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Abstract The objective of this paper is to explore the ways in which diversity is taken into account in the conceptualization, definition and role of the voluntary sector as well as policy debates around the recasting of relations between the state and the voluntary sectors. The paper is based on a study of voluntary sector organizing among lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens in the city of Toronto. It presents an overview of LGBT voluntary sector organizing in the city, demonstrating the rich network of non‐profit organizations that serve the LGBT community in the city of Toronto, Canada's largest city. The paper argues that the dominant cross‐national and cross‐time definitions of the voluntary sector do not account for some of the specific features of LGBT organizing and result in the marginalization of such organizing from the very concept of the voluntary sector. The paper discusses the implications of this mapping for policy discussions of the state–voluntary sector relationship. Drawing on the Canadian experience of government consultation with voluntary sector organizations, the paper demonstrates that such initiatives define certain forms of diversity in voluntary sector organizing out of the policy‐making process. Traditional policy‐making around voluntary sector issues is organized in ways that exclude urban and local identity‐based organizing.

"Nobody listens to us. There is not a single person in Washington who will get us…anything but shit and more shit. I'm sorry. This is where we are now. Nowhere."

English
This article explores the effects of neoliberal policies, discourse and practices on social movement and voluntary sector organising using a case study of lesbian and gay politics in Canada. The article shows how movements of 'identity' and 'recognition' play a role in resisting and reinforcing neoliberalism. By comparing lesbian and gay organising at the federal and local levels, the article shows that the federal and local spaces of politics provide different political opportunities for resistance to and reinforcement of neoliberalism.

This article explores the impact of judicial empowerment on social movement politics and public policy using a case study of the lesbian and gay rights movement in Canada before and after the 1982 constitutional entrenchment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The expanded role of courts in the Canadian political system has had substantial effects on public policy in the lesbian and gay rights area over a twenty-year period, putting Canada in the forefront of this area of human rights.

L'article explore la tradition institutionnaliste du Canada anglais et présente un bref historique de sa montée et de son développement à la lumière de documents clés propres à différentes périodes historiques. L'article compare l'évolution de cette tradition au Canada anglais à celle qui s'est manifestée dans le cadre plus large de l'institutionnalisme historique en politique comparée. On y fait valoir que l'institutionnalisme du Canada anglais constitue une riche tradition, particulièrement en ce qui a trait à ses dimensions descriptive et normative. L'institutionnalisme du Canada anglais s'est articulé autour du remaniement de l'État canadien dans le cadre des défis posés par le problème de l'« unité nationale ». À l'heure actuelle, les ouvrages continuent d'être axés sur la dimension descriptive de ce courant, bien que l'institutionnalisme historique en tant que programme intellectuel exerce une influence considérable dans le domaine de l'étude des politiques.

This article examines the criticism of the activist Supreme Court of Canada in Canadian political science, as exemplified by the work of F. L. Morton and Rainer Knopff. It compares the debate over the legitimacy of judicial review with a previous generation's debates over the same question with reference to the role and impact of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on the development of Canadian federalism. The article argues that, particularly in examining the role of groups in the litigation process, we need to return to the lessons of the previous debate on the JCPC by emphasizing the ways in which group politics and litigation are connected to power relations in Canadian society. In the conclusion, the article offers an alternative approach to exploring the theoretical and empirical relationships between collective actors and litigation based on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

One of the main points of "Ghosts of the JCPC" is that the study
of Charter politics is currently dominated by a sterile and well-worn
debate over the legitimacy of judicial review. Rainer Knopff and F. L.
Morton return to these issues in their reply. They frequently refer to
their own position or to my putative positions in their reply to my
work. But, they do not engage in a discussion of what is, or in making
arguments about how we might understand or explain what is, rather than
on constantly judging what is according to our own personal and partisan
political prejudices.