Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Research and teaching interests
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Canadian and international human rights
- Race relations in Canada
- African-Canadian history
- Immigration
Current research projects
I am collaborating with B.A. “Rocky” Jones and George Elliott Clarke on a study entitled “Rocky the Revolutionary: Perspectives on Race Relations and Human Rights during the Long 1960s in Canada.”
Another project is entitled “‘Look Over Jordan’: The Canadian Journey Toward Racial Equality,” examining a sequence of case studies in which racialized Canadian minorities confronted discrimination and affected Canadian public policy as a result.
Recent publications
- “Decoding the Rights Revolution: Lessons from the Canadian Experience,” in Stephen Heathorn and David Goutor, eds., Taking Liberties: The History of Human Rights in Canada, Oxford University Press, 2013.
- “Black Confrontation in 1960s Halifax,” in Greg Kealey et al., eds., Debating Dissent: Canada and the Sixties, University of Toronto Press, 2012.
- “A Black Day in Court: ‘Race’ and Judging in R v RDS,” in Jim Phillips and Barrington Walker, eds., The African -Canadian Legal Odyssey, Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History and University of Toronto Press, 2012.
- “Claiming Equality for Canadian Jewry: The Struggle for Inclusion, 1933-1945," in Ruth Klein, ed., Nazi Germany - Canadian Responses: Confronting Antisemitism in the Shadow of War, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2012.
- “‘Sambo Farewell’: Lessons of Slavery from the Formerly Enslaved,” in Ken Pinto, ed., Slavery, Anti-Slavery and the Road to Freedom, DaCosta 400, 2011.
- "On the Record: The Testimony of Canada's Black Pioneers," in A. W. Bonnett and C.B. Holder, eds., Continuing Perspectives on the Black Diaspora, University Press of America, 2009.
- “Approaching African-Canadian History,” in David Divine, ed., Multiple Lenses: Voices from the Diaspora, Cambridge Scholar Publishing, 2008.
- “Forty Years in the Wilderness: The Indian Diaspora and Canadian Citizenship,” Directions: Research from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, Vol. 4 (2008).
- Critical Mass: The Emergence of Global Civil Society, Wilfrid Laurier University Press and Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2008, co-edited with Andrew S. Thompson.
- "A Jewel in the Mosaic: India in Canadian Immigration Policy”, in C.S. Raj and A. Nafey, eds., Canada’s Global Engagements and Relations with India, Manak Publishing House, New Delhi, 2007.
- “Race”, Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada, Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History and Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1997.
- The Black Loyalists: The Search for a Promised Land in Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone, Second edition, University of Toronto Press, 1992.