ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers analyses of success in civil society advocacy, and provides a tool for understanding what must change as we confront newer twenty-first-century challenges during the international movement of peoples across nations. It examines the potential of civil society activism for rights attainment, social protections and authenticated citizenship. The book highlights a striking contradiction; Canada's much-heralded democracy exists in tension with discriminatory practices based on cultural, racial and religious plurality. It also examines civil society organizations (CSOs) which coalesce to defend and expand the rights and entitlements of the newest members of Canadian society and also those historically marginalized. The chapter describes the dual role of CSOs in advocating for changes to policy and practice, and in providing supplementary education to redress school failures in meeting student needs.
