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Background: A longstanding challenge of community-based participatory research (CBPR) has been to anchor evaluation and practice in a relevant theoretical framework of community change, which articulates specific and concrete evaluative benchmarks. Social movement theories provide a broad range of theoretical tools to understand and facilitate social change processes, such as those involved in CBPR. Social movement theories have the potential to provide a coherent representation of how mobilization and collective action is gradually developed and leads to systemic change in the context of CBPR. The current study builds on a social movement perspective to assess the processes and intermediate outcomes of a longstanding health promotion CBPR project with an Indigenous community, the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project (KDSPP)., Methods: This research uses a case study design layered on a movement-building evaluation framework, which allows progress to be tracked over time. Data collection strategies included document (scientific and organizational) review (n = 51) and talking circles with four important community stakeholder groups (n = 24)., Results: Findings provide an innovative and chronological perspective of the evolution of KSDPP as seen through a social movement lens, and identify intermediate outcomes associated with different dimensions of movement building achieved by the project over time (mobilization, leadership, vision and frames, alliance and partnerships, as well as advocacy and action strategies). It also points to areas of improvement for KSDPP in building its potential for action., Conclusion: While this study's results are directly relevant and applicable to the local context of KSDPP, they also highlight useful lessons and conclusions for the planning and evaluation of other long-standing and sustainable CBPR initiatives. The conceptual framework provides meaningful benchmarks to track evidence of progress in the context of CBPR. Findings from the study offer new ways of thinking about the evaluation of CBPR projects and their progress by drawing on frameworks that guide other forms of collective action.

In Canada and many other countries, voices from across the political spectrum are using the metaphor of "war" to describe contentious debates on a diverse range of topics. While the socalled culture wars are poorly defined, there is certainly evidence of increasing affective polarization (strong negative feelings toward out-group members). Many conflicts prominently feature destructive approaches based on ineffective theories of change. Even social change movements fighting for goals that are closely aligned with those of peace workers--achieving more egalitarian societies that respect the dignity and human rights of all and overcome systemic discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other identity characteristics--appear to urgently need the knowledge that exists in fields like peace and conflict studies. The reasons for this, and the particular insights that peace and conflict experts have to offer to those seeking to achieve positive interpersonal and intergroup peace (i.e. peace grounded in justice), will be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a social movement, #MeToo offers a chance for individuals to share their stories and connect with others who have been sexually assaulted or harassed. The movement may also facilitate understanding of the scope of sexual assault and harassment worldwide. Preliminary research on #MeToo has provided some insight on potential societal effects of the movement, but many research questions remain unanswered. The current study aims to contribute to the scarcity of research on the #MeToo movement. Through a series of focus groups, a sample of Canadian undergraduates (N = 56) were given the opportunity to discuss their views of why #MeToo is important, the role they think it plays, and their concerns. Students also explored both perceived positive and negative effects of #MeToo, as well as its potential sustainability. The social, structural, and gendered complexities involved in the emergence of the #MeToo movement were highlighted. Positive aspects of the movement that were emphasized included awareness raising, support for assault disclosure, and use of the media as an important tool. However, some individuals were concerned with media being used as a dangerous tool and that some groups have been harmed or excluded from #MeToo. While many participants felt that there is some evidence of #MeToo's "success," they believed that with respect to sexual assault and harassment more time may be required before sustained social and structural changes emerge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work has engaged with and led the revolutionary social movements of the past century. Yet today, as activism by and for racial others unfolds across the United States and Canada, our discipline remains largely silent. This article considers new ways for social workers to conceptualize social work activism, challenge the existing erasures within the profession, and construct innovative strategies to locate social work within the critical social movements of our time. Recognizing the continuity of histories of colonialism, slavery, and genocide, the author argues that social workers must engage with racialized communities' resistance through