The Quest for an Inclusive City - Metropolis BC

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Conclusions: The lineaments of a rich multiculturalism
‘The older people will tend to accept discrimination more because this is much less
discrimination compared to what they would have – every possible discrimination in
their lifetime – and when they come here they see opportunity and they see a lot of
places where they can go. That is really pleasing to them. But at the same time
younger people … are becoming more and more aware of being able to ask for equal
opportunity in the true sense of the word…’ (FG Ind3)
This paper has captured what is expressed so pithily in the above quote from one of the
‘younger people’: that is, the tension between different generations (of one newcomer group) in their
perceptions of the relative freedoms within and accomplishments of Canadian multicultural
democracy. In the spirit of striving to realise the full potential of this democracy, we offer the
following conclusions, cognizant of the fact that they are based on research into only one newcomer
group, and that this group also has many positive things to say about their life here, which we have
also tried to convey.
The whole focus group dialogue outlined in the previous section has conveyed implicit ideals
of a multicultural citizenship that seem to bear a strong resemblance to the normative ideal we
outlined in Section 1. We derived that ideal from what we understand to be the philosophical
principles of Canadian multiculturalism, as expressed in legislation and in the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms, and by connecting those principles to the everyday urban realities of life in a multicultural
society. We borrowed from Henri Lefebvre (1996) to express this ideal at the level of the city as the
right to occupy space, and the right to participation in the wider political community. Through our
focus group dialogue we have heard young members of the Tamil community implicitly expressing
these same ideals, and confirming their absence in their own lived experience in Toronto. They have
outlined a ‘rich’ (in the sense of deep, as opposed to shallow) 11 multiculturalism that in part consists
of the obvious need for more spending on a wide range of multicultural programs – not only
settlement services. A rich multiculturalism would support or rather enhance educational
opportunities, (by reinstating multicultural counselors in schools, for example, and increasing
spending on ESL). It would support organisations like the CTC that are working to encourage and
expand Tamil participation in Canadian society.
But, more radically, a rich multiculturalism would have to revisit the very foundations of
multicultural philosophy and engage in a fundamental review of the definition and implementation of
multiculturalism. Specifically, this might entail the following:
11 Hiebert (2003:47), reporting on the Vancouver Community Studies Survey (n=2000), which asked ‘are
immigrants welcome’ uses the term ‘shallow multiculturalism’ to summarise what this survey reveals about
attitudes in Vancouver.