June 6, 2022
Canadian Studies director Irene Bloemraad and Sproul Fellow Nicholas A. R. Fraser spoke Friday at the annual meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, as part of a session titled "National Identities and Values: New Research on their Roles in Supporting and Relating to Others". Their presentation discussed their unpublished paper, "Categorical Inequalities and the Framing of Positive and Negative Rights: National Values versus Human Rights". The paper was co-authored by Allison Harell, a professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal who joined them for the panel. Former Sproul Fellow Rebecca Wallace, now a professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, also contributed to the project.
The research itself looks at how Canadians draw boundaries around who is entitled to civil and social rights. It looks at both "negative rights" (a protection from government action, such as state violence) and positive rights (access to a government benefit, such as healthcare or other welfare state provisions). While the former category are typically considered "universal" human rights, the latter are usually reserved for citizens and are not generally regarded as human rights. The research examines how and when Canadians perceive instances of rights violations in these contexts; it also asks whether framing these rights in terms of "national values" or "universal human rights" creates a more effective frame for prompting recognition of violations. Finally, it explores these questions through a lens at the intersection of race and citizenship, asking how these factors address the recognition and redress of rights violations.
Their findings, based on survey data from thousands of Canadians, suggest that framing rights in terms of national values is effective at promoting recognition of positive rights, but that it does not encourage people to be more generous in expanding access to such rights. Appeals to human rights had little effect on participants. Racial differences were also apparent, as a problem of food insecurity was most likely to be recognized and a remedy accepted by survey takers when the recipient was portrayed as a white citizen. Conversely, violations of civil rights, measured by reactions to arbitrary police stops, raised more concern when the person being stopped was described as a Black citizen, but not if they were a visa overstayer from Haiti or Jamaica, or a white citizen.
Professor Bloemraad underscores, "The findings from this research clearly reveal the limits of rights-based appeals, even appeals to human rights. And they demonstrate, in the minds of the Canadian public, continuing inequality in people's access to various rights."