Uneasy Partners

Janice Stein, David Robertson Cameron, John Ibbitson, Will Kymlicka, John Meisel, Haroon Siddiqui, Michael Valpy

Description

After decades of extraordinary successes as a multicultural society, new debates are bubbling to the surface in Canada. The contributors to this volume examine the conflict between equality rights, as embedded in the Charter, and multiculturalism as policy and practice, and ask which charter value should trump which and under what circumstances? The opening essay deliberately sharpens the conflict among religion, culture, and equality rights and proposes to shift some of the existing boundaries. Other contributors disagree strongly, arguing that this position might seek to limit freedoms in the name of justice, that the problem is badly framed, or that silence is a virtue in rebalancing norms. The contributors not only debate the analytic arguments but infuse their discussion with their personal experiences, which have shaped their perspectives on multiculturalism in Canada. This volume is a highly personal as well as strongly analytic discussion of multiculturalism in Canada today.

Sujets

• Political science

Informations

• Publié par: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Date de parution: 22 octobre 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554587971
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Uneasy Partners
Uneasy Partners
Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada
Janice Gross Stein David Robertson Cameron John Ibbitson Will Kymlicka John Meisel Haroon Siddiqui Michael Valpy
With an introduction by
the Honourable Frank Iacobucci
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Uneasy partners : multiculturalism and rights in Canada / Janice Gross Stein [et al.].
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-55458-012-5 (pbk.)
1. Multiculturalism-Canada. 2. Civil rights - Canada. 3. Canada. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I. Stein, Janice
FC105.M8U54 2007 305.800971 C2007-902358-4
2007 Janice Gross Stein, Haroon Siddiqui, John Ibbitson, David Robertson Cameron, John Meisel, Michael Valpy, and Will Kymlicka Introduction 2007 Frank Iacobucci
Cover design by Blakeley. Cover image by Nguyen Thai. Text design by P.J. Woodland.
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher s attention will be corrected in future printings.