their legacy of exclusion and displacement. The author demonstrates the significance of an evolving politics of race and social justice for social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we use comparative historical analysis to explain agenda-setting and the timing of policy outcomes on same-sex marriage in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Unlike the United States and Canada, Australia does not have a bill of rights, making litigation to obtain rights not enumerated in existing legislation unavailable to activists. Extending the literatures on the development of public policy and on political and historical institutionalism, we argue that in the absence of domestic opportunities for legal change, international law becomes more important to activists in wealthy democracies, but it is contingent on states’ specific institutional and cultural features. Even when international law is “domesticated” into national political structures, it is still secondary to internal conditions in countries with extensive rights-based polities. International law may set a political agenda, but once introduced, policies move according to internal conditions related to party discipline, the centralization of courts, and policy legacies within those countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article revisits the debate over Barker and Cox's (2011) use of Gramsci's distinction between traditional and organic intellectuals to contrast academic and activist modes of theorizing about social movements. Often misread as an attack on personal choices in career and writing, the distinction aimed to highlight the different purposes, audiences, and social relationships entailed by these different forms of theorizing. Discourses which take 'scholarship' as their starting point position 'activist' as a personal choice within an institutional field, and substitute this moral commitment for a political assessment of its effects. By contrast, few academics have undergone the political learning curve represented by social movements. This may explain the widespread persistence -- beyond any intellectual or empirical credibility -- of a faith in 'critical scholarship' isolated from agency, an orientation to policy makers and mainstream media as primary audiences or an unquestioned commitment to existing institutional frameworks as pathways to substantial social change. Drawing on over three decades of movement participation and two of academic work, this article explores two processes of activist training within the academy. It also explores the politics of different experiences of theoretical publishing for social movements audiences. This discussion focuses on the control of the "means of mental production" (Marx, 1965), and the politics of distribution. The conclusion explores the broader implications of these experiences for the relationship between movements and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we critically reflect on the production and measurement of 'success' and 'failure' both in social movements and social movement research. We do so by focusing on the Radical Imagination Project, an experiment in politically engaged, ethnographically grounded social movement research we have sustained in Halifax, Nova Scotia since 2010. We discuss our methodological strategy of 'convocation,' distinguishing it from other social movement research approaches, and reflect on the difficulties inherent in practicing these methods within the austere realities and pressures of the neoliberal university. We explore the ways in which the particular complexities of the fraught field and habitus of the would-be academic-activist might be critically assessed and best mobilized to assist in the reproduction of movements, without also unduly reproducing the neoliberal university or its architectures of privilege and power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging forms of social mobilisation are explored, using food initiatives in Canada as an example. Food networks are particularly interesting as a case study: they have holistic goals that include both environmental and social concerns, the number and scope of food initiatives have rapidly increased, and there has recently been a high level of public engagement around food issues. Networks among alternative food initiatives (AFIs) are investigated using a survey and in-depth interviews. Food movement networks exhibit some elements of collective identity, but network members have diverse goals, projects, and tactics that do not always align into a coherent political program. Social network theory and the analytic of complex assemblages are employed to help understand these results. Understanding how these food networks function provides insight not just into food networks, but also more generally into the study and practice of social mobilisation around environmental issues. