Diversity and Equality: The Changing Framework of Freedom in Canada.

Joseph Garcea is a professor of political Studies at the University of
Saskatchewan.

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This book addresses one of the most important challenges in history and one which Canada continues to face today—can diversity and equality be reconciled, and how? In the contemporary Canadian context this question emerges in debates regarding, among other things, multiculturalism involving immigrant groups and self-determination involving Aboriginal groups. This is another one of those books in which the authors are attempting to make sense of the politics and policies within the Canadian polity for fostering mutual recognition and various potentially constructive accommodation strategies.

            This is an edited volume that covers an array of topics. One chapter provides an overview of the different types of struggles over the recognition of minorities that have occurred over the past forty years. The major argument in that chapter is that it is imperative to ensure that institutions are designed to facilitate, rather than impede, efforts for achieving such recognition. Another chapter provides some interesting insights on the logics and legitimacy of identity, whether identity claims are unconstrainable and therefore undemocratic, whether there are benefits to assessing identify claims, and whether there is a test for success in dealing with identity issues.

Three chapters focus on cultural rights. The first examines the imperative of culture in what continues to be a colonial polity, the second examines the notion in international legal discourse that culture is a basic human right and notes that the concept of cultural rights is generally neither understood nor used uniformly, and the third examines the misuse of culture in court cases regarding rights, and notes that the inconsistent application of culture by the Supreme Court has a potentially restrictive effect the rights of Aboriginal people in Canada.

Two chapters focus on the rights of women and children in Canada. The chapter that focuses on the rights of women examines the extent to which the traditional universal and undifferentiated approaches to dealing with the rights of women are less beneficial than a differentiated approach, and raises an interesting question on the relationship between justice and the principle of cultural equality. The chapter that focuses on the rights of children examines the tension between the interest of adults in securing cultural and religious accommodation, and the interest of children not only in developing and protecting their own identities, but also in protecting their basic interests to access resources and opportunities.

Finally, two chapters are devoted to the relationship between religion and rights. Whereas one of them examines the history of the uneven protection of freedom of religion in Canada, the other examines how religious freedom has been interpreted by the Canadian courts.

This book will appeal to those interested in public discourses and policies in Canada. For those who are familiar with such discourses and policies it will be easy reading, but others will have to put their thinking caps on to get maximum benefit.