuable to minorities today? Critics contend that relations of recognition allow dominant groups to distort and essentialize the cultures of minorities, and to co-opt them through promises for modest reforms rather than deeper structural changes to political systems which are unjust. In contrast, struggles for self-determination promise freedom from the constraints one group imposes on another. But what does this kind of freedom amount to in a globalized world? Can a politics of self-determination avoid the risks of recognition? What factors help avoid these risks? What role do political actors play in helping groups negotiate relations of recognition and self-determination successfully?
Contributors to this volume examine the successes and failures of struggles for recognition and self-determination in relation to claims of religious groups, cultural minorities, and indigenous peoples on territories associated with Canada, the United States, Europe, Latin America, India, New Zealand, and Australia. The cases look at cultural recognition in the context of public policy about both intellectual and physical property, membership practices, and independence movements, while probing debates about toleration, democratic citizenship, and colonialism.
Together the contributions point to a distinctive set of challenges posed by a politics of recognition and self-determination to peoples seeking emancipation from unjust relations.

Political communities are defined - and often contested - through stories and storytelling. Scholars have long recognized that two foundational sets of stories - narratives of contact and narratives of arrival - helped to define settler societies. We are only beginning to understand how ongoing issues of migration and settlement are linked to issues of indigenous-settler contact. In Storied Communities, scholars from multiple disciplines disrupt the assumption in many works that indigenous and immigrant identities fall into two separate streams of analysis. The authors do not attempt to build a new master narrative - they instead juxtapose narratives of contact and arrival as they explore key themes: the nature and hazards of telling stories in the political realm; the literary, ceremonial, and identity-forming dimensions of the narrative form; actual narratives of contact and arrival in Canada, Australia, the Americas, New Zealand, and Europe; and the institutional and theoretical implications of foundation narratives and storytelling. In the process, they deepen our understanding of the role of narrative in community and nation building. By bringing to light the links between narratives of contact and narratives arrival, this innovative volume opens up new ways to imagine, sustain, and transform political communities.