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice / Études Critiques sur le Genre, la Culture, et la Justice is the property of Mount Saint Vincent University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Human rights transformed international politics beginning in the 1970s. This transformation was rooted in a dialectical relationship between international and domestic human rights institutions and movements. This article explores how we can use social movements, law, and politics to demonstrate the way international human rights norms were received, interpreted, and applied domestically and how this affected states' participation in international politics. The focus is on Canada, which was profoundly influenced by international human rights norms and in turn contributed to transforming international politics. These developments were especially pronounced in the 1970s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forms of Indigenous contentious action, including blockades, marches, demonstrations, building occupations and fish- and log-ins are commonplace in Canada, but understudied. The likelihood of more of these events is high given the glacial pace at which grievances are being acknowledged. This paper asks what accounts for the variation in mobilization of Indigenous groups in unconventional forms of protest - non-routine and non-institutional - often "illegal" contentious action events in advanced, industrial, settler democracies? The applicability of three social movement theories, deprivation, Resource Management Theory (RMT) and New Social Movement (NSM) theory, are examined in providing explanatory leverage on Indigenous mobilization in contentious action in Canada. An examination of two cases will outline the explanatory usefulness of these theories: the blockades at Kanehsatake in 1990 (commonly referred to as the Oka Crisis) and the conflict at Burnt Church from 1999 to 2002. It determines that deprivation, NSM, and sometimes RMT are able to provide valuable insights into specific cases and also illustrate the fact that Indigenous contentious action across Canada is not the same, they, are not always driven by the same processes, goals, or identities. These theories can be useful analytical tools, but have little to offer in terms of predictive power and must be used carefully as explanatory tools. As opposed to being separate explanatory fields, they are most helpful used cooperatively rather than competitively. All of these theories must be able to take into consideration the impacts of colonialism on resources, on deprivation and on identity, in order to retain explanatory value in the case of Indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the relationship that land has to identity formation for Indigenous peoples must be accounted for, and can be done so within NSM theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When Brigette approached me to write a piece for this collection I hesitated for weeks. Despite technically being a youth, I have never identified as being a 'youth activist' and for weeks I pondered why that was. I realized that even I had internalized the association between youth and apathy. Or at best, I assumed that youth within social movements were experimenting with counter-cultural politics. I have often imagined myself or other young people around me as being particularly 'mature', when in reality it is obvious that young people, as young people, are deeply committed to struggles for liberation and freedom. We should be celebrated and honoured as integral participants in the collective movements that we desire and are inspired by. I decided it was an apt moment to reflect on more than 10 years of engaging and mobilizing in grassroots multiracial feminist communities for social change as a young person. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the political activities of independent political groups seeking the creation of a sovereign nation-state of Quebec separate from Canada. These parties included the "Jeune-Canada," "Jeunesses patriotes" and several political newspapers. Despite their attempts to create a movement that would resonate with the entirety of French-Canadian's, they encountered numerous difficulties in taking their political ideas and forming a cohesive social movement to challenge the Canadian government.

Social movements have been important sources of change and social innovation in Québec, at the national level but also in each of its regions where they were imbedded. Grassroots social movements were the building blocks of what is now known as the "Québec model" of governance. This paper discusses whether a new generation of social movements could emerge in the Québec regions where new co-construction mechanisms for policies and programs have been integrated into regional governance structures. How does this new generation of social activists position itself in regard to these new policies and structures inherited from half a century of social movements led by their predecessors? The article will focus on structures and mechanisms of concertation of regional authorities with local/regional community groups. It is based on data collected in various research projects in seven Québec regions and on longstanding professional experiences and experiences in advocacy. A parallel will be drawn between the concept of social innovation inherent to social movements and the one adopted by regional authorities based upon Schumpeter's economical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contributing to the gender and federalism debate, this article explores how characteristics and historical legacies of the Canadian and U.S. federations shape women’s activism. Following discussion of three positions gender scholars and activists hold regarding federalism, their shared view that federalism is gendered is explored. Reversing the causal arrow to compare how organized women circumvent or change obstructive federal arrangements, the text uses abortion rights