Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:14:55.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Multiple Minorities and Deceptive Dichotomies: The Theoretical and Political Implications of the Struggle for a Public French Education System in Alberta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2010

Yasmeen Abu-Laban  and
Claude Couture
Yasmeen Abu-Laban*
Affiliation:
University of Alberta
Claude Couture*
Affiliation:
Université de l'Alberta
*
Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Professor, Department of Political Science, 10-16 HM Tory Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaT6G 2H4; [email protected].
Claude Couture, Professeur titulaire, Campus Saint-Jean, 2-06D Pavillon Lacerte, 8406, rue Marie-Anne-Gaboury, Université de l'Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaT6C 4G9; [email protected].
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. In this article we re-establish the relevance of linguistic diversity by highlighting that French is a minority language spoken by a growing number of non-white and non-Christian minority groups, including Muslims. These groups are often characterized in contemporary Canada as essentially non-modern, traditional and opposed to secularism—characterizations that were used historically to depict French ethnic minorities as essentially Catholic, traditional and non-modern. Utilizing a historically grounded case study of the evolution of French language education rights in Alberta, the study reveals how “Franco-Albertans” are a linguistic minority comprised of other minorities. We also show the contradictions inherent in dichotomous representations of “secularism” when it comes to “Western” and “non-Western” societies, or “Christian” and “Muslim” groups. We argue that in expanding the discipline's focus to deal with a wider range of “groups,” analysts need to attend to how “multiple minorities” may take analytically relevant forms, and be wary of evolutionary and dichotomous constructions of diverse “others.”

Résumé. Dans cet article, nous redonnons une place importante à la question linguistique comme dimension politique fondamentale au Canada, et au français comme langue minoritaire parlée par un nombre croissant de groupes minoritaires non blancs et non chrétiens, y compris les musulmans. Ces groupes, ce qui n'est pas selon nous sans intérêt, sont souvent globalement décrits aujourd'hui comme étant non modernes, traditionnels et opposés au sécularisme dans un discours qui n'est pas sans évoquer la façon dont les Canadiens français furent historiquement décrits comme une société strictement catholique et prémoderne. Dans ce cas-ci, le Canada francophone est étudié à travers le prisme de la francophonie albertaine, elle-même composée de plusieurs minorités. Nous nous concentrons en particulier sur les droits scolaires en Alberta et un lien est aussi établi entre cette situation et la description souvent dichotomique par rapport au sécularisme de la société canadienne entre les groupes «occidentaux» et «non occidentaux» ou encore entre les groupes «chrétiens» d'un côté, et de l'autre, les groupes de la diversité multiculturelle canadienne, notamment les musulmans francophones. La thèse de cet article est qu'en élargissant le champ d'investigation de la discipline de façon à inclure un éventail de groupes plus grand, les analystes doivent être vigilants quant à l'articulation complexe du concept de «minorités multiples» de façon à éviter les constructions trop évolutionnistes et dichotomiques des divers «autres».

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 43 , Issue 2: Diversity and Democratic Politics , June 2010 , pp. 433 - 456
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 2001. “Humanizing the Oriental: Edward Said and Western Scholarly Discourse.” In Revising Culture, Reinventing Peace: The Influence of Edward W. Said, ed. Aruri, Naseer and Shuraydi, Muhammad A.. New York: Interlink.Google Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 2007. “History, Power and Contradictions in a Liberal State: A Response to Will Kymlicka.” In Belonging: Diversity and Shared Citizenship in Canada, ed. Banting, Keith, Courchene, Thomas J. and Seidle, F. Leslie. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.Google Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 2008. “Introduction: Gendering the Nation-State.” In Gendering the Nation-State: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives, ed. Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.Google Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 2009. “Diversity in Canadian Politics.” In Canadian Politics, ed. Bickerton, James and Gagnon, Alain-G.. 5th ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen and Abu-Laban, Baha. 2007. “Reasonable Accommodation in a Global Village.” Policy Options 28 (8): 28–33.Google Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen and Garber, Judith. 2005. “The Construction of the Geography of Immigration as a Policy Problem: The United States and Canada Compared.” Urban Affairs Review 40 (4): 520–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen and Nieguth, Tim. 2000. “Reconsidering the Constitution, Minorities and Politics in Canada.” The Canadian Journal of Political Science 33 (3): 465–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen and Trimble, Linda. 2006. “Print Media Coverage of Muslim-Canadians During Recent Federal Elections.” Electoral Insight 8 (2): 35–42.Google Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen and Trimble, Linda. 2009. “Covering Muslim Canadians and Politics in Canada.” In Mediating Canadian Politics, ed. Sampert, Shannon and Trimble, Linda. Scarborough: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Adam, Mohammed. 2007. “School Funding Could Tip the Balance; Religious Education Seen as Key Election Issue.” The Ottawa Citizen. (11 September): C-1.Google Scholar
