4. Culture and Citizenship

This domain includes among others the key issue of tolerance in Canadian society, and racism in its various forms. Almost all the reviews addressed these topics, though often not in detail. While the reviews did deal with issues of prejudice and discrimination other manifestations were omitted. For example, there is little discussion of organized racist and/or anti-immigrant movements and political organizations, past or present. There is also no discussion of possible systemic bias against immigrant/cultural minorities in the legal system. Perhaps this reflects the absence of political science and law as one of the disciplines, as well as anthropology (one thinks of the work of Stanley Barrett, which is uncited in the actual reviews). The French language review notes the presence of extremist racist gangs in Quebec, but reports little by way of analytical work.

There is as noted earlier very little review of the issue of systemic racism -- its definition, measurement, and policy prescriptions, such as employment equity. It is true that technically those issues deal with ethnicity and race, rather than immigration per se. But given the high overlap between Canada's visible minority population and the foreign born, the two are linked in terms of policy, and also in the minds of many Canadians as they express themselves on immigration policy.

Before focusing on issues relating to tolerance and racism, let us consider the dimensions of culture from the perspective of immigrant groups.

Traditionally analysts have focused on the cultural accomplishments or "contributions" of various groups. More recently cultural geographers have also become concerned with the politics of contested urban space, as well as challenges to the hegemonic control of the cultural domain by a Eurocentric cultural elite.

There is limited work on the cultural impact of diversity in Canada and on Canadian cities and neighbourhoods. This can include restaurants and entertainment, cultural festivals of various sorts, up to and including Toronto's Caribana. One study of Caribana was noted in the reviews. Very often such cultural conflict becomes a conduit for larger political power struggles. Studies of so-called "monster homes" in Vancouver reveal how conflicts over housing styles relate to cultural insecurities of non-immigrants and resentments of dominant white upper class groups. The cultures of immigrants are often seen as threatening the prevailing "symbolic order."

There can be no meaningful consensus about what is known when the research output has been limited. But even in this work we can get a sense in which within cities the practice of citizenship can become a "jostling, competitive fracas." But there does not seem to be systematic treatments of how the cultural texture of urban life has been impacted by diversity, in a variety of cultural and social spheres. This is best done through detailed ethnographic studies of immigrant neighbourhoods.

Canadian culture, as that of any society, is shaped by its population base. In Canada fully 16% of the population is foreign born, compared to 2.2% among the 12 EC countries. The foreign born in Canada are from varied sources, not one or a few major groups as in Germany of France. Thus there are few or no immigrant ghettos or inner city enclaves, and certainly no homogeneous ghettos, as have emerged in some European or American cities. Cultural antagonisms can be diffused more readily.

The role of language is crucial in terms of understanding an evolving Canadian culture. Little is known about language retention apart from analysis of mother tongue and home language data. Analysis of the new 1991 census question itemizing all languages in which Canadians can hold a conversation would add to our understanding of the place of immigration and multilingualism in Canada. Of the 1986-91 immigrant cohort to Canada only 33% used an official language at home.

There has been little work linking up immigration to new conceptions of citizenship, e.g. dual citizenship. The processes of cultural assimilation common in the past might be modified by increased media of communication, the internet, phone, videos, records, newspapers, travel, etc. which can link migrants to their homelands. Paradigms involving invigorated models of diasporic relationships must begin to suffuse studies of immigrant integration. There has been little work on that.

However, the French language review did address issues of the public discourse around citizenship, including the taxonomies used to describe categories of citizens, and some of the theoretical efforts (eg. by Charles Taylor) to address issues of citizenship in the context of multiple or pluralistic loyalties. The harmonization of individual and collective rights remains a formidable challenge. Of course, researchers in English Canada have used a variety of terms to describe processes related to integration/assimilation, but there has been little research -- and even less consensus -- on any possible consequences from such usages.

The domain of culture is very hard to map, and operates on many levels. As mentioned above, for some the symbolic order of Canada is seen as under threat, whether this is turbans in the RCMP or an alleged disrespect for trees by some immigrant homeowners (given the role of forests in Canadian history and mythology). Much of modern racism can then be seen as opposition to the cultural changes and threats to a perceived order.

The world of high culture is one in which there is a degree of segmentation. Minority artists, and certainly minority art, have historically been seen as inferior. They may be considered for funding from sources that are less prestigious, and their product may be seen by critics as less than fully Canadian, marginal and folkloric. There is also much less of a mass market for minority cultural production, given a smaller population base. This disadvantage is even greater the more "authentic" the artistic product. Immigrant artists whose work conforms to traditional European models popular in Canada are more likely to find acceptance, by both critics and the public. This has been the case for recent English language immigrant writers in Canada.

But by contrast the French language review emphasizes an increasing role played by "allophone" or immigrant artists in the Quebec cultural scene, for both writers and artists, which suggests a move away from marginalization.

Regarding ethnic cultures as shapers of everyday life, we note that much of the evidence of the steady pace of assimilation and acculturation reflects a legacy of the period before "official" multiculturalism. Also we are looking at the record among white immigrants, when we speak of a nearly straight line historic process of acculturation. The question is whether visible minority immigrants of the more recent past will experience the same process. Perhaps racism, combined with the spread of "identity politics," will limit the degree of acculturation and create further challenges to the traditional Canadian cultural and symbolic order than was the case in the past.

Turning to racism:

Overall Canadians today are relatively open to immigrants and minority groups, compared to many other diverse or immigrant receiving societies and to Canada in the past.

Quebecers have historically and today been more opposed to immigration, as measured by survey responses which yield gaps of a few percentage points. Of late there has been a more nuanced pattern found in Quebec polling such that there seems to be a more positive trend regarding immigrants, and at times even more sympathy to refugees. Yet this is situated within a historic context in which non-francophone immigration has always been viewed as a danger to the French fact. This finding of greater antipathy among French speaking Canadians is one of the more frequently cited in the reviews. Immigrants in Quebec, while historically present, generally did not integrate into a French milieu for a variety of reasons. It is only in the past generation that French Quebec has sought to deliberately encourage immigrant integration into the francophone community of the province.

There is variation in attitudes to specific immigrants from specific countries. There is also a general finding that younger and more educated Canadians are more open to immigration, and in general less prejudiced.

The impact of educational attainment seems to lead to lower levels of opposition to immigration, though the strength of the relation may vary across various cities. The impact of intergroup contact on racial attitudes may well depend on the nature or context of the contact. All Canadians in general have a hierarchical approach to immigrants, who are not as preferred in attitude surveys as the Canadian born, but explicit or politicized racism is very low, when compared to other countries like France. Racial minority immigrants are held in poor regard. It is likely that some percentage of Canadians opposed to immigration are motivated by prejudice, but clearly not all.

There is no consensus as to whether ingroup solidarity leads to greater or lesser tolerance for others (the "multiculturalism" vs. the "ethnocentric" hypothesis). There is also no consensus on whether discrimination by the host society leads to in-group solidarity or assimilation.

Stereotypes abound in Canada, as in other societies. These can lead to stress and related psychological symptoms. But we should note that stereotypes are not always negative, and are not synonymous with prejudice. Some stereotypes are positive and neutral, as has been shown in research on reciprocal views of English and French Canadians. Research on negative stereotypes might have some practical benefits in the design of anti-racism programmes.

It is also important to note that given 25 years of official multiculturalism policy, along with rhetoric and symbols, it is not surprising that Canadians begin with a basic positive predisposition to diversity. But a positive predisposition to diversity pre-dates the impact of multiculturalism. About 20 years ago far more Canadians supported a minority's keeping their identity than were actually familiar with multicultural policy.