campaigning to illustrate. It shows that the weaker pan-Canadian women’s movement succeeded in effecting constitutional and judicial change because of a favorable division of powers and preoccupation with Quebec. But a negative historical legacy and division of powers, counter-movements and partisan polarization limited the stronger U.S. movement to circumvention strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The year 1965 represents a critical moment in the development and transformation of activist and student politics in the city of Toronto. This article explores the involvement of young Canadian activists with a variety of causes, such as support for African American Civil Rights, opposition to American imperialism, and the movement against the war in Vietnam. By matching their own political aspirations with those of their New Left counterparts in the United States, these activists participated in a larger transaction of radical thought, transformative strategies, protest tactics, and democratic alternatives. The adoption of this affective politics of solidarity was ultimately key to the emergence of more local, community-based activism, as well as the sharpening of an anti-imperialist critique within the emergent New Left in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This multimedia essay combines words and images in a creative performance drawn from our 2009 cross-Canada Whistlestop Project,1 a study of the diverse art practices of Canadian popular educators involved in the women's movement. We focus on the Tofino Whistlestop on Vancouver Island on the Pacific Coast, the most westerly point on this research-by-rail journey, which began on the Atlantic coast. The eight participants at The Common Loaf Bake Shop in Tofino represented diverse art forms: arts-researcher Dorothy; arts-researcher and photographer Anita; baker-designer Maureen; painter-collagist-muralist Marla; flamenco dancer Thérèse; baker-mosaic artist Stephanie; poet-writer Chris; and, poet-writer-videographer John. This essay unfolds as a show and tell of the research participants' art practices as they constitute popular education in the context of arts-based action research methodology of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to generate personal and collective stories of life-affirming experiences of art as popular education. This video essay highlights the relational art of story- telling and story-receiving through gesture, performance, and symbol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter describes four social movements that developed in the early twentieth century in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter summarizes the area of critically oriented environmental adult education, focusing on the relationship between historical contextual factors and Canada's current leadership in environmental adult education. A comparison of Canadian and American student environmental activism demonstrates how contextual factors shape nonformal learning and activism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an examination of the development of contemporary aboriginal literature in Canada since 1967 when the country celebrated its centennial. It traces how the genre has grown since the 1960s and examines the literary figures who have made contributions to this development. It explores the political and cultural context during which this movement began and discusses how both have changed since the 1960s. It also discusses how the relationship between Canada's aboriginal population and the government has changed during this time.

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Education / Revue Canadienne de l'Éducation is the property of Canadian Society for the Study of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on the political, social, and literary circumstances that conditioned the literature produced and, in turn, contributed to understandings and valuations of literature during the period 1965-1980. It is stated that the era is uniquely important to Canadian literature because widespread changes in political understandings of national and female identities contextualized the appreciation of literature published during this time. Identity politics in this era was made up of two dominant social movements--Canadian nationalism and second-wave feminism--that prompted Canadians and women to think of themselves differently.

The author reflects on the social changes in Canada after Pierre Trudeau was elected as Prime Minister in 1968. He cites that the immigration pattern in the country had changed in Trudeau administration because of the social equality principle. He notes the impact of the agreement among old commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Canada on British who wanted to migrate in the country.

The article examines the efforts made and the key dilemmas faced by First Nations, a meso-level organization, on its tri-partite treaty negotiations with the governments of British Columbia and Canada. It analyzes the relevant concepts in the social movement literature, as well as the accounts of indigenous political mobilization that contains the treaty development in both countries. It addresses the organization's options for mobilizing its diverse and unwilling constituents to gain leverage in the treaty process. Moreover, the treaty process has the aspect of a war of attrition between the parties which promote diverging agendas.

