Multiculturalism Within a Bilingual Framework: Language and the Racial Ordering of Difference and Belonging in Canada

MULTICULTURALISM WITHIN A BILINGUAL FRAMEWORK: LANGUAGE AND THE RACIAL ORDERING OF DIFFERENCE AND BELONGING IN CANADA by Eve Haque A thesis submitted in conformitywith the requirements forthe degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto ©Copyright by Eve Haque 2005 Library and Bibliotheque et l♦I Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de !'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-22074-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-22074-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par !'Internet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ant ete enleves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent ii n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. l♦I Canada MULTICULTURALISM WITHIN A BILINGUAL FRAMEWORK: LANGUAGE AND THE RACIAL ORDERING OF DIFFERENCE AND BELONGING IN CANADA Doctor of Philosophy 2005 Eve Haque Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education University of Toronto Abstract This thesis examines the emergence of "multiculturalism within a bilingual framework"as the national formulationfor the racial ordering ofdifference and belonging through language. As the 1960' s began, a confluence of events resulted in challenges to the existing Anglo-Celtic dominant national narrative of belonging, and the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1963-1970) became the "apparatus" through which the federalgovernment addressed these contestations. This thesis argues that at this particularhistorical juncture, the need to rearticulate the formulationfor nation building and national belonging meant a decisive shiftonto the terrain oflanguage and culture to organize and maintain a white settler hegemony while also disavowing racial and ethnic exclusions. Archival records and Commission reports reveal the conflictsand contestations which underlay the emergence ofthis ostensibly seamless linguistic and cultural policy of "multiculturalism within a bilingual framework"as written through the Official Languages Act (1969) andthe Multiculturalism Policy (1971). The emergence of these two defininglegislative texts fromthe Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism required the elision and erasure of substantive contestation fromboth Aboriginal communities and "Other ethnic groups"(which is how non-French and non English immigrant groups were definedthroughout the inquiry) to the dominance ofthe terms of reference which centred the "two foundingraces", the French and English, over the both the Other ethnic and Aboriginal groups. In the archival records of the inquiry hearings, it is possible to trace a genealogy of the eventual erasure of Aboriginal groups' claims and the muting of other ethnic groups demands culminating in the publication of the finalreports. The shiftfrom overt racial distinctions between founding and other ethnic groups onto the terrain oflanguage and culture meant that racial exclusions could be disavowed as they were smuggled back in throughthe contradictory operation of ii language and culture. Furthermore, by fixinga narrow definitionof "multicultural" and "integration" in federallegislation, claims forsubstantive and collective formsof recognitionfrom the State forother ethnic groupscould be limited. Alongside the concurrent changes to immigrationlegislation which were also taking place in the 1960's, language and culture are mobilized through the national formulationof multiculturalism within a bilingual frameworkin order to incorporate subjects into the contemporary racialized hierarchy of belonging and citizenship rights. iii Acknowledgements It is impossible forme to adequately and completely thank everyone who has sustained and helped me through this process of finishingthe PhD. So as I thank some of the key people who have helped me along this journey, I am mindfulthat there remain many unnamed others as well. I want to begin by thanking my supervisor Sherene Razack whose knowledge and expertise has guided both me and this project from my arrival in the department. Sherene's commitment to activist scholarship findsits counterpartin her commitment to her students; a commitment fromwhich I have benefitedgreatly throughout and, in particular, during these last months of the PhD process. I am also gratefulto Roger Simon forsharing his careful and keen insight both in class and in relation to this thesis. Thanks also to Normand Labrie who has always been a kind and reliable support since my firstterm here at OISE, andJim Cummins forbeing an excellent committee member. Thanks must again go to Ellen Cray, my MA supervisor, whose continued support and expertise I was lucky enough to be able to import to Toronto. I would also like to thank Sandra Acker who has been always been a strongly supportive since I began working forher several years ago. Other facultywho have sustained and supported me in various ways over the years include Shahrzad Mojab, Kari Dehli, George Dei, Amir Hassanpour, Ruth Roach Pierson and of course Rinaldo Walcott whose hope in hope gives me hope too. I cannot even begin to thank all my friends in the department and throughout the university who have made doing the PhD a rich (so to speak)and dynamic process, but I would like to mention a few, including Allison Felker, who made that critical firstyear funand infinitelybearable, Sheryl Nestel forall her help at all times, Amar Wahabfor escaping Osaka to provide me with anongoing sounding board, Carrianne Leung whose street-smarts translate so well into the academy, Simone Browne forher emails which kept me going throughthe dark days of the "writing period", Lorena Gajardo, who taught me how to laugh in the faceof academic despair, and Jane Ku and Helen Moore fortheir ongoing and steadfastsupport. lV No PhD can be completed without the extensive network of support and good humour which the staffof the institute provide including the guards who were always around late at night to see I was OK, Marg Brennan who was always there to help with the tricky questions of work andfinances, the OISE librarians - with a special thanks to Isabelle Gibb - who always did their best to help me get the most out of what became the world's most expensive library card once I finishedmy course-work, and of course the entire staffat SESE whose help and wry sense of humour was also critical to my successfuland sane completion. Final thanks go to my family who probably still can't believe that I'm finallydone. V Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iv Chapter 1: Introduction - "I'm talking language... " ........................................................... 1 Language and Nation .................................................................................................. 3 Primordialism.......................................................................................................... 4 Perennialism............................................................................................................ 6 Modernism.............................................................................................................. 7 Post-modernism.................................................................................................... 13 Canada as a White Settler Society ........................................................................ 16 Language in Canada.............................................................................................. 21 Race andNation Building ......................................................................................... 23 Language and Race ................................................................................................... 29 Philology ..............................................................................................................

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