Search Results

The construction of roads in Amazonia raises very specific questions inthe research of sustainable development. If they are indeed consideredby public policies developed in this region as one of the main tool foreconomic development, they are also highly criticized on theenvironmental (deforestation) and socio-economic levels. The opening ofroads in French Guiana, a French Overseas territory located inAmazonia, is therefore a big responsibility for the French government.The impact study is one of the procedures allowing to assess a priori theenvironmental and socio-economical impacts of a road infrastructureproject on a given territory, and to suggest adequate measures inrelation to these positive or negative impacts. The publication of thisstudy is the only time when the public can give its opinion on theproject. This paper thus provides a partial ex post evaluation of the efficiency of environmental and socio-economic ex anteassessments in the case of a national road construction (RN2),analyzing their specificities and margins of improvement specific tothis area.

Keywords: étude d'impact, évaluation, route, infrastructure, Guyane française, impact study, evaluation, road, infrastructure, French Guiana, estudo de impacto, avaliação, rodovia, infraestrutura, Guiana francesa

Engaging a discussion between literature and case studies, this article aims to wonder how sociology can take ownership of environmental issues, while social demands for expertise, formulation of standards and inter-disciplinarity have never been stronger. Such expectations are even more specific in the context of environmental controversies. Sociology takes part in the constitution of the field of “environmental sciences” and is therefore, anchored between the two postures of expertise and commitment. The professional experiences of the two authors are at the heart of this reflection. Both in the teaching of sociology and in the participation in research projects, involving other scientific disciplines, knowledge production and sharing can be limited by the partial impossibility to lead a scientific protocol. Is it necessary to give up for all that the idea of inter-disciplinarity between various scientific fields? Is it necessary to put aside the implication of the sociologist in concrete projects, based on an expertise founded on a fundamental research? In the third part of this article, the posture of the committed sociologist - scholarship with commitment (Bourdieu, 2002) – will be revisited not only from the analysis of several situations of research, but also from various experiences in professional structures, in which the sociologist was invited to propose measures serving as basis for action.

Keywords: sociologie, controverses environnementales, expertise, interdisciplinarité, engagement, distanciation, sociology, environnemental controversies, expertise, inter-disciplinarity, commitment, distancing

By means of a comparison, in actual fact non-systematic, yet stimulating, of two periods, Georges Duby dispels the myth of the Year One Thousand, but above all contributes to the understanding of the origin of fears within the history of mentalities. Based on the work Year 1000 Year 2000, Following the Footsteps of Our Fears, the components of sources of worry or terror: misery (including famine), the other, epidemics, violence and lastly, the hereafter. In this portrait, the author of the article draws certain links between these fears, often further deepseated under the aegis of earthly and spiritual powers.

Keywords: historiographie, peurs, millénaires, Moyen Âge, évolution des mentalités, historiography, fears, millennia, Middle Ages, evolution of mentalities

The paper demonstrates how Lewis Carroll's two novels (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There) are present in Canadian jurisprudence, and it questions the reasons for this phenomenon, which is equally observable in Australian, British, American and South African jurisprudence.

Keywords: Rhétorique, droit et littérature, culture populaire, interprétation, justice naturelle, Rhetoric, law and literature, popular culture, interpretation, natural justice

Can people be found guilty of a criminal offence simply by being present in a certain place? The following text answers this question by analyzing the essential elements of either committing an offence or participating in an offence committed by another person.This article will show that simple presence by itself does not constitute the material element of a crime as given in the Criminal Code. Further analysis, however, demonstrates that physical presence in a location could correspond to criminal participation as stated in paragraphs 21(1)b) or 21(1)c) of the Criminal Code.

Once there is no longer a unique biological reality, the law cannot attain its ultimate goal of upholding that reality, and it finds itself at a loss. The time-honoured concepts whereby civil law filiation was determined essentially on the basis of who the father was has been time shattered. As well, this biological segmentation becomes problematical for the very components of personality, at least externally when it becomes involved in altering human beings. The author first examines new forms of procreation: artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer, and surrogate motherhood; she then discusses transsexualism.

This article explores the role played by international human rights regimes in the transnational and domestic politics of human rights of Mexico. Following international relations constructivists and liberal republican approaches, this article argues that international human rights regimes have played a key role in Mexico in the following ways: a) they have provided the normative standards, information about behavior, and necessary forums for processes of shaming and argumentation; b) regimes' organs, bodies and mechanisms have been important actors in their own right in the aforementioned processes; c) regimes have been instrumental in the strategies of government elites seeking to secure their preferences in domestic politics. This article ends by offering a framework that might prove useful for understanding the role of international human rights regimes in other country-specific situations and by reflecting on the theoretical implications of its main argument.

At the heart of research on immigration lie problems which are most often designated under the term "integration". However, most studies on this issue are predominantly empirical in approach, relying on a series of vague definitions whose meanings vary from one author to the next. The difficulties of both a scientific and practical order which result from this situation entail a more profound level of theoretical reflection. This in turn should be based on the analysis centered around the concept of assimilation which was developed early on in the century by Chicago sociologists in the United States and by Émile Durkheim in France, and lead to new approaches which will hopefully be more complementary than contradictory in nature.

This article explores the narratives of 29 homeless people in order to understand how interactions with police officers reflect elements of social and racial profiling. The participants included women and men between the ages of 18 and 54 from northeastern Ontario. Most participants were Indigenous people (66%) while smaller proportions were Anglophone, Francophone or members of racialized groups. A thematic, qualitative analysis of interview transcripts was conducted to identify and code themes of interactions. We examine the five most common types of interactions with police in two different ways: first, how homeless people described negative interactions with respect to social profiling, including racial profiling, and secondly, how specific actions of police may violate the rights of homeless people under sections 7 to 10 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The findings suggest that, when considering the experiences of homeless people, social profiling is a more relevant concept than racial profiling as all homeless people appear to be targeted by police and subjected to difficult or even abusive treatment that breaches their human rights as well as rights under the Charter.

Keywords: profilage racial, profilage social, droits de la personne, contrôle policier, sans-abrisme, nord-est de l'Ontario, racial profiling, social profiling, human rights, policing, homelessness, northeastern Ontario

Keywords: Assurance-emploi, chômage, non-recours aux droits, fraude, antidatation, ignorance de la loi, droit à l'information, « non take up »