Essays on the Constitution

Frank Scott's career is unique among Canadians of the century. As a constitutional lawyer, civil libertarian, teacher, and poet, he has helped to shape Canada's national awareness and culture. Comprising some thirty articles and occasional pieces from four decades, this book reflects the achievements of a legal scholar whose interests and concerns have always been in the vanguard of Canadian political thought and closely attuned to practical matters of national policy. Dr. Scott became renowned early in his career as a defender of the civil liberties of persecuted groups, including the Jehovah's Witness in Quebec, the Communists in Toronto, and the interned Japanese of British Columbia. An adamant critic of the constitutional decisions of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which he felt seriously damaged Canadian federalism, he has also explored the constitutional implications of Canada's evolution within the Commonwealth and the changing forces of federal-provincial relations. In recent years his central theme has been the problems of language policy and biculturalism. The essays in this volume provide a remarkably coherent appraisal of constitutional, political, and legal developments in recent Canadian history. Their appeal lies not only in their insights into the form and functioning of Canadian politics, but also in their unity and scope as the work of a man who has been one of the most influential of twentieth-century Canadian political thinkers.