Abstract
Canada is one of the most peaceful, prosperous and well-ordered states in the modern world. As a multinational state, however, it is one of the most complex and in recent years its diversity and internal divisions have from time to time placed its survival in question. This chapter addresses the nature of ethnic diversity in Canada, discusses the fragmented political identity it has produced and examines the strains it has placed on Canadian national unity. It then assesses the attempts to accommodate these divisions and considers why they have so far not been entirely successful.
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Notes
See C.F.J. Whebell, ‘Geography and Politics in Canada: Selected Aspects’, in John H. Redekop, Approaches to Canadian Politics, Scarborough, Prentice Hall, 1978.
B. Harrison and L. Marmen, Languages in Canada, Ottawa, Statistics Canada and Prentice Hall, 1994.
Jane Badets and T.W.L. Chui, Canada’s Changing Immigrant Population Ottawa, Statistics Canada and Prentice Hall, 1994.
John Porter, The Vertical Mosaic, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1965 p. 61.
Ibid., pp.10–11; Daniel Hiebert, ‘Focus: Immigration to Canada’, Canadian Geographer, Vol.38, No.3, 1994, pp.255–7.
B. Young and John A. Dickinson, A Short History of Quebec, Toronto, Copp Clark Pitman, 1988, pp. 59–64;
Mason Wade, The French Canadians, Toronto, Macmillan, 1968, pp. 47–92.
Gerald M. Craig, (ed.), Lord Durham’s Report, Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1963, pp.28 and 150.
S. Noel, Patrons, Clients and Brokers 1791–1896, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1990;
Denis Moniere, Ideologies in Quebec: The Historical Development, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1981, pp. 124–9;
Gordon T. Stewart, The Origins of Canadian Politics, Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 1986, pp. 32–58.
J.M.S. Careless, The Union of the Canadas: the Growth of Canadian Institutions, Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1967.
Gordon T. Stewart, op. cit., Ch.3; Kenneth McNaught, History of Canada, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1969;
G. Stevenson, Unfulfilled Union, Toronto, Gage, 1979, Ch.2; Young and Dickinson, op. cit. pp. 164–7.
Department of Justice, The Constitition Acts 1867 to 1982, Ministry of Supply and Services, Ottawa, 1993.
For a comprehensive and concise review of the legal and academic debate on the judicial review of the constitution, see Alan Cairns, ‘The Judicial Committee and its Critics’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 4 (1971), pp. 301–345.
This is the writer’s view, but there is a long-standing and continuing debate on the question of provincial autonomy. See, for example, F.R. Scott, Essays on the Constitution, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1977, and particularly ‘Centralisation and Decentralisation in Canadian Federalism’, p.252.
More recent contributions include David E. Smith, ‘Empire, Crown and Canadian Federalism’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 24 (1991), pp. 452–473.
Paul Romney, ‘The Nature and Scope of Provoncial Autonomy: Oliver Mowat, the Quebec Resolutions and the Construction of the BNA Act’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 25 (1992), pp. 3–28.
Kenneth McRoberts, Quebec: Social Change and Political Crisis, Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1988, Ch.4;
W.D. Coleman, The Independence Movement in Quebec 1945–1980, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1984;
Denis Moniere, Ideologies in Quebec: The Historical Development, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1981, pp. 228–301;
Susan Mann Trofimenkoff, The Dream of Nation, Toronto, Gage, 1983, pp. 266–315.
Rejean Lachapelle, ‘Evolution of Language Groups and the Official Languages Situation in Canada’, in Demilinguistic Trends and the Evolution of Canadian Instititions, Ottawa, Association for Canadian Studies and the Office of the Commissioner for Official Languages, 1990, p. 7–33;
J. Laponce, ‘The French Language in Canada: Tensions Between Geography and Politics’, Political Geography Quarterly, Vol. 3 (1984), pp. 91–104;
J. Laponce, ‘On Three Nationalist Options’, Political Geography Quarterly, Vol. 13 (1994), pp. 192–4.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Federalism and the French Canadians, Toronto, Macmillan, 1968.
Andre Raynauld, ‘The Advancement of the French Language in Canada’, in Demilinguistic Trends and the Evolution of Canadian Instititions, Ottawa, Association for Canadian Studies and the Office of the Commissioner for Official Languages, 1990, p. 93–104;
Gilles Grenier, ‘Bilingualism Amongst Anglophones and Francophones in Canada’, ibid, p.35–45.;
B. Harley, ‘After Immersion: Maintaining the Momentum’, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Vol. 15 (1994), pp. 229–44.
René Levesque, ‘National State of the French Canadians’, in F. Scott and M. Oliver, Quebec States her Case, Toronto, Macmillan, 1964;
René Levesque, My Quebec, Toronto, Totem Books, 1979.
J. Yvon Theriault, ‘The Future of the French Speaking Community Outside Quebec’ in Demilinguistic Trends, op. cit., p.131–40.
Robert J. Brym (ed.), Regionalism in Canada, Toronto, Irwin Publishing, 1986.
Mark O. Dickerson, Whose North?, Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 1992;
Graham White, ‘Westminster in the Arctic: The Adaptation of British Parliamentarism in the Northwest Territories’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 24 (1991), pp. 499–523.
D. Bell and L. Tepperman, The Roots of Disunity, Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 1979, pp.188 and 195–7;
Ernest R. Forbes, Maritime Rights: A Study in Canadian Regionalism, Kingston and Montreal, McGill-Queens University Press, 1979.
