Just Words - Constitutional Rights and Social Wrongs (Paperback, 2nd Revised edition)

The Canadian Charter of Rights is Composed of Words that describe the foundations of a just society: equality, freedom, and democracy. These words of justice have inspired struggles for civil rights, self-determination, trade unionism, the right to vote, and social welfare. Why is it, then, that fifteen years after the Charter, social injustice, remains pervasive in Canada?

Joel Bakan explains why the Charter has failed to promote social justice, and why it may even impede it. He argues that the Charter's fine-sounding words of justice are just words. The principles of equality, freedom, and democracy are interpreted and implemented by a fundamentally conservative institution -- the legal system -- and within social and economic conditions that systematically frustrate their full realization.

Sophisticated in its analyses but clearly written and accessible to all, Just Words is cutting edge commentary by one of Canada's rising intellectuals.

'(Just Words) is a critical, compelling, and realistic assessment of our constitutional order, and will be essential reading for those interested in the past and future of constitutional theory in Canada' -- Patrick Macklem, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto