Managing Immigration and Diversity in Canada: A Transatlantic Dialogue in the New Age of Migration by Dan Rodríguez-García (review)

The volume contains a first-rate collection of essays on Canada’s and Quebec’s experiences with immigration and diversity management. It results from a forum that was held in Barcelona that brought together an interdisciplinary group of Canadian scholars and policy practitioners to examine Canada as a case of success that could be emulated in Europe. Its aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of the Canadian “model” of immigration policy and diversity management for both researchers and policy practitioners in Europe (and Spain in particular).

In his introduction, editor Dan Rodríguez-García frames the volume as a comparison of Canada with Spain, and Quebec with Catalonia. Nevertheless, with the exception of the introduction and an overview chapter on the Canadian case (chapter 1 by Jeffrey Reitz) that refers briefly to Spain, the comparison is only implicit insofar as it structures the volume’s innovative organization. The remaining chapters (2-14) are divided into six sections each containing chapters on Canada and Quebec with the goal of highlighting how immigration and diversity are managed in multinational states like Spain. Thus, although the volume’s subtitle suggests a transatlantic perspective, reference to Europe (mainly Spain) is only made in its introduction and very briefly in chapter 1. It invites a transatlantic dialogue rather than records one.

Part I examines government jurisdiction in the Canadian federation. Peter Li (chapter 2) provides an overview of the (racist) history of immigration legislation and critical analysis of intergovernmental agreements in the immigration field. In chapter 3, Louise Fontaine outlines the division of responsibility in immigration between the federal government and Quebec as established by the Canada-Quebec Accord.

Part II deals with the “management of immigration flows.” In chapter 4, Monica Boyd and Naomi Alboim provide an overview of immigration legislation, policy goals and governance systems. It includes an analysis of the recent legislative changes that enhanced the power of the Minister of Immigration in immigrant selection and processing applications. In chapter 5, Gérard Pinsonneault provides strong empirical support for the effectiveness of the Quebec government’s immigrant selection policies in achieving their goal of francization of its immigrant population.

Part III covers “immigrants and the labour market.” In chapter 6, Yves Poisson offers the only positive assessment of recent changes in selection policy and practice. He argues that employers as well as cities and communities ought to play a larger role in the process. In chapter 7, Jack Jedwab identifies income gaps between immigrants and the Canadian-born that vary by both province and city. Of particular note is the finding that the income gap between immigrants and non-immigrants is larger in Quebec than the “rest of Canada.”

Part IV considers the themes of “citizenship, settlement and socio-cultural immigration.” In chapter 8, Myer Siemiatycki develops three periods of immigration in Canadian history arguing that the current era’s focus is on a “flexible workforce in a “securitized state”” (2000-present) that has undermined the “pillars of integration” that served to make Canada a success story in immigration (245). In chapter 9, Maryse Potvin focuses on the media’s role in inflaming tensions during the reasonable accommodation debate in Quebec. She suggests that a “neoracism” has emerged in Quebec that portrays immigrants as unduly different, inassimilable and as threats to the values of the majority (273-4).

Part V titled “linguistic policies and linguistic pluralism” deals mainly with language integration in schools. In chapter 10, Elizabeth Coelho provides an overview of language policy in Ontario schools noting that heritage languages have a positive impact on children’s development and integration and are taught in many school districts “outside regular school hours” (297). In chapter 11, Zita De Koninck describes a “linguistic revolution” in Quebec since the 1960s as language laws changed, culminating in the Charter of the...