Urban planning and group and collective rights in Québec, Canada

Abstract

Group and collective rights are human rights, but such rights emerge when the members of a group are discriminated against in order to protect the group temporarily or in perpetuity, depending on how long the discrimination lasts. Studies investigating urban issues from the lens of a group right or collective right are almost non-existent. Using Kymlicka’s rights framework and relying on empirical work in the French-speaking Quebec province in Canada, the research concludes that Québec municipalities are fraught with tensions between individual and group rights and collective rights, resulting in issues related to places of worship, land development and commercial signage.