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In her analysis of the purpose of the Ontario Human Rights Code, the author draws on Nancy Fraser's distinction between the two main strategies that have been used to combat inequality. Strategies of redistribution, which prevailed among equality activists in the early twentieth century, see inequality as arising from unequal access to economic resources. Strategies of recognition, which have come into prominence more recently, see inequality as arising from sociocultural prejudices that deny equal recognition to disadvantaged groups. Although the Ontario Human Rights Code is often seen as focusing on rec- ognitional issues, the author argues that through the market relationships the Code regulates and the remedial powers it grants, it also adopts a redistribution strategy designed to address the economic impact of prohibited discrimination: that is, the Code aims to change how resources and opportunities are to be allocated for those with protected identity traits. An understanding of the inter- action between the Code's recognitional and redistributive functions sheds light on its purpose and method of operation, as well as on its relationship to other equality-seeking legal mechanisms such as collective bargaining and the equal- ity rights provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Thus, the need for a range of legal tools to counter inequality in different contexts comes more clearly into focus.

Argues that the short-lived Ontario Labour Court of 1943-44 set the stage for Canada's collective bargaining regime since the Second World War. Contrasts Canadian labour relations at the time with that in the US under the Wagner Act. Analyzes landmark cases and administration of the Ontario collective bargaining act under which the court was created, as well as providing brief bios of prominent lawyers and judges. Emphasizes that the court arose from common-law precepts of the primacy of property rights. Takes note of the strong opposition to unions and collective bargaining, especially among employers. Concludes that while labour made gains in some areas, the court's mixed record of achievement also included constraints on legal striking and fragmentation of the union movement. An appendix of court decisions on union certification is included.

The article reviews the book, "Racialized Policing: Aboriginal People's Encounters with the Police," by Elizabeth Comack.

This article reviews the book, "Making the World Safe for Workers: Labor, the Left, and Wilsonian Internationalism," by Elizabeth McKillen.

This article reviews the book, "Showcasing the Great Experiment: Cultural Diplomacy and Western Visitors to the Soviet Union, 1921–1941," by Michael David-Fox.

Analyzes Governor General David Johnston's October 16, 2013 Throne Speech for what it did and did not say about aspects of national history and identity. Argues that this is concomitant with the Conservative government's shutdown of the National Council of Welfare, the removal of public documents from the web, and the lack of recognition of Quebec's contemporary culture, including its distinct social institutions and practices. Concludes that historians and political scientists are obligated not only to keep a critical eye on "history under Harper," but to put forward or help to promote more appropriate versions of history and peoplehood.

This article reviews the book, "Critical Inquiries: A Reader in Studies of Canada," ed. by Lynne Caldwell, Carrianne Leung, and Darryl Leroux.

The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It, by David Weil, is reviewed.

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the Canadian and U.S. approaches to the adjudication of discrimination claims arising from employ- ment. The author presents an overview of the main structural elements of the U.S. system (focusing on the state of California) as compared to the Canadian system, having regard to causes of action, forums, the type and extent of rem- edies, costs awards, and participants in the process. She then considers the impact of those contrasting structural elements on a complainant's ability to access a court process, rather than an administrative process alone, and on the scope of individual monetary remedies that may be available in addition to systemic ones. Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the Canadian and U.S. approaches, the author asks whether the system in Canada, with its pronounced "public" character, could not coexist with a more "private" sys- tem in which claims could be pursued in court, in a way that would benefit both individual complainants and society as a whole. At the same time, the author suggests that enhancing the quantum of individual remedies, whether in an administrative forum or in court, could well prove to be an effective tool for encouraging complainants to come forward and to enable them to secure effective legal representation in prosecuting their complaints.

The editor announces his retirement and reflects on his longstanding connection with the journal, first as a contributor, then as editor. Expresses appreciation for the work and support of others. Welcomes members of the Canadian Association of Work and Labour Studies to the editorial board as well as incoming editor Sean Cadigan.

Argues in this concluding commentary that the Harper Conservatives have captured the political imagination, while those in opposition have not. Discusses the ideological turn to global neoliberalism, including in Canada, since 1975, as advocated by economist Milton Friedman; in this context, the Harper Conservatives are simply a leaner and meaner version of the trend. Takes note of the contested perspectives on the state and community. Points to social movements, such as the student movement in Quebec, that have attempted to push back. Concludes that the New Right must be challenged by a coherent left politics that is beyond the current party system.

New Zealand is a relatively prosperous OECD member with a tradition of liberal democracy. Fiji remains a developing nation with a large subsistence agriculture sector and one-quarter of its people living in poverty. Its socio-economic difficulties have contributed to four Coups d'Etat since Fiji attained independence in 1970. This comparative study examines these South Pacific neighbours' considerable employment regulatory change amid economic liberalisation framed by neo-liberal market ideology, before focusing on the gendered impacts of this change. A thematic analysis of qualitative survey and documentary evidence reveals a link between regulatory forms and working women's progress, mediated by national and international pressures. The findings inform a model of regulatory approaches that can influence women's relationship with the labour market.

The article reviews the book, "Try to Control Yourself: The Regulation of Public Drinking in Post-Prohibition Ontario, 1927-44," by Dan Malleck,.

