"Canadian" as an Ethnic Category: Implications for Multiculturalism and National Unity

Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

Canadian Public Policy, 1999, vol. 25, issue 4, 523-537

Abstract: Among English-speaking, non-aboriginal Canadians, there is such a thing as an ethnic Canadian identity. Frequently, biological ancestry is confused with social ethnicity, so that everyone's "true" identity is presumed to be rooted somewhere else. Yet most people who are born in Canada, or who immigrate to Canada at young ages, become ethnic Canadians. Against this view of Canadianness, illiberal multiculturalists argue for strong identification of Canadians with ancestral ethnic groups. By contrast, the public policy of liberal multiculturalism encourages private, individual choices of identity. Paradoxically, this liberal policy also encourages identification with Canada and Canadian citizenship, both vital to Canadian unity. Canada's multiculturalism policy should not change to the illiberal, group-oriented multiculturalism some critics demand.

Date: 1999
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