T.D. Regehr, ‘Western Canada and the Burden of National Transportation Policies’, in David J. Bercuson, op. cit, pp.115–41; David E. Smith, ‘Western Politics and National Unity’, in ibid, pp.142–68; David Kilgour, Uneasy Patriots: Western Canadians in Confederation, Edmonton, Lone Pine Publishing, 1988, pp.34–42 and 55–77.
Working Together: An Inventory of Intergovernmental Cooperation in Western Canada, 1980–1993, Edmonton, Western Premiers’ Conference, 1994; Western Premiers’ Task Force on Constitutional Trends, Third Report, Victoria, Western Premiers’ Conference, 1979; Glen Toner and François Bregha, ‘The Political Economy of Energy’, in Michael S. Whittington and Glen Williams, Canadian Politics in the 1980s, Toronto, Methuen, 1984.
David R. Cameron, ‘Dualism and the Concept of National Unity’, in John H. Redekop, op. cit., pp.228–46; Edwin R. Black, Divided Loyalties, Montreal and London, McGill-Queens University Press, 1975, Ch.5–8;
Donald V. Smiley, Canada in Question, Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1976, Ch.6 and 9;
Patricia Smart, ‘Our Two Cultures’, in Eli Mandel and David Taras (eds), A Passion for Identity, Toronto, Methuen, 1987, pp 196–205;
Robin Mathews, Canadian Identity, Ottawa, Steel Rail Publishing, 1988, Ch.7 and passim.
See, for example, D. Johnson (ed.), Pierre Trudeau Speaks out on Meech Lake, Toronto, Knopf, 1990, p. 43;
Government of Canada, Shaping Canada’s Future Together, Ottawa, Ministry of Supply and Services, 1991, p. 27.
Attempts to reconcile the divergent views of Canadian identity have met with little success. See W.L. Morton, The Canadian Identity, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1972, pp. 83–9 and 147–50;
Charles Taylor, Reconciling the Solitudes, Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queens University Press, 1993, pp. 155–86;
Charles Taylor, ‘Shared and Divergent Values’ in Ronald L. Watts and Douglas M. Brown, Options fora New Canada, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1991, pp.53–76; Shared Values, Ottawa, Ministry of Supply and Services, 1991.
Richard Fidler, Canada Adieu? Quebec Debates its Future, Lanzville and Halifax, Oolichan Books and The Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1991, Ch.6 and 10;
Reed Scowan, A Different Vision, Toronto, Maxwell Macmillan, 1991.
First Nations Circle on the Constitution, To the Source, Ottawa, Assembly of First Nations, 1992, pp. 37–41;
The Native Council of Canada, Constitutional Review Commission, ‘Aboriginal Directions for Coexistence in Canada’ (summary), in Public Policy and Aboriginal Peoples, Vol. 2, Ottawa, Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1994, pp. 343–5.
Task Force on Canadian Unity, A Future Together, (The Pepin—Robarts Report), Ottawa, Ministry of Supply and Services, 1979, pp. 21–32.
Peter Russell, Constitutional Odyssey, 2nd edn, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1993, pp. 3–11.
A. Fieras and J.L. Elliott, Multiculturalism in Canada, Scarborough, Nelson, 1992, pp.2,98–9 and 143–5;
V. Seymour Wilson, ‘The Tapestry Vision of Canadian Multiculturalism’, in Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 26 (1993), pp. 646–69.
S. Noel, op. cit.; Herman Bakvis, Federalism and the Organisation of Political Life: Canada in Comparative Perspective, Kingston, Queen’s University Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, 1981, pp. 71–89.
R. Simeon, Federal-Provincial Diplomacy: The Making of Recent Policy in Canada, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1972;
Alan C. Cairns, ‘The Governments and Societies of Canadian Federalism’, Canadian Journal of Political Science, Vol.10 (1977), pp.695–734;
Patrick J. Monahan, Meech Lake: the Inside Story, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1991.
Quebec Liberal Party, A Quebec Free to Choose (The Alaire Report), Quebec, Quebec Liberal Party, 1991;
Commission sur l’Avenir Politique et Costitutionnel du Quebec, The Political and Constitutional Future of Quebec (The Boulanger—Campeau Report), Quebec National Assembly, 1991
Special Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons, The Process for Amending the Constitution of Canada, (The Baudouin—Edwards Report), Ottawa, Ministry of Supply and Services, 1991;
Report of the Special Joint Committee of the Senate and the House of Commons, A Renewed Canada, (Baudouin—Dobbie Report), Ottawa, Ministry of Supply and Services, 1992; Citizens’ Forum on Canada’s Future (The Spicer Report), Ottawa, Ministry of Supply and Services, 1991.
Peter Russell, op. cit., pp.224–7; Jeremy Webber, Re-imagining Canada, McGill-Queens University Press, 1994, pp.173–5;
Kenneth McRoberts and Patrick Monahan, The Charlottetown Accord, the Referendum and the Future of Canada, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1993, Part 4.
Ian Frizzell, Jon H. Pammett, Anthony Westell (eds), The Canadian General Election of 1993, Ottawa, Carleton University Press, 1994, Ch. 1 and 10 and passim.
Roger Gibbins, Speculations on a Canada Without Quebec, in Kenneth McRoberts and Patrick Monahan, op. cit., pp. 264–73; Gordon Gibson, The Future of the Rest of Canada, Vancouver, The Fraser Institute, 1994.
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© 1999 Don MacIver
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MacIver, D. (1999). Canada. In: MacIver, D. (eds) The Politics of Multinational States. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-27047-7_10
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