PERILS OF MULTICULTURALISM: POLlCY AND THEORY RECONSIDERED BY Harjinder Kaur Deol A thesis submitted to the Oepartment of Philosophy in confonnity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada September 2001 Copyright O Harjinder Kaur Deol, 2001 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 WeUlngton Street 395. nie Wellington ôttawaON KlAON4 Ottawa ON K 1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accord6 une Licence non exclusive licence dowing the exclusive permettant à la National Li'brary of Canada to Bibhothèque riationale du Canada de reproduce, Ioan, distribute or seli reprochire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/fih, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otheMrise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autaridm A bstract This thesis will argue that, contrary to Kyrnlicka's claim that rnulticulturalism promotes liberal values through the integration of immigrants into mainstream society, the philosophy of multiculturalism actually undermines those very values. Kymlicka's liberal justification for polyethnic rights hinges on the claim that they promote the integration of immigrants into mainstream institutions. However, 1 will demonstrate that if integration were a reality in Canada. multiculturalism could not be said to have caused it. Further, integration is not a reality in Canada and may not occur in the future due to new trends in immigration. Given that integration is not occurring, we will find that though the intentions of an ideology of multiculturalism are laudable. it has the unintended negative side effect of endorsing cultural preservation in attempting to preserve diversity. When the cultures of sorne immigrants who come to Canada from "non-traditional" sources are severely oppressive towards women in non-overt ways, the preservation of such cultures preserves gender-bias as well. This shouM concern the likes of Kymlicka since it undemines the project of furthering the liberal values of autonomy and equality. Multiculturalism is supposed to be a normative notion motivated by concern for the dignity of ail human beings. That is, the ideology of diversity is about respecting the backgrounds and decisions of others. But 1 will suggest that concem for the dignity, autonomy and equality of al1 human beings may require an alternative approach to deal with cultural diversity. My gratitude goes to Christine Sypnowich for providing invaluable comments and support during this project. She has been an excellent mentor and friend. I thank Will Kymlicka for taking up the position of supervisor so quickly and for providing me with subject matter for my thesis through his own work. Alastair Macleod's copy editing advice was invaluable in the late stages of the project as well; and his support over the last three years has meant a great deal to me. Further, I thank the Department of Philosophy at Queen's and the Graduate School for their patience and understanding during this lengthy process. The guidance of Sergio Sismondo is why I've finally managed to complete this project. Don Carmichael has proven yet again to be an excellent friend and mentor and I believe that much of the inspiration for this project has come from what he has taught me. I would be truly honored to be half the academic and human being that he is. My friends and family have been very patient with my temperament during the last stages in the project, so t would like to thank them for putting up wtth me. In particular, I would like to thank Guillemo Barron. Leslie Elliot, Michael Kocsis, Zameer Hakimali, Mark Smith, Thornas Tobias, Ali Owaisi, and Matthew Harnaga. Without Jane Forsey, I would not have been able to continue my studies. I ask for forgiveness if I have failed to mention anyone who has helped me in this process-my sincerest gratitude to you nonetheless. Table of Contents Chapter 1-Introduction Page I 1. The Origins of Cultural Diversity in Canada Page 2 II. Multicultural Canada Page 5 III. The Origins of Multiculturalism Page 7 IV Multiculturalism and the lntegration of Immigrants Page 10 V. The Project Page 13 Chapter 2-Kymlicka's Theory of Polyethnic Right Page 16 1. t ntroduction Page 16 II. National vs. Ethnic Groups Page 16 II1. Societal Cultures and Legitîmate Expectations Page 19 IV. Polyethnic Rights Page 23 V. Autonomy Through Polyethnic Measures Page 25 VI. Equality and Polyethnic Measures Page 28 VI 1. Conclusion Page 31 Chapter 3-Empirical Evidence for lntegration Page 32 1. Introduction Page 32 II. Measuring Successful lntegration Page 33 III. Kymlicka's Empirical Case for Multiculturalism Page 39 A. Political lntegration Page 40 1. Naturalization