Naturalization Policies, Education and Citizenship, Edited by Dina Kiwan 96 Redefining Citizenship in Canada of Transnationalism
5 Descent, Territory and Common Values: Redefining Citizenship in Canada Elke Winter Introduction1 Integrating the expression of ethnic diversity within the homogenizing logic of the nation state is a complex process. For many years, Canadian multicultural citizenship was portrayed as a role model for other coun- tries in this regard (Runnymede Trust: Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, 2000; Kymlicka and Opalski, 2001). Recently, how- ever, earlier steps towards the liberalization and multiculturalization of immigrant integration policies have been abandoned in many coun- tries (Vertovec and Wessendorf, 2009). Several European states have introduced new citizenship tests that measure immigrants’ adequate skill of a national language, civic knowledge and value compatibility. Canada, too, has recently redressed the boundaries of its citizenship with respect to both legal status and identity. While, comparatively speaking, multiculturalism remains a staple of Canadian citizenship, ‘multicultiphobia’ (Ryan, 2010) – which had been superseded by fears of Québécois separatism in the second half of the 1990s (Winter, 2011) – has an increasing impact on what it means to be a Canadian citizen in the new century. This chapter traces changes in Canadian citizenship from the incep- Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to University of Ottawa - PalgraveConnect - 2013-10-10 - PalgraveConnect of Ottawa - licensed to University www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright tion of the first Citizenship Act in 1947 until the present day. Its focus is two-fold. First, it places Canadian citizenship legislation in the context of the country’s complex ethnocultural heritage and compo- sition: its position as a British outpost in North America, its multi- national composition and – increasingly – its pioneering but highly ambivalent experimentation with renationalizing citizenship in the age 95 10.1057/9781137315519 - Naturalization Policies, Education and Citizenship, Edited by Dina Kiwan 96 Redefining Citizenship in Canada of transnationalism.
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