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Immigrant integration is currently a prominent issue in virtually all contemporary democracies, but countries in which the historic population itself is deeply divided -- particularly those with substate nations and multiple political identities -- present some interesting questions where integration is concerned. The existence of multiple and potentially competing political identities may complicate the integration process, particularly if the central government and the substate nation promote different conceptions of citizenship and different nation-building projects. What, then, are the implications of minority nationalism for immigrant integration? Are the added complexities a barrier to integration? Or do overlapping identities generate more points of contact between immigrants and their new home? This article addresses this question by probing immigrant and non-immigrant 'sense of belonging' in Canada, both inside and outside Quebec. Data come from Statistics Canada's Ethnic Diversity Study. Our results suggest that competing nation-building projects make the integration of newcomers more, rather than less, challenging. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractImmigrant integration is currently a prominent issue in virtually all contemporary democracies, but countries in which the historic population itself is deeply divided – particularly those with substate nations and multiple political identities – present some interesting questions where integration is concerned. The existence of multiple and potentially competing political identities may complicate the integration process, particularly if the central government and the substate nation promote different conceptions of citizenship and different nation‐building projects. What, then, are the implications of minority nationalism for immigrant integration? Are the added complexities a barrier to integration? Or do overlapping identities generate more points of contact between immigrants and their new home? This article addresses this question by probing immigrant and non‐immigrant 'sense of belonging' in Canada, both inside and outside Quebec. Data come from Statistics Canada's Ethnic Diversity Study. Our results suggest that competing nation‐building projects make the integration of newcomers more, rather than less, challenging.

In much of the western world, and particularly in Europe, there is a widespread perception that multiculturalism has 'failed' and that governments who once embraced a multicultural approach to diversity are turning away, adopting a strong emphasis on civic integration. This reaction, we are told, "reflects a seismic shift not just in the Netherlands, but in other European countries as well" (JOPPKE 2007). This paper challenges this view. Drawing on an updated version of the Multiculturalism Policy Index introduced earlier (BANTING and KYMLICKA 2006), the paper presents an index of the strength of multicultural policies for European countries and several traditional countries of immigration at three points in time (1980, 2000 and 2010). The results paint a different picture of contemporary experience in Europe. While a small number of countries, including most notably the Netherlands, have weakened established multicultural policies during the 2000s, such a shift is the exception. Most countries that adopted multicultural approaches in the later part of the twentieth century have maintained their programs in the first decade of the new century; and a significant number of countries have added new ones. In much of Europe, multicultural policies are not in general retreat. As a result, the turn to civic integration is often being layered on top of existing multicultural programs, leading to a blended approach to diversity. The paper reflects on the compatibility of multiculturalism policies and civic integration, arguing that more liberal forms of civic integration can be combined with multiculturalism but that more illiberal or coercive forms are incompatible with a multicultural approach.

Since the inception and design of Canada's Employment Insurance (EI) program, the Canadian economy and labour market have undergone dramatic changes. It is clear that EI has not kept pace with those changes, and experts and advocates agree that the program is no longer effective or equitable. Making EI Work is the result of a panel of distinguished scholars gathered by the Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, and future directions of EI.

10 Territorial Politics and the New Politics of Redistribution11 Quebec�s New Politics of Redistribution -- Part 2: Policy -- 12 Health Care Policy after Universality -- 13 Income Security for Seniors -- 14 The Recent Evolution of Tax-Transfer Policies -- 15 Childcare, New Social Risks, and the New Politics of Redistribution in Ontario -- 16 Labour Market Income Transfers and Redistribution -- Part 3: Conclusion -- 17 Canadian Social Futures -- Contributors -- Index

The book's primary aim is to determine whether Canada and the United States have become more similar as their economies have become more integrated and their societies more diverse. The authors conclude that, although powerful economic and social pressures clearly constrain national governments and lead to convergence in some areas, distinctive cultural and political processes preserve room for distinctive national responses to important problems of the late twentieth century. Authors include Keith Banting, Paul Boothe (University of Alberta), Marsha Chandler (University of Toronto), George Hoberg, Robert Howse (University of Toronto), Christopher Manfredi (McGill University), George Perlin (Queen's University), Douglas Purvis (Queen's University), Richard Simeon, and Elaine Willis (consultant, Toronto)

AbstractPrevious research has shown that the public tends to see some groups as less deserving of social rights. Our focus in this article is whether they are also seen as less entitled to engage in political claims-making. Recent theorists of inclusive nationalism argue that whether minorities are seen as having the right to codetermine the future may depend on whether the majority believes minorities are morally committed to the nation. Drawing on a unique survey experiment, we test this intuition by analyzing how majority perceptions of a minority's commitment to the larger society influence support for claims-making by immigrants and national minorities. We show that immigrants, French-speaking Quebeckers, and Indigenous peoples are judged more harshly about their right to make claims and that this is in part explained by the majority's views that these groups are not, in fact, committed members of the larger political community.

Quebec offers an interesting perspective on the relationship between minority nationalism and the integration of immigrants. Immigration into the homeland of a national minority often reinforces its sense of cultural insecurity. Quebec has responded by exercising its substantial jurisdiction within the Canadian federation to develop a distinctive approach to immigrant integration, known as interculturalism. This article examines the controversies surrounding Quebec's approach. We argue that the actual content of current debates, which increasingly focus on the accommodation of religious diversity, is driven primarily by the church–state settlement reached in the province in the middle of the 20th century. However,Quebecers' minority status does matter. It increases the frequency and intensity of conflict about diversity policy. In addition, it shapes attitudes toward the process for managing disputes. Quebecers' believe such issues should be resolved within Quebec, and they resist the idea that pan-Canadian institutions should have a central role.

Since the 1990s, many Western countries have implemented restrictions on immigrants' access to welfare programs, thereby creating new lines of exclusion between immigrants and the native-born. Canada is commonly seen to have resisted this trend. This view overlooks, however, that exclusion can come in different forms. In addition to direct formal exclusion from welfare programs, immigrants can also have more limited access because of indirect or informal mechanisms of differentiation. Reviewing five core welfare programs, this paper shows that direct, indirect, and informal types of exclusion exist in the Canadian welfare state, albeit with different consequences for different categories of newcomers. While this conclusion is not meant to suggest that immigrants face as much exclusion as they do in some other Western countries, it does demonstrate the need to avoid the complacency regarding immigrants' social rights in Canada.