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Landmark Cases in Canadian Law
Reckoning with Racism

Reckoning with Racism

Police, Judges, and the RDS Case

by Constance Backhouse

Published by: UBC Press

Series: Landmark Cases in Canadian Law

Imprint: UBC Press

72 b/w photos

Digital download
9780774868280
Published: November 2022

Digital download
9780774868297
Published: November 2022

Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

This book will have wide appeal among readers interested in racism in Canada. Students of law, history, political science, Canadian studies, and African diaspora studies will also want a copy, as will educators and journalists.

Introduction

1 The Trial

2 The People

3 A Black History of Nova Scotia

4 Race and Policing in Nova Scotia

5 The Initial Fallout

6 The Appeals Begin in Nova Scotia’s Supreme Court

7 Nova Scotia Court of Appeal

8 Gender Matters

9 Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada

10 The Supreme Court of Canada’s “Gang of Five”

11 The Concurring Opinion in Defence of Judge Sparks

12 Epilogue

Conclusion

Chronology

Notes; Index

Constance Backhouse is a Distinguished University Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa. She has written numerous prize-winning books, including Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900–1950 and Petticoats and Prejudice: Women and Law in Nineteenth-Century Canada. She has been awarded the Killam Prize, the Molson Prize, and the Governor General’s Persons Award. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada.

This is a landmark book about a landmark case in Canadian history.
~B. F. R. Edwards, Queen's University, CHOICE Connect

"As Backhouse notes in the introduction, decades before George Floyd, this case brought the discussion of race in our legal system into focus, challenging the white privileged and racial silence that generally characterize Western justice."
~Shauna Wilton, Ethnic and Racial Studies

"I highly recommended this book to everyone working in criminal law and those working with racialized communities, and especially those in Nova Scotia. It will also resonate with fans of true crime, community building, and anti-racist activism."
~Lori O’Connor, Canadian Law Library Review