La volonté affichée de donner des capacités d’agir aux salariés s’incarne dans le concept d’« habilitation » (empowerment) qui désigne des formes d’initiative et de participation accordées aux salariés, d’amplitude toutefois variable. Dans une perspective critique qui inspire notre travail, l’« habilitation » peut être vue comme une rhétorique managériale destinée à mobiliser la subjectivité des salariés tout en voilant les rapports de domination. En tout état de cause, la formation devrait constituer une ressource susceptible d’accroître le pouvoir d’agir des salariés et être conçue par les directions et perçue par les salariés comme telle. Comment et avec qui conçoit-on une politique de formation en cohérence avec ce projet ? Comment (et dans quelle mesure) cette politique contribue-t-elle effectivement à l’« habilitation » des salariés ? Cet article met la doctrine de l’« habilitation » à l’épreuve de la formation. Le terrain ici mobilisé est une enquête monographique conduite auprès d’une entreprise de l’agro-alimentaire, filiale française d’un groupe américain, qui a érigé l’« habilitation » en doctrine managériale. Saisie au niveau de l’organisation, la politique de formation apparaît congruente avec les autres pratiques mobilisatrices visant l’engagement et la responsabilisation des salariés, mais dans le cadre strict des objectifs stratégiques du groupe. Au niveau individuel, certains salariés, parmi les plus récemment embauchés, jugent leur capacité d’agir renforcée par la politique de formation de l’entreprise. Mais pour la majorité des salariés interrogés, leur rapport à la formation traduit leur désenchantement sur leur pouvoir d’agir dans un environnement où les décisions managériales demeurent opaques et imprévisibles. Le consentement et la coopération des salariés apparaissent fragilisés par ces contradictions.Ainsi, et malgré la situation très privilégiée de l’entreprise étudiée, dans un régime de gouvernance actionnariale où la prégnance des objectifs de rentabilité financière s’impose à tous les salariés et où, en outre, la représentation collective des salariés est faible voire inexistante, la politique d’« habilitation » ne parvient pas à concrétiser ses ambitions. Pour autant, elle n’est pas dépourvue d’effectivité. Au travers de la formation s’expriment les tensions dont l’« habilitation » est porteuse. Elle révèle, dans ce contexte, les promesses non tenues de cette doctrine managériale et questionne son efficacité économique et sociale.

This paper explores what the author sees as two important trends in recent privacy law decisions by Canada's highest courts, and considers the implications of those trends for privacy rights in the workplace. The first trend the author argues, is a clear affirmation that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the workplace - an expectation that is inherent in an individual's human dignity and autonomy, and that does not need to be expressly bargained or negotiated. As a result, it can no longer be maintained, as some adjudicators did, that there is no juridical basis in the common law on which to ground a right to privacy. The second trend is an increasing recognition of a right to informational privacy (as distinct from a right to bodily or to territorial privacy), understood as an individual's ability to control how information about him or her is communicated to others. As the paper explains, questions about the protection of informational privacy in the employment context have been brought to the fore by the prolhferation of information technology in the workplace, and by the increased blurring of lines between employees' professional and private lives. The author concludes that, going forward, the challenge will be to define more precisely the scope of employees' rights to privacy, particularly in relation to the employer's legitimate operational interests, and to determine appropriate remedial responses in the event of a breach of such rights.

The article reviews the book, "Edible Histories, Cultural Politics: Towards a Canadian Food History," edited by Franca Iacovetta, Valerie J. Korinek, and Marlene Epp.

Theory and research surrounding employee voice in organizations have often treated high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) as substitutes for unions. Drawing on recent theoretical developments in the field of industrial relations, specifically the collective voice/institutional response model of union impact and research on HIWPs in organizations, the authors propose that these institutions are better seen as complements whereby greater balance is achieved between efficiency, equity, and voice when HIWPs are implemented in the presence of unions. Based on a national sample of Canadian organizations, they find employees covered by a union experience fewer intensification pressures under higher levels of diffusion of HIWPs such that they work less unpaid overtime, have fewer grievances, and take fewer paid sick days. Job satisfaction is maximized under the combination of unions and HIWPs.

A quarter-century ago, in the Action Travail des Fermmes case, the Supreme Court of Canada gave strong endorsement to the principle that systemic remedies should be widely available in human rights cases to combat entrenched patterns of discrimination, and indicated that such remedies could be expected to be effect- ive in meeting that objective. This paper considers developments in the area of systemic remedies since Action Travail des Fenmes was decided, and concludes that the promise held out by the Supreme Court remains unfulfilled and indeed that the viability of systemic remedies themselves is very much in question. At the federal level, amendments to the Canadian Human Rights Act retrenched the tri- bunal's remedial powers, by seemingly inhibiting the imposition of hiring quotas in cases where systemic discrimination in employment had been established In addition, the generation-long saga of the McKinnon case in Ontario laid bare the almost insurmountable challenges of enforcing systemic orders against a recalci- trant respondent, and revealed the limits of the human rights system's institutional capacity. Most recently, in the Moore decision, the Supreme Court has cast doubt even on the availability of systemic remedies, by holding - on the basis of a superficial analysis and contrary to its own long-standing jurisprudence - that only individual remedies should have been ordered in a case which unmistakeably had systemic dimensions. While the decision may reflect the Court's concern that the tribunal decision intruded excessively into the realm of public policy and finance, it provides no meaningfd guidance on how government can be held accountable for its human rights obligations.

Pays tribute to Bettina Bradbury's feminist historiography and how it influenced the author's own work on the household economy of residential prostitution as well as female tavern and inn keepers in 19th century Montreal. Concludes that Bradbury raised the bar for studies of social, economic, cultural, and political history in Canada and Quebec.

The article reviews the book, "Building Sanctuary: The Movement to Support Vietnam War Resisters in Canada, 1965-73," by Jessica Squires.