Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Canadian foreign policy – and in particular Canada's relationship with the United States – stands at a crossroads. Throughout both the Cold War and the early post-Cold War periods, successive Canadian governments charted a cautious approach toward the US, one in which Canada maintained considerable foreign policy autonomy while ensuring that on major issues, the two countries shared common interests and goals. Despite some well-publicized disputes, the strategy was largest successful, as Canada enjoyed a reputation as a respected international actor while it retained a close bilateral relationship. This paper will argue, however, that the Canadian strategy has grown increasingly ineffective. Even prior to September 11 and the resulting US-led war on terrorism, US governments had begun pushing Ottawa on several contentious issues, particularly Canada's low defense spending and open immigration policy. While Canada's response to this perceived interference was increased enthusiasm for multilateral initiatives – including land mines and small arms – the Canadian approach generated resentment and hostility in Washington, especially insofar as these initiatives pitted the US against the international community. At present, the combination of a unilateralist US administration and an indifferent Canadian one has left the relationship badly strained, and has raised larger questions about Canada's foreign policy (questions that were enhanced by Ottawa's position on the war in Iraq). If Canada is to reclaim its standing as a trusted US friend and ally, it must not only become more responsive to American concerns, but it will also have to make a strategic change in its foreign policy orientation, by pursuing a more continentalist approach and downplaying Ottawa's fascination with multilateralism.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Under French adoption law, a child can have from one to four parents. However, tribunals and social workers have tended to single out heterosexual married couples. Gay adoption is not only a matter of recognition, it challenges the rule of law.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The study of suspicion in previous research has primarily focused on the impact of suspicion on deception detection accuracy or the pragmatics of suspicious receivers. The premise of the present study is that cognitive aspects of suspicious receivers must be accounted for to further understand their active participation in deceptive communication. The present study attempts to identify suspicious receivers’ interaction goals and strategic behaviors and to find links between the goals and behaviors. The influence of situational and affective factors on suspicious receivers’ goals and behaviors are also investigated. Data were collected from one hundred and eighty two undergraduate students within dating relationships. The results revealed four interaction goals and nine behavior categories of suspicious receivers in dating relationship. Some qualitative differences between the goals were found in terms of their association with behavioral strategies. Also, outcome involvement, relational commitment, and emotional intensity were found to have important influences on suspicious receivers’ behaviors. Implications for future suspicion research are discussed as well as the study’s limitations.

Publication Type: Invited Paper
Abstract: No abstract available.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In his discussion of the contemporary politics of uncertainty, Richard Ericson draws our attention to the growing trend of criminalizing the merely suspicious. At the heart of this trend is a proliferation and normalization of security measures intended to "preempt imagined sources of harm" (Ericson 2007). This paper explores the contemporary Canadian immigration security certificate mechanism as a case study in the politics of uncertainty. Political-discursive and concrete legal processes are discussed. Official government discourse about security certificates is characterized by a valuation of precautionary action against non-citizens on the basis of categorical suspicion. Certificates are applied through an executive act of “deeming” (Butler 2004) that translates suspicion into a finding of threat. In concrete terms, this involves the use of “counter-law” (Ericison 2007) to arrest and detain individuals through a process that employs coercive means but carefully avoids the traditional criminal justice system – and its associated safeguards. The paper concludes by discussing the ways in which security certificates and other mechanisms associated with the new politics of uncertainty recognize and reinforce pernicious binary distinctions between ‘good citizens’ and ‘threatening others’.