Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: This article attempts to show that Canadian multicultural policy can only be fully understood when seen as part of an economic strategy. The paper begins by looking at the historical precedent for multiculturalism, namely the mosaic model of integration adopted in the early 20th century. It is argued that the policy was initiated to respond to the needs of capitalist colonial expansion in an international context of competition for immigrants. Contemporary political discourse is then dissected to reveal how multiculturalism functions as part of a project of nation-branding designed to ensure Canadian competitiveness in the globalized world economy. A clear consistency emerges when analysing Canadian government policy spanning more than a century: the mosaic model, and then multiculturalism, have been used to facilitate colonial expansion and capitalist accumulation.
DOI: 10.4000/eccs.6773
Author: Andrew Ives
Institution: Université de Caen Normandie
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Reduced inequalities
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4391235681