Fall/Winter Timetable

POL490H1F L0101

Graduate Course Code: POL2102H1F L0101

Topics in Canadian Politics I

Canada in Question: A Country Founded on Incomplete Conquests

Themes

This course examines the consequences of Britain’s incomplete conquest of New France in 1763 and its peace agreement with nations native to North America in the 1764 Treaty of Niagara. It is built on the thesis that the best way of understanding the distinctive nature of Canada is through an examination of the changes in Canada’s three founding pillars - French Canada, Aboriginal Canada and English-speaking Canada – and their changing relationships with one another. Each session of the course will consider a landmark development or event in Canada’s constitutional development. These will include the Quebec Act, the Royal Proclamation of 1763, the coming of British loyalists, the War of 1812, Lord Durham’s Report, Confederation, the Riel Rebelllion, Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, Multiculturalism, Patriation, the Political Renaissance of First Peoples, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the end of mega constitutional politics. Though much of the course material is historical, the historical narrative is examined through the lens of political science and political theory.

Texts

Peter H. Russell, Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People, 3rd edition, University of Torornto Press, 2004.

W.P.M. Kennedy, The Constitution of Canada: An Introduction to its Development and Law, new edition, University of Toronto Press, 2014.

Format and Requirements

One two-hour seminar per week. Course requirements TBA.

Preparation

POL 103Y1 OR POL 214Y1 OR POL 224Y1 AND one other POL course in Canadian politics.

Prerequisites

POL214H1 or POL214Y1 or POL215H5 or POL216H5 or POL224H1 or POL224Y1 orPOLB50Y3; 1.0 other POL credit in Canadian politics. See the Department's website http://politics.utoronto.ca/undergraduate/courses/fallwinter-timetable/ for POL courses by area group.