Electing A Diverse Canada

Electing a Diverse Canada presents the most extensive analysis to date of the electoral representation of immigrants, minorities, and women in Canada. Covering eleven cities, as well as Canada's Parliament, it breaks new ground by assessing the representation of diverse identity groups across multiple levels of government. Electoral representation is an important indicator of a democracy's health, and this book provides both a baseline for future research and an outline of the key challenges facing Canadian democracy.

Framed is a wake-up call for those who think that race does not matter in Canada. The first book on the media’s coverage of race in Canadian politics, it provides an empirical analysis of print media combined with in-depth interviews of elected officials, former candidates, political staffers, and journalists. While there may be few examples of overt racism in newspapers, Erin Tolley reveals how racial assumptions and narratives frame news stories and the experiences of those who enter political life. Connecting the dots, she argues that current reporting trends are weakening Canada’s commitment to a robust, inclusive democracy.

Why do Canadians vote the way they do? For more than forty years, the primary objective of the ongoing Canadian Election Studies (CES) has been to investigate that question. This volume brings together principal investigators of the Studies to document the history of this impressive collection of surveys, examine what has been learned, and consider their future. The wide-ranging collection of essays provides useful background and insights on the relevance of the CES and lends perspective to the debate about where to steer the CES in the years ahead.

Canadian public schools have long been entrusted with the mandate of socializing children. Yet this duty can rest uneasily alongside religious diversity questions. Grounding its analysis in three seminal Supreme Court cases involving religion in schools, Religious Diversity in Canadian Public Schools reveals legal processes that are unduly linear, compressing multidimensional conversations into an oppositional format and stripping away the voices of children themselves. Dia Dabby contends that schools are in fact microsystems worthy of their own consideration, and with the power to construct their own rules and relationships. This compelling work connects many of the themes that have animated public discourse since multiculturalism was officially enacted in Canada. Situating its analysis in relation to concepts of nation, education, and diversity, Religious Diversity in Canadian Public Schools encourages a deeper conversation about how religion is mediated through public schools and invites a critical reassessment of the role of law in education.

On July 1, 2017, Canada celebrated the 150th anniversary of Confederation. The nation-wide festivities prompted ambiguous reactions and contradictory responses since they officially proclaimed to celebrate 'what it means to be Canadian.' Drawing on the analytical perspectives of Diversity Studies, this fifth volume of the 'Diversity / Diversité / Diversität' series explores the repercussions of 'Canada 150's' focus on identity. The contributions touch upon issues of Canada's French and English dualism; of its settler colonial past and present and the role of Indigenous Peoples in Canada's identity narrative; of Canada's religious, cultural, ethnic and racial diversity; and of the challenge of forging a 'Canadian' identity. The authors analyze these and other problems arising from the tensions between identity and diversity by empirically addressing topics such as multicultural memories, Canadian literary and political discourses, Métis history, Canada's Indigenous peoples, Canada's official federal discourse on language and culture, and Canada's evolving citizenship regimes. Contributors: Marie-Eve Beaulieu, Charles Blattberg, Paul Carls, Sarah Henzi, Jane Jenson, Wolfgang Klooss, Gillian Lane-Mercier, Pierre Lavoie, Ursula Lehmkuhl, Laurence McFalls, Nikolas Schall, Lisa Schaub, Elisabeth Tutschek

With over 20 percent of the population foreign-born, and with more than 250 ethnic origins, Canada is one of the world's most multicultural societies. Canada's ethnic and religious diversity continues to grow alongside immigration. Yet how well is Canada's model of multiculturalism and citizenship working, and how well are Canadians, whatever their ethnic or religious origin, doing? Will Canada's relative success compared to other countries continue, or are there emerging fault lines in Canadian society? Canadian Multiculturalism: Evidence and Anecdote undertakes an extensive review of the available data from Statistics Canada, Citizenship and Immigration Canada operational statistics, employment equity and other sources to answer these questions and provide an integrated view covering economic outcomes, social indicators, and political and public service participation. Over 200 charts and tables are used to engage readers and substantiate the changing nature of Canadian diversity.

December 1983.

During the 2015 federal election, the Liberal Party pledged that, if elected, they would end the “first past the post” electoral system, where whichever candidate receives the most votes wins a riding even if they have not received a majority of all votes cast. In early 2017, the Liberals reneged on their campaign promise, declaring that there was a lack of public consensus about how to reform the system. Despite the broken promise – and because of the public outcry – discussions about electoral reform will continue around the country. Challenging the idea that first past the post is obsolete, Should We Change How We Vote? urges Canadians to make sure they understand their electoral system before making drastic changes to it. The contributors to this volume assert that there is perhaps no institution more misunderstood and misrepresented than the Canadian electoral system – praised by some for ensuring broad regional representation in Ottawa, but criticized by others for allowing political parties with less than half the popular vote to assume more than half the seats in Parliament. They consider not only how the system works, but also its flaws and its advantages, and whether or not electoral reform is legitimate without a referendum. An essential guide to the crucial and ongoing debate about the country’s future, Should We Change How We Vote? asks if there are alternative reforms that would be easier to implement than a complete overhaul of the electoral system.