Alberta. 2002. School Act: Revised Statutes of Alberta 2000 S-3. Edmonton: Alberta Queen's Printer.Google Scholar
Alfred, Gerald. R. 1995. Heeding the Voices of Our Ancestors: Kahnawake Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Native Nationalism. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Arneil, Barbara, Deveaux, Monique, Dhamoon, Rita and Eisenberg, Avigail, eds. 2007. Sexual Justice/Cultural Justice: Critical Perspectives in Political Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Arscott, Jane and Tremblay, Manon. 1999. “Il reste encore des traveaux à faire: Feminism and Political Science in Canada and Quebec.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 32 (1): 125–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aunger, Edmund. 1999. “Les communautés francophones de l'Ouest: la survivance d'une minorité dispersée.” In Francophonies minoritaires au Canada: l'état des lieux, ed. Thériault, Joseph Yvon. Moncton: Éditions d'Acadie.Google Scholar
Aunger, Edmund. 2002. “Obsèques prématurées: la disparition des minorités francophones et autres illusions nationalistes.” Revue d'études constitutionnelles/Review of Constitutional Studies 7 (2): 120–42.Google Scholar
Behiels, Michael. 2004. Canada's Francophone Minority Communities. Constitutional Renewal and the Winning of School Governance. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's Press.Google Scholar
Boyd, Marian. 2007. “Religion Based Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Challenge to Multicutluralism.” In Belonging: Diversity and Shared Citizenship in Canada, ed. Banting, Keith, Courchene, Thomas J. and Seidle, F. Leslie. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.Google Scholar
Cairns, Alan C. 1989. “Political Science, Ethnicity and the Canadian Constitution.” In Federalism and Political Community in Canada: Essays in Honour of Donald Smiley, ed. Shugarman, David P. and Whitaker, Reg. Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
“Campagne à Gabrielle Roy.” 2005. Le Franco (Edmonton), 2 juin.Google Scholar
Canada, Department of Justice. 2009. Constitution Acts, 1867–1982. http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/const/ (August 15, 2009).Google Scholar
CPSA (Canadian Political Science Association). 2008. “CPSA 2009 Conference Section—Race, Ethnicity, Indigenous Peoples and Politics.” POLCAN email communiqué, April 16.Google Scholar
Camic, Charles, ed. 1997. Reclaiming the Sociological Classics, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Cardinal, Linda. 1997. L'engagement de la pensée. Écrire en milieu minoritaire francophone. Ottawa: Le Nordir.Google Scholar
Cardinal, Linda, ed. 2008. Le fédéralisme asymétrique et les minorités nationales et linguistiques. Sudbury: Prise de Parole.Google Scholar
Cardinal, Linda and Coderre, Cécile. 1990. Pour les femmes, éducation et autonomie. La place des femmes hors-Québec dans l'éducation au Canada. Ottawa: Réseau National d'éducation des femmes.Google Scholar
Cardinal, Linda and Headon, David. 2002. Constitutionalism and Society in Australia and Canada. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press.Google Scholar
Cardinal, Linda and Hotte, Lucie, eds. 2002. La parole mémorielle des femmes, Montréal: Remue-Ménage.Google Scholar
Carens, Joseph H. 2000. Culture, Citizenship and Community: A Contextual Exploration of Justice as Evenhandedness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collins, Patricia Hill. 1990. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness and the Politics of Empowerment. Boston: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
Commissariat aux langues officielles 2002. Étude spéciale. Droits, écoles et communautés en milieu minoritaire: 1986–2002. Analyse pour un aménagement du français par l'éducation. Ottawa.Google Scholar
Couture, Claude. 1991. Le mythe de la modernisation du Québec. Des années 1930 à la Révolution tranquille. Montréal: Éditions du Méridien.Google Scholar
Couture, Claude. 2000. “Continuité ou rupture des discours nationaux. Essai critique.” International Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue internationale d'études canadiennes 22 (Fall/automne): 199–216.Google Scholar
Couture, Claude. 2008. “Nation-building and Regionalism in the United States, Canada and Mexico.” In Politics in North America. Redefining Continental Relations, ed. Abu-Laban, Yasmeen, Jhappan, Radha and Rocher, François. Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Couture, Claude and Bergeron, Josée, eds. 2002. L'Alberta et le multiculturalisme francophone: témoignages et problématiques. Edmonton: Centres d'études canadiennes de la Faculté Saint-Jean.Google Scholar