Social scientists are increasingly challenged to demonstrate how their research and new knowledge can be mobilized and transferred to the wider community in which the research serves. Knowledge mobilization can contribute to the development of policy research that will be more significant in solving the interrelated problems of immigration and settlement as well increasing our understanding of how the growing volume of both formal and informal knowledge regarding these issues can be more effectively utilized. This paper reports on our experiences with a knowledge mobilization project developed to enhance dialogue between key stakeholder to improve licensure and employment opportunities of skilled immigrants in Canada. If knowledge is envisioned to serve a larger social justice perspective, then it needs to be conceptualized as a communication process whereby knowledge is viewed as a multidimensional artifact which can be facilitate social change. We argue that knowledge mobilization through networks must emphasize access and explanation to all parties, to empower the public and to promote a serious public discourse regarding the socio economic inequalities faced by skilled immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the invitation of the editor, this article offers an overview of my personal research trajectory in one thematic area—the study of urban form, structure and growth. The purpose of the article is not to assign prominence to any particular research style or approach but to illustrate how ideas and priorities in research evolve over a given time period and under specific conditions, as viewed through the lens of my own experience. The article traces the sequential evolution of my research activity and publications from an initial emphasis on understanding change in inner-city land use and built form, through studies of decision making and the behavioural bases of urban form, to analyses of social change, income inequalities and spatial polarization, and then to issues of planning, policy and governance in emerging city regions. The review highlights lessons learned and concludes with an argument for more inclusive and comparative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empowerment and social change can occur in many ways (Nagda & Harding, 1999). However, to truly overcome racist and disempowering systems and practices, large-scale change should be conducted in a methodical, organized manner. Learning to overcome racist and oppressive systems must begin with social work educational institutions. Social work programs in Canada should demonstrate a more healthy and productive way to structure all of our organizations (Goodman, 2001). There has been much debate in the field of Organizational Development (OD) about the various ways to achieve truly diverse and inclusive organizations (Chesler, 1994). Although the consensus-oriented model of organizational change is easier to implement, true organizational transformation and integration is rare (Chesler, 1994; Hyde, 2004). The Multicultural Organizational Development (MCOD) model is one conflict-oriented change model that strives for fundamental transformation of organizations. Both the Maritime School of Social Work and the University of Toronto's Faculty of Social Work are Canadian educational institutions that have used the MCOD model to address the challenge of inclusive and diverse education. This paper proposes that all Canadian social work schools should use the Multicultural Organizational Development (MCOD) model to assist them not only to meet their accreditation requirements, but also fundamentally transform their schools to achieve long-term change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before 1968, there was more diversity and more frequency of Native-directed social change in institutions, social movements, and religious movements in the United States than in Canada. When Canadian and U.S. nation-states exert direct administrative controls over Native communities and impose change, there are few options for self-directed change. Since 1968, Native nations in both countries enjoy greater possibilities for self-directed change, although the patterns are uneven and moving in somewhat different directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at "Canadian feminisms in action" in the context of transnational feminist organizing, and the attendant question of power relations between women. It suggests a conceptual framework called the "pedagogy of activism" to illustrate how reflective engagement in activism helps to name and address power dynamics. A list of principles drawn is offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers how we are to understand democratic media activism, which has recently burgeoned in Canada, the UK and the USA. What is its political significance and potential? Is it a new social movement, a new style of politics cutting across movements, or are new concepts needed? Drawing illustratively upon interviews with media activists, notably in Vancouver, we explore insights offered by social movement theory - including resource mobilization formulations and the new social movement theories of Melucci, Habermas, Cohen and Arato, and Fraser. While all these traditions offer valuable insights, media activism reveals limitations in existing conceptualizations. It has some of the characteristics of a movement, but lacks a distinct collective identity or niche within movement ecology. It may be destined to be a boundary-transgressing nodal point for other movements, articulating a coherent project for radical democracy, rather than a movement-for-itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the formal "carriers" of the goals and agendas of social movements, social movement organizations (SMOs) are committed to both institutional and identity politics. Given this dual engagement, SMOs must attempt to reconcile their intraorganizational strategies for representation and mobilization with their intergroup strategies for instrumental action in the policy process. In this article, these tensions are explored in a case study of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC) and its involvement in the policy debate on reproductive technologies over 15 years. The article reveals how the NAC's capacity to influence and participate in the formulation of policy on reproductive technologies was challenged by its inability to resolve competing demands: those of institutional politics, which called for professional advocacy; and the internal demands emanating from its grassroots member