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Social Integration and Shared Citizenship in Canada Immigrant Integration in a Multination / Multilevel State. Keith Banting Queen’s University C ÉRIUM Annual Conference Universit é de Montr é al April 2008. Images from Europe. Images from Australia. Images from the United States.
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Social Integration and Shared Citizenship in CanadaImmigrant Integration in a Multination / Multilevel State Keith Banting Queen’s University CÉRIUM Annual Conference Université de Montréal April 2008
Growing Concerns in Canada • Flashpoints • Growing problems in economic integration • Residential segregation • Gang violence and terrorism arrests • Sharia law and public funding of faith-based schools • Debate over reasonable accommodation in Quebec • Debate over dual citizenship • Canada has its own social integration debate
Focus on social integration • Nature of the integration agenda • Challenges go beyond economic integration • Challenge of social integration • High level of immigration • Diverse diversity • High levels of immigration / racial diversity • Diverse sources of immigration • Multination state: role of founding peoples • Not simply “old” versus “new” Canadians • Divisions with the ranks of the “old” are critical
Nature of social integration: two approaches • Cultural: “Who is Us?” • Shared national identity, values and history • Belonging, attachment, commitment, solidarity • Participative: “How do we live together?” • Legitimacy of diverse identities and values • Consensus on liberal democracy and citizenship rights • Engagement in civic and political processes
Does Canada have a problem? Who is us? • Measures of belonging and attachment • Not simply “new” versus “old” Canadians • Lower attachment among québécois and Aboriginals • Newcomers attachment grows with time • Difference between white and racial minority immigrants • Second generation • Differences between Quebec and the rest of Canada
Does Canada have a problem? How do we live together? • Measures of engagement and participation • Civic engagement • Putnam: “hunkering down” in U.S. • Canadian evidence more reassuring • Interpersonal trust / engagement • Political participation • High level of naturalization (84%) • Newcomers and racial minorities do report voting • Minorities are underrepresented in elected bodies and public bureaucracies
Framing a Policy Response “Who is Us?” Building a “people” with a common culture • Common language • Shared sense of identity and national values • Deeper understandings of history • Instruments • Immigration policies and naturalization policies • Settlement and integration services • Citizen education: grand historical narrative • Celebration of nation symbols: ceremonies, holiday, flag • Oaths of allegiance
Framing a Policy Response“How Do We Live Together?” • Reinforce rights culture • Democratic rights and equalities • Anti-discrimination and human rights legislation • Civic networks • Support civic associations • Encourage participation in civic associations • Political participation • Voting at the municipal level • Representation in legislatures and city councils
The Canadian ResponseConstraints on a cultural strategy • Cultural instruments • Language priority in immigration • Citizenship tests • Citizenship ceremonies and lots of flags • Constraints on cultural strategies • Multination state • Identities of the “old” Canadians preclude common culture • Multiculturalism as a defining feature? Contested • Multilevel state • Different pathways to integration across the country • Larger obstacle to cultural strategies • Tip balance to participative strategy
“Shared Citizenship” • Citizenship in multinational / multilevel state • Nature of “shared citizenship” • Key issue: • How to strengthen “shared citizenship” in a society without a common culture? • Canadian echoes of T.H. Marshall • Civil, political and social rights • Assumes rights will generate attachment
Shared citizenship in practice • Multinational / multilevel constraints • Instruments on which country relies to mitigate its internal divisions are themselves shared by the more powerful of those divisions • Variable geometry of citizenship rights • Some rights established on pan-Canadian basis • Charter of Rights • Controversial among founding peoples • Framework for immigrant integration (eg Sharia) • Some rights established in a more variegated pattern • Social rights and retrenchment • Social rights and federalism
Conclusions • Nature of the problem • Economic and social integration • Is social integration a problem: Cultural versus participative answers • Nature of the policy response • Integration strategies shaped by domestic politics • Canadian drivers: multinational / multilevel state • Limits the scope for a cultural strategy • Tips balance to a rights-based, participative strategy • Variable geometry of “shared citizenship” • Effectiveness • A leap of faith • Future of Canada assumes “Who is us?” is the wrong question