Deveaux, Monique. 2006. Gender and Justice in Multicultural Liberal States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dhamoon, Rita. 2009. Identity/Difference Politics: How Difference is Produced and Why It Matters. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Dickason, Olive. 1992. Canada's First Nations: A History of Canada's Founding Peoples from Earliest Times. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.Google Scholar
Dubé, Paul. 1990. “L'arrêt Mahé et l'avenir du français et des minorités Francophones dans l'Ouest canadien.” Cahiers franco-canadiens de l'Ouest 2 (2): 137–49.Google Scholar
Dubé, Paul. 1991. “L'école de la minorité et le jugement Mahé: le défi de l'avenir.” Éducation et francophonie. 19 (1): 28–33.Google Scholar
Dubé, Paul. 1993. “Une étude de cas portant sur la genèse et les résultats de la judicalisation des droits scolaires: le cas Bugnet en Alberta.”La revue canadienne des langues vivantes/The Canadian Modern Languages Review 49 (4): 704–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durkheim, Émile. 1893. De la division du travail social. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Fernando, Shanti. 2006. Race and the City: Chinese Canadian and Chinese American Political Mobilization. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Frenette, Yves. 2004. “L'évolution des francophonies canadiennes. Éléments d'une problématique.” In Aspects de la nouvelle francophonie canadienne, ed. Langlois, Simon and Létourneau, Jocelyn. Sainte-Foy: Presses de l'université Laval.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce A. 1995. “Towards a Détente with History: Confronting Canada's Colonial Legacy.” International Journal of Canadian Studies 12 (Fall): 85–105.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce. 2001. “Canaries in the Mines of Citizenship: Indian Women in Canada.” The Canadian Journal of Political Science 34 (4): 715–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenfeld, Liah. 1992. Nationalism. Five roads to modernity. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Griffon, Sandrine. 2005. “Dans l'attente.” Le Franco (Edmonton), 23 juin.Google Scholar
Hancock, Ange-Marie. 2007. “When Multiplication Doesn't Equal Quick Addition: Examining Intersectionality as a Research Paradigm.” Perspectives on Politics 5 (1): 63–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harle, Vilho. 2000. The Enemy with a Thousand Faces: The Tradition of Other in Western Political Thought. Westport CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Hartz, Louis. 1955. The Liberal Tradition in America, New York: Harcourt Brace and World.Google Scholar
Hartz, Louis. 1964. The Founding of New Societies: Studies in the History of the United States, Latin America, South Africa, Canada and Australia. New York: Harcourt Brace and World.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel. 1993. “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs 72 (3): 22–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyppolite, Ismaëlie. 2009. Contributions au développement socioéconomique de la région d'Edmonton par les femmes africaines noires francophones immigrées entre 2000 et 2006/ Maîtrise es arts en études canadiennes. Edmonton: University of Alberta.Google Scholar
Ignatieff, Michael. 1993. Blood and Belonging. Toronto: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
James, Matt. 2006. Misrecognized Materialists. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Jebwab, Jack. 2002. L'immigration et l'épanouissement des communautés de langue officielle au Canada: politiques, démographie et identité. Montréal: Institut d'études canadiennes de McGill.Google Scholar
Jones, Vernon Clement. 2005. “Parents upset principal's contract not renewed. Has welcomed immigrants to city's only francophone public school.” Edmonton Journal, June 8, B-1.Google Scholar
Kallen, Evelyn. 1988. “The Meech Lake Accord: Entrenching a Pecking Order of Minority Rights.” Canadian Public Policy 14 (supplement): S107–S120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kernerman, Gerald. 2005. Multicultural Nationalism: Civilizing Difference, Constituting Community. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 1995. Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 1998. Finding Our Way: Rethinking Ethnocultural Relations in Canada. Don Mills: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Kymlicka, Will. 2007. Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Labelle, Micheline and Marhraoui, Azzedine. 2002 « Citoyenneté et transnationalisme: multiplicité des identités et des pratiques dans un contexte de double appartenance. » In États-Nations, multinations et organisations supranationales, ed. Seymour, Michel. Montréal: Liber: 353–69.Google Scholar
Ladner, Kiera. 2008. “Aysaka'paykinit: Contesting the Rope around the Nations' Neck.” In Group Politics and Social Movements in Canada, ed. Smith, Miriam. Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Lamoureux, Diane, Maillé, Chantal and de Sève, Micheline. 1999. Malaises Identitaires, Montréal: Remue-Ménage.Google Scholar
Levasseur-Ouimet, France. 2000. D'année en année: de 1659 à 2000. Edmonton: Institut du Patrimoine/Faculté Saint-Jean.Google Scholar
Lévesque, Gérard. 2006. Lettre à Diane Morneau. May 19.Google Scholar
Lowe, Lisa. 1993. Critical Terrains. French and British Orientalisms. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Mackey, Eva. 1999. The House of Difference, Cultural Politics and National Identity in Canada. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Mathieu, Geneviève. 2001. Qui est Québécois? Montréal: VLB Éditeur.Google Scholar