groups, for deliberation and participation. The article also attributes the NAC's diminished effectiveness in the policy process to broader changes in the relations between the Canadian state and social movement organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Lien Social et Politiques is the property of Institut National de Recherche Scientifique (INRS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Greater attention is now being given to the consequences of social movements. Relying on archival and interview material, this paper revisits Zald and Berger's notion of bureaucratic insurgency to analyse the dynamics of change and transformation in the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) during the early 1970s. Contrary to the Weber-Michels thesis, which predicts that as organizations age they become less political and more conservative, the CSAA became politicized as a result of the movement to Canadianize cultural and educational institutions. An explanation for this change is offered, which serves to challenge the Weber-Michels thesis of organizational transformation and its outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The alternative agriculture paradigm has been a useful device to both define and direct a social movement toward a more sustainable agriculture. But because that paradigm was defined by male movement leaders, it reflects their gendered perspective and may he lacking elements that make it more useful for both women and men. In-depth inter- views of women involved in sustainable farming organizations and on family farms experimenting with new practices validated the elements of the Beus and Dunlap paradigm: independence, decentralization, community, harmony with nature, diversity, and restraint, but also suggested the addition of two other elements that the women identified as part of an alter- native agriculture vision: quality family life and spirituality. The highly gendered nature of agriculture in the U.S. and Canada, where male identity is highly conflated with the role of farmer in the conventional paradigm. may make it more difficult for men who have just joined the movement to articulate the aspects of quality family life and spirituality which the women saw as critical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's response to the criticism of his article related to Canadian urban reform movements in the 1960s written by Jon Caulfield. Caulfield states that the author goes wrong in confusing urban and local. According to the author, local refers to a specific place and, by implication, the people that live there. The character of any locality will be determined by many things like local topography, geographical situation, climate, history of the place, wider social forces etc. Conceptual issues aside, using Toronto as a case study, Caulfield disagrees with the author's substantive interpretation of events in Canada arguing that he overemphasizes the importance of general forces, as opposed to local circumstances, in determining the chronology of local reform. But, according to the author, to a considerable extent, the high-handed actions of developers and local government at that time became issues because a growing number of people were disposed to make them issues. And they did so because they were influenced by, and indeed very much part of, a much broader social movement for social change. The author feels that Caulfield is tired of theoretical and/or generalized discussions that ignore the historical record and agrees on that.

The purpose of this paper is to outline an alternative interpretation of reform in Canadian cities. This account emphasizes the extent to which local reform was part of a larger movement for social change. Of course it was affected by conditions in cities. In general these conditions heightened the pressure for reform, and in specific cities they influenced the timing and intensity of reform activity. But they did not create, nor define the nature of, reform. For that reason it makes more sense to talk of a social movement in urban politics, rather than an urban reform movement. Previous accounts of Canadian city politics in the 1960s have identified some important truths. Economic circumstances differed from place to place and such differences did find expression in local politics. Most cities were changing rapidly and hence became centers of political activity. But, paradoxical as it may seem, local circumstances did not play the decisive role in local politics. Municipal reform developed only with the emergence of a broader movement for social change. In some cities, local issues kept reform alive after the broader movement had gone into decline.

The article develops an economic hypothesis about the origin of social movements. The paper is divided into three parts: the first elaborates a theory of demand for social change or, more specifically, a theory about why the demand for change manifests itself in social movements. This first part, in turn, is subdivided into two sections examining: first, some structural components of the environment in which social movements originate and discussing, second, the definitions and assumptions of the proposed theory as well as its essential mechanisms. The second part introduces the concept of the supply of social movements and examines how this supply is related to the demand for social change. This discussion sheds some new light on the question of social change itself. This is briefly discussed in Section III. The hypothesis formulated appears to be consistent, at least in the large, with what is known of the history of social movements in Canada, in the United States, and in Europe during the first part of the twentieth century.

The author presents findings of comprehensive three-year project of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, Engaging Muslim Women in Civic and Social Change. The project was designed to increase integration and participation of Muslim women to enable them to be effective agents of change in Canada's civic and socio-economic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the implications of feminism on social equality in Canada. Feminism has always been functional in relation to the immediate and proximate, the ideological, social, cultural exigencies that underpin the experience of ordinary living in any place. It is oftentimes blamed for the persistence of oppression. It is believed that it has failed to solve women's problems. The responses of the scholars in English studies indicate that feminism is working towards social change.