Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Recognition, Re-distribution and Solidarity: The Case of Multicultural Canada

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Diversity and Contestations over Nationalism in Europe and Canada

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology ((PSEPS))

Abstract

Abu-Laban argues that the case of Canada is theoretically rich for theorising issues around mobilisation, claims-making, recognition as well as solidarity. Her chapter establishes that unequal social relations and the denial of full citizenship rights characterised Canada’s foundation and evolution. As a consequence claims for cultural recognition were typically also redistributive claims, and the consolidation and early development of the Canadian welfare state also supported the advancement of a culturally pluralist nation. With the neo-liberal turn, this ethos has been strained with growing socio-economic inequalities as well as the advancement of patriotic citizenship expressions. While the current government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been refashioning the symbolic order in culturally pluralist ways and challenging austerity measures, it is an open question about what the future holds.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    For example, it is interesting to note that the sovereignist Parti Québécois government removed the Canadian flag from the Quebec National Assembly when being sworn into power in September 2012, and incoming Premier Pauline Marois had it removed from the Office of the Premier in favour of having just the Quebec flag (Rhéal Séguin, “Canadian Flag back in Quebec Assembly—For Now”, The Globe and Mail, 18 September 2012, available at http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-flag-back-in-quebec-assembly-for-now/article4551306, last accessed 2 October 2012).

  2. 2.

    The period following the attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001.

  3. 3.

    One example of this might be found in the 2009 Conservative changes to the citizenship guide which introduced the language of “barbarism” and posited violence against women as the sole practice of cultural “Others ”, by implicitly drawing on stereotypes about Muslims. See Yasmeen Abu-Laban, “Reform by Stealth: The Harper Conservatives and Canadian Multiculturalism”, in Jack Jedwab (ed), The Multicultural Question: Debating Identity in 21st Century Canada (Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014), pp. 149–172; see, also, Sherene Razack, Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims from Western Law and Politics (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008), on the construction of the barbaric Muslim male and oppressed Muslim female). This is contained in the following statement: “In Canada, men and women are equal under the law. Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings’, female genital mutilation or other gender -based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws” (Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, Represented by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, 2012, p. 10).

  4. 4.

    Diane Sainsbury , Welfare, Ethnicity and Altruism: New Findings and Evolutionary Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012).

  5. 5.

    T.H. Marshall , Class, Citizenship, and Social Development (Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1965).

References

  • Abu-Laban, Y. (2009). The Welfare State Under Siege?: Neoliberalism, Immigration and Multiculturalism. In A. Dobrowolsky (Ed.), Women and Public Policy in Canada: Neo-liberalism and After (pp. 146–165). Don Mills: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Laban, Y. (2013). On the Borderlines of Human and Citizen: The Liminal State of Arab Canadians. In B. Momani & J. Hennebry (Eds.), Targeted Transnationals: The State, the Media, and Arab Canadians (pp. 68–88). Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Laban, Y. (2014). Reform by Stealth: The Harper Conservatives and Canadian Multiculturalism. In J. Jedwab (Ed.), The Multiculturalism Question: Debating Identity in 21st Century Canada (pp. 149–172). Montreal-Kingston: School of Policy Studies, Queen’s University and McGill-Queen’s University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Laban, Y. (2016). Representing a Diverse Canada in Political Science: Power, Ideas and the Emergent Challenge of Reconciliation. European Political Science. Online First.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Laban, Y., & Gabriel, C. (2002). Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity and Globalization. Peterborough: Broadview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Laban, Y., & Lamont, V. (1997). Crossing Borders: Interdisciplinarity, Immigration and the Melting Pot in the American Cultural Imaginary. The Canadian Review of American Studies, 27(2), 23–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Laban, Y., & Nieguth, T. (2000). Reconsidering the Constitution, Minorities and Politics in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Political Science, XXXIII(3), 465–497.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abu-Laban, Y., & Stasiulis, D. (1992). Ethnic Pluralism Under Siege: Popular and Partisan Opposition to Multiculturalism. Canadian Public Policy, XVIII(4), 365–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adkin, L., & Abu-Laban, Y. (2008). The Challenge of Care: Early Childhood Education and Care in Canada and Quebec. Studies in Political Economy, 81(1), 49–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alfred, T. (2005). Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom. Peterborough: Broadview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banting, K. (2005). The Multicultural Welfare State: International Experience and North American Narratives. Social Policy and Administration, 39(2), 98–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banting, K., & Kymlicka, W. (2004). Do Multiculturalism Policies Erode the Welfare State? In P. van Parijs (Ed.), Cultural Diversity Versus Economic Solidarity (pp. 227–284). Brussels: Deboeck University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Banting, K., & Kymlicka, W. (Eds.). (2006). Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Recognition and Redistribution in Contemporary Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC News. (2016). Trudeau Seeks Increased Spending to Boost Canadian Economy, March 23. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35877830

