ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the impact of polyethnicity on political communities by focusing specifically on the symbolic aspect of citizenship – the markers of a country’s self-identification through which citizens are said to exhibit a sense of social cohesion and allegiance for effective democratic participation in a given polity.1 What are the symbolic ‘anchors’ that frame and define sentiments of belonging in a democratic polity? How do we evaluate such criteria in light of the challenge of polyethnicity? Such questions will be explored through a comparative conceptual assessment of the Canadian policy of multiculturalism and Quebec’s model of interculturalism. Both of these liberal political communities have indeed responded to the challenge of polyethnicity by formulating models of integration that go beyond the idea of ‘benign neglect’ in cultural matters. A comparison of two distinct approaches may serve to elucidate some of the issues and challenges confronting culturally heterogeneous liberal democracies more generally.