Page 40 2. Political Participation Page 44 B. Social lntegration Page 48 C. Cross Country Cornparison Page 52 IV. Conclusion Page 54 Chapter &The Success and Future of lntegration Page 55 1. Introduction Page 56 II. The Generational Fact of lntegration Page 57 Ill. New ImmigrationTrends Page 60 III. The Reality of lntegration Page 64 IV. The Future of lntegration Page 67 A. Residential Segregation Page 67 B. Commercial Segregation Page 70 C. Social and Other Types of Segregation Page 72 D. Institutional Completeness and New Immigrants Page 74 VI. Conclusion Page 77 Chapter &Illiberal Minority Rights Page 79 1. lntroduction Page 79 II. The Feminist Cornplaint Page 80 III. Group Rights and the lnternallExternal Distinction Page 84 IV. The Difficulty in Detecting Women's Oppression Page 87 A. The Covert Nature of Gender Practices Page 87 B. Dangers of the Private Sphere Page 90 V. Kymlicka's Solution: Success and Failure Page 92 VI. Interrelation of Culture and Gender Page 94 VIL Wtthe~Multiculturalism Page 95 VIII. Conclusion Page 97 Conclusion Page 99 References Page 101 Appendix A Page Il5 Appendix B Page 117 Appendix C Page 118 Vita Page Harj inder Deoi Chapter l INTRODUCTION This thesis is a cry on behalf of many immigrant and first-generation Canadian women who are negatively affected by the preservation of their traditional cultures. What do we do when the sacred cow of our political culture formally endorses the subordination of women in illiberal ethnic communities? Can Canadians sanction a policy that endorses the preservation such cultures? Multiculturalism is Canada's ofkial policy for dealing with cultural diversity arising from immigration policies. I am interested in the policy in practice and in the theoretical justification behind such a policy. Will Kyrnlicka builds a liberal theory of minority rights that takes Canadian multiculturalism policy as an example of how "A comprehensive theory of justice in a multicultural state will include both universal rights. assigned to individuals regardless of group membership. and certain group-differentiated rights or 'special status' for minority cultures" (Kymlicka 1995: 6). Kymlicka presents both autonomy-based and equality-based arguments to show how multiculturalism and special rights for cultural groups can promote the liberal values of freedom and justice in liberal democratic states.' I argue that multiculturalism not only fails to fully promote the liberal values of autonomy and equality, but also that multiculturalism cannot be justified on liberal grounds due to the way it helps preserve traditional cultures and their gender inequality. I suggest that either we find an alternative means of dealing with cultural diverçity with a view to preserving our liberal values more effectively, or justify multiculturalism on grounds that do not appeal tu liberalism. 1. The Oriains of Cultural Diversitv in Canada Canada's cultural and racial diversity has greatly increased as a result of immigration polices in the latter half of the twentieth century. On an international level. migration has been one of the most important factors in global change: it has grown in both volume and significance since the 1900's. Currently, Canada. the United States and Australia are the world's leading recipients of immigrants and account for over half of the world's legal immigration (Kymlicka 1995: 14). The twentieth century has been a period of large-scale immigration to Canada from the verj start. For example, in the 43 year period from 2860 to 1900 Canada admitted less than 2 million immigrants2 This situation began to change dramatically in the pre-World War I years-so much so that total immigration between 1901 and 1931 exceeded 4.4 million. These immigration rates were later matched only by the post-World War il influx (Simmons 1990: 142). During World War II, less than 200,000 were admitted. From 1945 to 1999, well over 9 million people were welcomed to Canada under the ' I refer to "liberal valuesn in a broad sense to denote freedom and equality. I comment fully on these values in the next chapter. * See Appendix A for a list of annual immigration rates from 1860 to 1999. Ha jinder Dm1 immigration policy3 In the 1990's, annuat arrivais in Canada have generaHy remained over 220, 000 (Frideres 1992: 501.~ Yet, large-scale immigration in itself is not the sole cause of diversity in the Canadian population. High rates of immigration were accompanied by another important factor: "The increase in immigration [came] in the wake of a significant shift in the source of migrants to Canada. More than 95 percent of immigrants to Canada in the post-World War II decade came from Europe.