  • Betz, H.-G. (2002). Xenophobia, Identity Politics and Exclusionary Populism in Western Europe. In L. Panitch & C. Leys (Eds.), Fighting Identities: Race, Religion and Ethno-Nationalism (Socialist Register 2003) (pp. 193–210). London: Merlin Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bherer, L., & Dufour, P. (2012). Our Not-So-Friendly Northern Neighbor. The New York Times. Retrieved October 2, 2012, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/opinion/our-not-so-friendlynorthern-neighbor.html?_r=2&

  • Breton, R. (1984). The Production and Allocation of Symbolic Resources: An Analysis of the Linguistic and Ethnocultural Fields in Canada. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, 21(2), 123–144.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breton, R. (1986). Multiculturalism and Canadian Nation-Building. In A. Cairns & C. Williams (Eds.), The Politics of Gender, Ethnicity and Language in Canada (pp. 27–66). Toronto: University of Toronto Press in co-operation with the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brodie, J. (2008). Putting Gender Back in: Women and Social Policy Reform in Canada. In Y. Abu-Laban (Ed.), Gendering the Nation-State: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives (pp. 165–184). Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brodie, J. (2012). Social Literacy and Social Justice in Times of Crisis. Trudeau ‘Big Thinking’ Lecture, Congress 2012. Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, May 30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada. (2012). Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, Represented by the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

    Google Scholar 

  • Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage. (2016). Annual Report on the Operation of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act: Building a Diverse and Inclusive Society. Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship. Retrieved July 3, 2016, from http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pdf/pub/multi-ar-en-2015.pdf

  • Canada, Government of Canada. (2016). Backgrounder: The 150th Anniversary of Confederation in 2017, May 25. Retrieved July 3, 2016, from http://news.gc.ca/web/article-en.do?mthd=index&crtr.page=2&nid=1072209

  • Canadian Museum of Civilization. (n.d.). Grand Hall Tour. Retrieved September 21, 2012, from http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/grand/gh04eng.shtml

  • CBC News. (2012). Canada’s Economy Outperforming U.S: Flaherty Says Modest Growth Reinforces Canada Is on the ‘Right Track’, August 31. Retrieved September 1, 2012, from http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/08/31/economy-gdp-canada.html

  • Coulthard, G. (2014a). Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Coulthard, G. (2014b). Place Against Empire: The Dene Nation, Land Claims and the Politics of Recognition in the North. In A. Eisenberg, J. Webber, G. Coulthard, & A. Boisselle (Eds.), Recognition Versus Self-Determination: Dilemmas of Emancipatory Politics (pp. 147–173). Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dhamoon, R., & Abu-Laban, Y. (2009). Dangerous (Internal) Foreigners and Nation-Building: The Case of Canada. International Political Science Review, 30(2), 163–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobrowolsky, A. (2000). The Politics of Pragmatism: Women, Representation and Constitutionalism in Canada. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, A., & Spinner-Halev, J. (2005). Minorities Within Minorities: Equality, Rights and Diversity. Cambridge: Cambridge University of Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, N. (2000). Rethinking Recognition. New Left Review, 3(May–June), 107–120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, N. (2003). Rethinking Recognition: Overcoming Displacement and Reification in Cultural Politics. In B. Hobson (Ed.), Recognition Struggles and Social Movements: Identities, Agency and Power (pp. 21–32). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser, N. (2005). Reframing Justice in a Globalizing World. New Left Review, 36(November/December), 69–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, S. (2012). Labour Day: BMO Survey. The Calgary Herald, August 29. Retrieved September 1, 2012, from http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/economy/Canadians+more+optimistic+about+security+this+Labour/7160806/story.html

  • Galabuzi, G.-E. (2011). Hegemonies, Continuities, and Discontinuities of Multiculturalism and the Anglo-Franco Conformity Order. In M. Chazan, L. Helps, A. Stnley, & S. Thakkar (Eds.), Home and Native Land: Unsettling Multiculturalism in Canada (pp. 58–82). Toronto: Between the Lines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbon, J. M. (1938). Canadian Mosaic: The Making of a Northern Nation. Toronto: McClelland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldring, L., Berinstein, C., & Bernhard, J. K. (2009). Institutionalizing Precarious Migratory Status in Canada. Citizenship Studies, 13(3), 239–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harder, L. (2003). Whither the Social Citizen? In J. Brodie & L. Trimble (Eds.), Reinventing Canada: Politics of the 21st Century (pp. 175–188). Toronto: Pearson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, S. (2005). ‘While There Is Still Time …’ J. Murray Gibbon and the Spectacle of Difference in Three CPR Festivals, 1928–1931. Journal of Canadian Studies, 39(1), 139–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, A. (2016). Federal Budge 2016: A One Time Fix? National News Watch, March 22. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2016/03/22/federal-budget-2016-a-one-time-fix/#.WBJj3Dt6pSW

