When it comes to upholding human rights both at home and abroad, many Canadians would like to believe that we have always been “on the side of the angels.” This book tells the story of Canada’s contributions – both good and bad – to the development and advancement of international human rights law at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) from 1946 to 2006.

The CHR gave Canada the opportunity to forge a reputation as a human rights leader. This book scrutinizes this reputation by examining Canada’s involvement in a number of contentious human rights issues – political, civil, racial, women’s, and Indigenous, among others. It finds that Canada’s record was mixed, its priorities motivated by a variety of considerations, both domestic and international. An in-depth historical overview of six decades of Canadian engagement within the UN human rights system, On The Side of the Angels offers new insights into the nuances, complexities, and contradictions of Canada’s human rights policies.

Andrew Thompson's profile page

Andrew S. Thompson is an adjunct assistant professor of political science at the University of Waterloo and a fellow at both the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the Balsillie School of International Affairs. A specialist in the fields of international human rights, civil society movements, and fragile states, he is the author and co-editor of four other books, Fixing Haiti: MINUSTAH and Beyond (2011), In Defence of Principles: NGOs and Human Rights in Canada (2010), Critical Mass: The Emergence of Global Civil Society (2008), and Haiti: Hope for a Fragile State (2006), along with numerous journal articles and book chapters. He has appeared as an expert witness before the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, and the Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights. In 2004, he was part of an Amnesty International human rights lobbying and fact-finding mission to Haiti.

Overall, Thompson charts the ups and downs—and eventual collapse—of the UNCHR. He does so from the vantage point of a middle power, whose officials were often frustrated by the inaction of the great powers and by the seeming overactivity of the smaller states of the Global South. In sum, On the Side of the Angels is a detailed and well-researched analysis that marks an important addition to the growing history of Canadian international human rights and the human rights revolution more generally.

Cambridge Law and History Review

On the Side of the Angels makes an important contribution to the existing scholarship by situating Canada and Canadian history into the broader study of the development of global human rights, something that has been lacking.

International Journal