Session 3: Spaces of Negotiation

La critique du multiculturalisme. Et après 50 ans?

Dr. Chedly Belkhodja

Dr. Belkhodja will address the critique of multiculturalism based on an overview of recent anti-multiculturalism sentiments in Canada broadly and Québec more specifically. He will conclude his talk with some suggestions for a better dialogue.

*Note that this talk will be presented in both English and French .

Chedly Belkhodja is a Professor in the School of Community and Public Affairs at Concordia University, Montréal. His research focuses on immigration destined to medium-sized cities and regions with low immigration rates. His recent work on international students in the Atlantic Provinces, on the Korean immigration in New Brunswick, and on francophone immigration throughout Canada, illustrate very well many of the new issues of immigration outside of large cities. The results of his research have a bearing on policy issues that include the manner in which provinces and cities develop a capacity to attract immigrants; the nature and importance of the messages that are conveyed during promotional and recruitment campaigns; and the role of universities in the retention and employability of international students.

The Saliency of “White Privilege” in a Multicultural Society

Dr. Reza Hasmath

This paper discusses the saliency of ‘white privilege’ in a multicultural society. It suggests that ‘white privilege’ can be an effective analytical tool to understand the relationship and life course variances – inclusive of the institutional and socio-economic inequalities – amongst ethnic minority and Indigenous groups. Using the contemporary experiences of Canada, it suggests that ‘white privilege’ is determined by at least three elements. First, an ethno-racial hierarchy whereby those who are constructed as ‘white’ receive increased privileges (relative to ‘nonwhites’) in the geographical, cultural and political reality they occupy. Second, there is a disenfranchised established minority population who is perceived as different from the dominant population(s), and who, through the articulation of their dissatisfaction, begins and/or sustains a public discourse on their weaker position in society. Third, there is a link between the dominant ‘white’ population and past exploitation of Indigenous communities. The paper uses this setup to discuss potential advancements in Canada’s multicultural project, both from philosophical and public policy standpoints.

Reza Hasmath (Ph.D., Cambridge) is a Full Professor in Political Science at the University of Alberta. He has previously held faculty positions in management, sociology, and political science at the Universities of Toronto, Melbourne, and Oxford, and has worked for think-tanks, consultancies, development agencies, and NGOs in USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and China. He was formally trained in philosophy, public policy, international studies and diplomacy, and social and political sciences, as well as in various East Asian and European languages.

Ukrainian Canadian Newcomers’ Stories, Hopes, and Dreams: Adapting to a New Multicultural Reality

Dr. Maureen Flaherty & Yuliia Ivaniuk

This presentation focuses on the experiences of forty newcomer Canadian Ukrainians as they adapt to their new multicultural reality in Canada. Supported by a document search that supplies the broader context, the heart of the research is based on narrative individual interviews conducted in 2020/2021 with grassroots Ukrainian Canadians who immigrated to Canada as adults. The experiences of these modern newcomer research participants are viewed through a peace building lens. As Canada’s ethnic and cultural makeup continues to evolve through embracing our current multicultural population and accepting increasing numbers of immigrants, newcomers’ experiences and their integration become important aspects of the multiculturalism debate which acknowledges the importance of developing harmonious relationships between Canada’s new and older settler population and the Indigenous people who share this land. Common themes, hopes, and concerns that contribute to the formation of the modern Ukrainian Canadian identity, peculiarities of newcomers’ unique status of existing between several countries in the process of finding their sense of belonging, and how these factors impact research participants’ interactions with Canada’s divergent multicultural population are explored. We search for common threads relating to the effects that immigration has on the identity of the individuals, in particularly the duality and plurality of the motherland, host, and individual identities. Ukrainian Canadian immigrants’ perceptions of existing injustices in the Canadian society and their hopes and dreams for reparation are discussed. We hope that our findings will inform better understanding of the newcomer struggles, hopes, and dreams and can be helpful in transforming existing injustices in Canada’s vibrant multicultural society towards positive peace.

Maureen P. Flaherty, MSW, PhD is Associate Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba, Canada, with more than 35 years of human service experience as a social worker, therapist, consultant and educator specializing in crisis and trauma recovery, intimate partner abuse, and community development. In collaboration with Ukrainian and other partners, her ongoing work is anchored in participatory research, using a variety of tools such as narrative and visioning for empowerment, bridging differences and building community in both Canada and Ukraine. Publications include the monograph Peacebuilding with women in Ukraine: Using narrative to envision a common future (2012), and co-edited volumes, Creating the third force: Indigenous processes of peacebuilding (2016), Gender and peacebuilding: All hands required (2015) and Peace on earth: The role of religion in peace and conflict studies (2014).

Yuliia Ivaniuk obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in International Relations in the Military Sphere at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and a Master of Arts Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Manitoba. Currently, Yuliia is the Coordinator of the Centre for Ukrainian Canadian Studies and the Ukrainian Canadian Heritage Studies Program at the University of Manitoba. Her research interests lie in the study of Ukrainian Canadiana, the role of identity issues in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and Chornobyl. Yuliia currently serves on the Board of Directors  of  the UCC- MPC and SAM Management Inc.