  • James, M. (2006). Misrecognized Materialists: Social Movements in Canadian Politics. Vancouver: UBC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • James, M. (2013). Neoliberal Heritage Redress. In J. Henderson & P. Wakeham (Eds.), Reconciling Canada: Critical Perspectives on the Culture of Redress (pp. 31–46). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenson, J. (1997). Fated to Live in Interesting Times: Canada’s Changing Citizenship Regimes. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 30(4), 627–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenson, J., & Phillips, S. D. (1996). Regime Shift: New Citizenship Practices in Canada. International Journal of Canadian Studies, 14(Fall), 111–135.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston, R., Banting, K., Kymlicka, W., & Soroka, S. (2010). National Identity and Support for the Welfare State. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 43(2), 349–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, E., & Perry, A. (2012). People’s Citizenship Guide: A Response to Conservative Canada. Winnipeg: Arbiter Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P. (2012). End This Depression Now. New York: W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P. (2016). Paul Krugman: Canada Can Show That Ending Austerity Makes Sense. The Irish Times, October 27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Labour Day: BMO Survey. (2012). The Calgary Herald, August 29. Retrieved September 1, 2012, from http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/economy/Canadians+more+optimistic+about+security+this+Labour/7160806/story.html

  • Li, P. S. (2003). Destination Canada: Immigration Debates and Issues. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacClure, J. (2003). The Politics of Recognition at an Impasse? Identity Politics and Democratic Citizenship. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 26(1), 3–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacDougall, A. (2016). Two Budgets on Either Side of the Atlantic Suggest That Austerity Is No Longer a Surefire Political Winner. Policy Options, March 28. Retrieved October 24, 2016, from http://policyoptions.irpp.org/2016/03/28/budgets

  • Marshall, T. H. (1965). Class, Citizenship and Social Development. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKay, I., & Swift, J. (2012). Warrior Nation: Rebranding Canada in an Age of Anxiety. Toronto: Between the Lines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, J. (1965). The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Radio Canada. (2012). Britain and Canada to Share Some Embassies, Consulates, September 24. Retrieved October 3, 2012, from http://www.rcinet.ca/english/daily/interviews-2012/13-41_2012-09-24-britain-and-canada-to-share-some-embassies-consulates

  • Rajkumar, D., Berkowitize, L., Vosko, L. F., Preston, V., & Latham, R. (2012). At the Temporary-Permanent Divide: How Canada Produces Temporariness and Makes Citizens Through Its Security, Work and Settlement Policies. Citizenship Studies, 16(3–4), 483–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Razack, S. (2008). Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims from Western Law and Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, M., & O’Kane, J. (2012). Corporate ‘Dead Money’ Rises to Buoy GDP. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved September 1, 2012, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy-grows-18-on-business investment/article4511631/?cmpid=rss1

  • Ruf, C. (2013). Hamiltonians Give New Federal Budget Mixed Reviews. CBC News, March 22. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/news/story/2013/03/22/hamilton-federal-budget-reaction.html

  • Sainsbury, D. (2012). Welfare States and Immigrant Rights: The Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Salter, F. (Ed.). (2004). Welfare, Ethnicity and Altruism: New Findings and Evolutionary Theory. London: Frank Cass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Séguin, R. (2012). Canadian Flag Back in Quebec Assembly—For Now. The Globe and Mail, September 18. Retrieved October 2, 2012, from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadian-flag-back-in-quebec-assembly-for-now/article4551306

  • Smith, M. (2012). The Quebec Protests: The Big Picture. iPolitics, May 24. Retrieved October 2, 2012, from http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/05/24/miriam-smith-the-quebec-protests-the-big-picture

  • Stasiulis, D. K. (1988). The Symbolic Mosaic Reaffirmed: Multiculturalism Policy. In K. A. Graham (Ed.), How Ottawa Spends: 1988–89 (pp. 81–112). Ottawa: Carleton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stasiulis, D., & Yuval-Davis, N. (1995). Introduction: Beyond Dichotomies—Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Class in Settler Societies. In D. Stasiulis & N. Yuval-Davis (Eds.), Unsettling Settler Societies: Articulations of Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Class (pp. 1–38). London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Summers, D. (2009). David Cameron Warns of ‘New Age of Austerity’. The Guardian, April 26. Retrieved April 14, 2013, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/26/david-cameron-conservative-economic-policy1

  • Ubelacker, S. (2012). Doctors Group Calls on Ottawa to Rethink Cuts to Refugee Health Program. The Vancouver Sun, September 28. Retrieved October 4, 2012, from http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Doctors+group+calls+Ottawa+rethink+cuts+refugee+health+program/7310620/story.html

  • van Parijs, P. (Ed.). (2004). Cultural Diversity Versus Economic Solidarity. Brussels: De Boeck University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolfe, A., & Klausen, J. (2000). Other Peoples. Prospect, December, 28–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yelaja, P. (2011). Military Renaming Slammed as Colonial Throwback. CBC News, August 17. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/08/16/royal-army-navy.html

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Yasmeen Abu-Laban

Authors
  1. Yasmeen Abu-Laban
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ARENA Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    John Erik Fossum

  2. CNRS, Sciences Po, Paris, France

    Riva Kastoryano

  3. Department of Culture and Global Studies, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Birte Siim

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Abu-Laban, Y. (2018). Recognition, Re-distribution and Solidarity: The Case of Multicultural Canada. In: Fossum, J., Kastoryano, R., Siim, B. (eds) Diversity and Contestations over Nationalism in Europe and Canada. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58987-3_9

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58987-3_9

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-58986-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-58987-3

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation