ABSTRACT
Despite its racist history, multiculturalism policy helps Canada garner a significant international reputation for promoting cultural diversity. It seems that racism suddenly disappears and Canada becomes a multicultural country. Then, how should we understand Canada's multiculturalism? This chapter traces the changing domestic and international context since the Second World War and its implication for Canada's immigration policy and the emergence of multiculturalism. By critically examining its origin and evolvement, it argues that Canada's multiculturalism policy should be understood as a product of political struggles, a strategic tool to maintain the domination of English Canada and to assimilate racialized minorities. This chapter discusses two major academic debates over the past decades, including multiculturalism as a politics of recognition and multiculturalism as a divisive force. It suggests that unequal power relations between the dominant groups and racialized minorities do not change despite the rhetoric of multiculturalism. Further, although multiculturalism claims to promote cultural diversity, by separating language and culture rights as institutionalized in multiculturalism within a bilingual framework, it is really difficult for ethnic groups to maintain their ethnic language and cultural heritage. The interview data from my study with Chinese Canadian youth further support this point.
