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Terms of Entitlement: Is there a Distinctly Canadian “Rights Talk”?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2008

Emmett Macfarlane
Emmett Macfarlane*
Affiliation:
Queen's University
*
Emmett Macfarlane, Department of Political Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, K7L 3N6, 4em1@queensu.ca.
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Abstract

Abstract. One of the most frequently mentioned, yet seriously understudied, changes brought to Canadian society by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is its influence on political debate and how citizens understand and treat rights. This empirical lacuna is significant because several scholars of Canadian politics have suggested that “rights talk” can have negative implications for political discourse, given that rights are too often presented in absolute, uncompromising terms. This article represents a first attempt to investigate this phenomenon. It presents a content analysis of the media's presentation of rights issues, and evaluates how rights are portrayed during coverage of Supreme Court Charter decisions.

Résumé. L'un des changements les plus notables apportés à la société canadienne par l'adoption de la Charte des droits et libertés est son influence sur les débats politiques et, plus particulièrement, sur la manière dont les citoyens interprètent leurs droits. Ce changement important est toutefois très peu étudié. Cette lacune empirique est significative puisque plusieurs politologues canadiens ont suggéré que le «langage des droits» a des répercussions négatives sur les débats politiques, étant donné que les droits sont souvent décrits en termes absolus et définitifs. Cet article représente une première tentative d'exploration de ce phénomène. Il présente une analyse du contenu médiatique et évalue comment les médias dépeignent les droits dans leur couverture des décisions de la Cour suprême portant sur la Charte.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2008 , pp. 303 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2008

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