Multiculturalism in Canada offers a solid introduction to the history and development of the ideology of multiculturalism in Canada. This ideology, which has become the primary designator of Canadian society, began in the early 1970s when vocal elements in the population who were neither English nor French strongly responded to the investigations of the Committee on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. Given Canada's early racist tendencies, the establishment of multiculturalism was a remarkable shift in public thinking. Many issues associated with immigration have arisen in the public debates around multiculturalism. Some people are convinced that it is a pernicious ideology that enforces the ghettoisation of those different from the mainstream. Others see dangers in the way some aspects of multiculturalism are merely tokens of an all-inclusive society. Still others contend that the voices of ethnicities aside from those of the two charter groups - English and French - are scarcely heard and, that worse, those marginalised voices are appropriated by mainstream writers. On the whole, however, Canadians - especially younger Canadians - welcome a liberal outlook that is inclusive of a wide variety of ethnicities. For them, and for many immigrants, Canada is a society that is multiple and layered, one rich in meaning. They tend to see Canada as a microcosm of the larger world, one that presents a useful model of tolerance for the world at large. Increasingly, marginalised new Canadians are excelling in the arts communities, telling all Canadians what various aspects of the culture shock of transplantation feels like. This book includes a representative sample of their works.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• THEORY
• 1. The Historical Background - From The Contributions of Other Ethnic Groups, ""Report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, Book IV""
• 2. English-Canadian Opposition to Non-British Immigration - From The Calgary Herald, ""The Character of Our Immigration,"" January 18, 1899
• 3. Racism in Early Canada - From Economic Prosperity in the British Empire - Stephen Leacock
• 4. Immigration and Canadian Anti-Semitism - From None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948 - Irving Abella and Harold Troper
• 5. The Geneva Convention - From ""Britain Calls for Revision of Geneva Convention on Asylum"" - Julie Hyland, World Socialist Web Site
• 6. Canada's Immigration: The Ideological Background - From Planned Migration - William Peterson
• 7. Ethnicity and Social Class - From The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada - John Porter
• 8. Immigration Policy in the Late 1960s - From Venture, ""The Canadian Experience"" - Freda Hawkins
• 9. Social Adjustment of Immigrants to Canada: 1940-1975 - From Immigration and the Rise of Multiculturalism, ""Social Adjustment"" - Howard Palmer
• 10. Multiculturalism: Ideology, Policy and Reality - Evelyn Kallen
• 11. Aboriginal People and the Meech Lake Accord: Critical Perspectives - From The Meech Lake Primer, ""What Are We? Chopped Liver?"" - Tony Hall
• 12. The Ping-Pong Ethnic Politics of Contemporary Quebec - From Risking Utopia: On the Edge of a New Democracy - Irshad Manji
• 13. The Tolerant Society versus the Accepting Society - From Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada - Neil Bissoondath
• 14. The Properties of Culture and the Possession of Identity: Postcolonial Struggle and the Legal Imagination - Rosemary J. Coombe
• 15. Ethnicity and Social Class Thirty Years after the Vertical Mosaic - From The Vertical Mosaic Revisited - Rick Helmes-Hayes and James Curtis
• 16. Belonging in a Multicultural Context - From Risking Utopia: On the Edge of a New Democracy - Irshad Manji
• 17. Residential Patterns in Cities - From Immigrant Canada: Demographic, Economic and Social Challenges - T.R. Balakrishnan and Feng Hou
• 18. The Social Construction of Immigrants - From Destination Canada: Immigration Debates and Issues - Peter Li
• 19. Immigration and Demographic Structures - From Immigrant Canada: Demographic, Economic and Social Challenges - Roderic P. Beaujot
• 20. Managing Immigrant Social Transformations - From Immigrant Canada: Demographic, Economic and Social Challenges - James S. Frideres
• 21. The Illusion of Multiculturalism - From Who Gets In? What's Wrong with Canada's Immigration Program - and How to Fix It - Daniel Stoffman
• 22. Immigration Policy: Imagined Futures - From Immigrant Canada: Demographic, Economic and Social Challenges - Alan B. Simmons
• EXPERIENCE
• 23. The Child Eventually Grows Up - Eva Tihanyi
• 24. From The Sacrifice - Adele Wiseman
• 25. A Class of New Canadians - From A North American Education - Clark Blaise
• 26. Road Building by Pick Axe - From Woman in the Woods - Joy Kogawa
• 27. ""Griff!"" - From When Women Rule - Austin C. Clarke
• 28. Swimming Lessons - From Tales from Firozsha Baag - Rohinton Mistry
• 29. On the Eve of Uncertain Tomorrows - From On the Eve of Uncertain Tomorrows - Neil Bissoondath
• 30. A Garden of Her Own - From Out on Main Street and Other Stories - Shani Mootoo
• 31. Jacob - From Stories of the Road Allowance People - Maria Campbell
• 32. From Diamond Grill - Fred Wah
• 33. On Social Suffering: Fatima's Story - From Politics and Poetics of Migration: Narratives of Iranian Women from the Diaspora - Parin Dossa
• DOCUMENTS AND TABLES
• 34. Ethnic Origin of the Canadian Population: 1971-1971 - From Report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, Book IV
• 35. Federal Multicultural Policy, House of Commons Debates, October 8, 1971 - Pierre Elliott Trudeau
• 36. Canadian Multicultural Act, 1985 - Department of Justice, Canada
• 37. Skilled Worker Self-Assessment - Immigration Canada
• Copyright Acknowledgements