May, Judith, May, Stephen and Modood, Tariq, eds. 2004. Ethnicity, Nationalism and Minority Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McRoberts, Kenneth. 1997. Misconceiving Canada: The Struggle for National Unity. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Modood, Tariq. 2007. Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Modood, Tariq and Kastoryano, Riva. 2006. “Secularism and the Accommodation of Muslims in Europe.” In Multiculturalism, Muslims and Citizenship: A European Approach, ed. Modood, Tariq, Zapate-Barrero, Ricard and Triandafyllidou, Anna. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Painchaud, Robert. 1986. Un rêve français dans le peuplement de la Prairie. Saint-Boniface: Éditions des Plaines.Google Scholar
Potvin, Maryse. 2000. “Some Racist Slips about Québec in English Canada from 1995 to 1998.” Canadian Ethnic Studies 32 (2): 1–27.Google Scholar
Québec, Commission de consultation sur les pratiques d'accommodement reliées aux differences culturelles. 2008. Building the Future: A Time for Reconciliation Report. Quebec.Google Scholar
Razack, Sherene. 2008. Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims from Western Law and Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rocher, François. 2007. “The End of ‘Two Solitudes?’ The Presence (or Absence) of the Work of French-speaking Scholars in Canadian Politics.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 40 (4): 833–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ryerson, Stanley. 1973. Unequal Union: Roots of Crisis in the Canadas 1815–1873. Toronto: Progress Books.Google Scholar
Said, Edward. 1978. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Seljak, David. 2005. “Education, Multiculturalism and Religion.” In Religion and Ethnicity in Canada, ed. Bramadat, Paul and Seljak, David. Toronto: Person: 178–200.Google Scholar
Seymour, Michel. 2001. Le pari de la démesure. L'intransigeance canadienne face au Québec. Montréal: L'Hexagone.Google Scholar
Smith, Charles D. 1995. “Secularism.” In The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, ed. Esposito, John L.. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Donald. 2003. “Les francophones de l'Alberta, un aperçu historique.” In Variations sur un thème: la francophonie albertaine dans tous ses états, ed. Kermoal, Nathalie. Edmonton: Salon d'histoire de la francophonie albertaine.Google Scholar
Smith, Malinda. 2003. “‘Race Matters’ and ‘Race Manners.’” In Reinventing Canada, ed. Brodie, Janine and Trimble, Linda. Toronto: Prentice Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soroka, Stuart N., Johnston, Richard and Banting, Keith. 2007. “Ties that Bind? Social Cohesion and Diversity in Canada.” In Belonging: Diversity and Shared Citizenship in Canada, ed. Banting, Keith, Courchene, Thomas J. and Seidle, F. Leslie. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.Google Scholar
Stasiulis, Daiva K. 2005. “Feminist Intersectional Theorizing.” In Inequality in Canada: A Reader on the Intersections of Gender, Race and Class, ed. Zawilski, Valerie and Levine-Rasky, Cynthia. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stasiulis, Daiva K. and Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 1990. “Ethnic Activism and the Politics of Limited Inclusion in Canada.” In Canadian Politics: An Introduction to the Discipline, ed. Gagnon, Alain-G. and Bickerton, James P.. Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Stasiulis, Daiva K. and Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 2000. “Unequal Relations and the Struggle for Equality: Race and Ethnicity in Canadian Politics.” In Canadian Politics in the 21st Century, ed. Whittington, Michael and Williams, Glen. 5th ed.Scarborough: Nelson Thomson Learning.Google Scholar
Stasiulis, Daiva K. and Jhappan, Radha. 1995. “The Fractious Politics of a Settler-Society: Canada.” In Unsettling Settler Societies: Articulations of Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Class, ed. Stasiulis, Daiva and Yuval-Davis, Nira. London: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supreme Court of Canada. Mahé v. Alberta, 1 s.c.r. 342:68 d.l.r. (4th) 69.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 1992. “The Politics of Recognition.” In Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition, ed. Gutmann, Amy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 2007. A Secular Age. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, Debra. 2008. “Is Race Political?” The Canadian Journal of Political Science 41 (3): 525–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 1984. Big Structures, Large Processes, Huge Comparisons. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Tönnies, Ferdinand. 1887. Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft. Leipzig: Fues's Verlag.Google Scholar
Vickers, Jill. 2002. The Politics of “Race”: Canada, Australia and the United States. Ottawa: The Golden Dog Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Vince Seymour. 1993. “The Tapestry Vision of Canadian Multiculturalism.” The Canadian Journal of Political Science 26 (4): 645–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zine, Jasmine. 2008. Canadian Islamic Schools: Unravelling the Politics of Faith, Gender, Knowledge and Identity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar