Liisa L. North (Editor)

Coming out this Fall (September 2023) from Novalis: https://en.novalis.ca/

The stories and documents presented in this book relate key facets of the history of Canadian civil society solidarity with Chile after the September 1973 military coup d’état. It is a history that speaks to the importance of well-organized and coordinated civic action in the formulation of public policy, especially with regard to refugees and dealing with dictatorships; it also speaks to the significance of refugee and exile community contributions to Canadian society. In addition to retrospective interpretations by activists, through the documents that are reproduced here, we hear the voices of the churches, unions, and civic organizations as they worked to ensure justice and debated with government officials and corporate leaders about the directions that Canadian policy toward Chile and Latin America should take.

Liisa L. North is Emeritus Professor of Politics at York University in Toronto. She has made many important contributions as a teacher, a researcher of rural conflicts and social movements in Latin America, an analyst of Canadian foreign policy toward the region, and a social activist.

Noteworthy points about this book:

• Marks the 50th anniversary of the September 1973 coup, when the first democratically elected revolutionary socialist government in the world was overthrown by the military
• No book has examined the breadth of the Canadian solidarity movement and the leading role of the churches within it
• Records the testimonies of the individuals and organizations that led solidarity, including the voices of the Chilean refugees who settled in Canada
• Brings attention to the document collections of the Latin American Working Group (LAWG), an independent research and solidarity organization founded in 1966 by activists with links to the churches