Group rights

de Judith Baker

The concept of group rights has become crucially important in the growing number of multicultural states around the world. But nowhere, so far, have the theoretical, analytical, and philosophical issues been so directly addressed as in Canada, where the historical experience of the founding peoples has made group rights both politically topical and philosophically important. This collection introduces a uniquely Canadian perspective on a prominent set of issues in contemporary political philosophy. Some argue that the Canadian constitution and ordinary laws protect both universal individual rights and rights accorded to individuals as members of specific communities. Others find that the conflict between community and individual rights remains and gives rise to a number of questions. For instance, is it acceptable to accord rights to some people on the basis of their cultural membership, rather than to all people universally? Are the rights of Aboriginal peoples different from the rights of English or French Canadians? Do immigrants, once accepted for citizenship, have special rights? What are the rights of refugees and those claiming refugee status? By giving the debate a theoretical and philosophical focus, distanced from the give and take of current political discussions, these essays make fundamental distinctions between kinds of group rights and the arguments one may offer for them.