Elspeth Cameron, Ed. Multiculturalism and Immigration in Canada: An Introductory Reader

Elspeth Cameron, ed. Multiculturalism and Immigration in Canada: An Introductory Reader. xxiv, 426 pp. Toronto: Scholar's Press, 2004. $49.95 sc. Elspeth Cameron introduces Multiculturalism and Immigration in Canada by noting that multiculturalism is an ideology with a complex meaning and an equally complicated history and is variously described as an instrument of state power and local empowerment. This edited volume pulls together such contradictory interpretations to diagnose all the rich diversity of society. The book is divided into sections on Theory, Experience, and Documents and Tables. The first two sections cover multicultural policy and representative voices from diverse communities. There are short excerpts from landmark texts on multiculturalism such as the Report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and John Porter's The Vertical Mosaic. The organization is partly historical, with the early sections indicating that racial ideologies underpinned Canada's immigration policies before 1962. The selections illuminate the way a hierarchy of ethnic groups placed French Canadians and Native Canadians on the lower rungs of the social ladder. Asian and African groups fared hardly better. The last section includes summaries of Canada's ethnic composition alongside Pierre Trudeau's public policy statement of 1971 and the Canadian Multicultural Act, 1985. In short, this publication can hardly fail as a comprehensive guide to the subject for undergraduates. A common theme is the social adjustments forced upon immigrants by the culture. In the first three-quarters of the twentieth century the basic model of immigration for policy makers and academics was the assimilation and acculturation of ethnic groups into a society defined by Anglo-conformity and Franco-conformity. Assimilation created generational conflicts within the immigrant communities as second generation immigrants made adjustments which were anathema to parents clinging to the value systems of their countries of origin. Subsequent selections dealing with the period after 1971 indicate that although multicultural policy might have been designed as a corrective to racial ideologies and ethnic inequalities, Canada has not necessarily become a more tolerant society. Arguably, the dominant value system in Canada continues to suppress the expression of cultural diversity, at least according to Daniel Stoffman's discussion of the illusion of diversity. This is reflected in contemporary debates in the popular media concerning the compatibility of Islam and liberalism. Therefore, this volume ties into recent public debates on whether the rights of diverse cultural groups are safeguarded by secular, liberal values or if liberalism conflicts with cultural diversity. In the post 9/11 world there is a fear that multicultural policies increase cultural or ethnic tensions. Following a contrary line of thought, Stoffman suggests that multicultural policies hold out the promise of tolerance and acceptance only for new immigrants to be suppressed and marginalized in a historically familiar way. In an interesting discussion of the East Asian communities in Vancouver, he points to the emergence of a minority culture that in its rapid growth challenges the majority culture, citing for example dog-eating mainland Chinese confounding dog-loving Canadians. These sorts of discussions beg a better understanding of immigrant experience, moving beyond the old paradigms of assimilation and acculturation. …

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