This book is printed on Ancient Forest Friendly paper (100% post-consumer recycled).
Printed in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Janice Gross Stein
Introduction
Frank Iacobucci
Searching for Equality
Janice Gross Stein
Don t Blame Multiculturalism
Haroon Siddiqui
Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
John Ibbitson
An Evolutionary Story
David Robertson Cameron
Canada: J accuse/J adore: Extracts from a Memoir
John Meisel
Seismic Tremors: Religion and the Law
Michael Valpy
Disentangling the Debate
Will Kymlicka
Contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
Bronwyn Drainie, the indefatigable editor of the Literary Review of Canada , called last spring to ask me to review a book. I declined politely, but I told her that I wanted to write about the controversy over the Danish cartoons, as an exemplar of the growing tension between religion and rights. Bronwyn declined politely in turn, telling me this was a well-explored subject and she doubted that I had anything new to say. I had no ready response to that comment.
Two months later, Bronwyn was back. She had reconsidered and encouraged me to try my hand at a broader essay about religion, multiculturalism and rights, particularly in a Canadian context. When I produced a draft, she turned her editor s eye to what I had written. The essay that she published in the September 2006 issue of the LRC resembled my original draft just enough for me to be able to claim authorship.
John Ibbitson and Haroon Siddiqui, both readers of the LRC , were sufficiently provoked that each wrote a column-John for The Globe and Mail , Haroon for The Toronto Star -making clear their disagreements with parts of my argument. Shortly thereafter, Brian Henderson, the director of Wilfrid Laurier University Press, called to talk about a book that would follow from the article in the LRC . We concurred very quickly that we wanted a multiplicity of voices. John and Haroon agreed instantly to turn their columns into articles. David Cameron, with his customary grace, agreed to put on paper his reservations about what I had said, as did Will Kymlicka, Canada s foremost scholar of multiculturalism. Michael Valpy, after one lunch at Massey College, consented to write on religion and rights, one of his long-standing interests. John Meisel generously agreed to excerpt a chapter from his forthcoming autobiography, in which he writes about his experience as an immigrant to Canada. No eye is gentler or keener.
We all owe a special debt of gratitude to Justice Frank Iacobucci for writing the foreword to this volume. My conversations with him began one morning over breakfast at a conference and have continued over time. These conversations have been a very special treat. I am deeply grateful for his judicious thinking, his wisdom and, above all, his friendship.
Without Bronwyn Drainie and Brian Henderson, this volume would not be. Bronwyn, with the help of copy editor Madeline Koch, edited the chapters and improved them immeasurably. Brian nurtured and supported the project from the very beginning. We thank them all and hope very much that this volume contributes to the ongoing conversation about our shared future.
Janice Gross Stein University of Toronto April 28, 2007
Introduction
Frank Iacobucci
While growing up in Vancouver in the late 1940s, I remember vividly taking my homemade panini sandwiches out of my lunch bag and being embarrassed. My sandwiches were brimming with a combination of egg, tomatoes, cheese, peppers and prosciutto, whereas most of my Anglo-Saxon classmates had neat and tidy store-bought white bread with slim fillings. It was an awkward feeling: my sandwich being out of step with the majority sandwich gave me a sense of not belonging.
Later, while an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia in the 1950s, I had a disturbing conversation with my economics statistics professor, Tadek Matuszewski, for whom I was working as a teaching assistant. He asked me one day what I wanted to do with my life, and I answered that I wanted to go to law school. To my surprise, Matuszewski said I should not do that; and when I asked him why, he replied that I did not have the right name to be a lawyer. Granted, my name was, like his, difficult to spell and pronounce, but I did not understand why that should disqualify me from pursuing legal studies. Upon seeing my consternation, Matuszewski suggested that we make an appointment to see John Deutsch, then chair of the combined political science and economics department at UBC (later to become vice-chancellor of Queen s University).
We subsequently did meet with Deutsch, who was a Solomon-like figure, and I have never forgotten his answer to the question whether I should go to law school. He said, Tadek, I think Canada is changing, and if this young man wants to go to law school, he should do so. Although satisfied with the answer, I found his response rather disquieting. If Canada was changing, what did that mean? Was the Canada I had grown up in a place in which you could not pursue a career if you had a certain type of name, gender, skin colour or religious faith?
I have since learned that, in fact, Canada was not always welcoming to women and minorities in many careers and other areas of life. It is a subject on which I have commented on many occasions with respect to the legal profession. But Deutsch was right: Canada changed, and rather dramatically, by adopting a pluralist, multicultural, equality-based approach to its social interaction. Canada s fact of diversity in its social makeup led to a policy of multiculturalism in the early 1970s (which, in my view was enlightened in concept, but somewhat wanting in practice), then to a federal statute on multiculturalism and, ultimately, to constitutional expression on multiculturalism strongly reinforced by an emphasis on equality rights for all Canadians.
That development is what this book of essays is all about. The essays are not principally historical, theoretical, philosophical or juris-prudential contributions, although those themes are reflected in the authors treatment of their topics. In the main, the essays are practically based commentaries that view multiculturalism from different perspectives and with different themes. Both consensus and dissent on various points add to the insights and lessons that can be taken from the different writers contributions.
The authors of these essays are distinguished journalists and academics, but they are also outstanding Canadians who have been active in various spheres of life. Their backgrounds, experience and writings on the subject of multiculturalism and related topics make them eminently qualified to offer their views. Therefore it is clearly worthwhile for all of us interested in the topic to read carefully what they have to say, even if we may disagree in whole or in part with their opinions.
That we have laws with remedies for redress on the subject of multiculturalism and equal treatment is of great importance. But as necessary as laws and remedies are, they are not sufficient. Today, there are many examples of minority culture-such as the hijab - that parallel the panini of my personal childhood experience and may create a sense of not belonging to mainstream Canadian society. Moreover, like other nations, we are faced almost daily with situations that create tension between fundamental rights such as equality and multicultural or religious freedoms. Many countries of the world are regrettably experiencing not just debates on the subject, but conflict that has led to personal injury and tragedy. Terrorism and our response to it as a democracy highlight the challenges we face in ensuring that we do not regress in our efforts to respect the individual s dignity and integrity that underlie the policies and laws regarding multiculturalism and equality. A caution is sounded in several of the essays in this book that in seeking solutions to old p