Uneasy Partners: Multiculturalism and Rights in Canada

After decades of extraordinary successes as a multicultural society, new debates are bubbling to the surface in Canada. The contributors to this volume examine the conflict between equality rights, as embedded in the Charter, and multiculturalism as policy and practice, and ask which charter value should trump which and under what circumstances? The opening essay deliberately sharpens the conflict among religion, culture, and equality rights and proposes to shift some of the existing boundaries. Other contributors disagree strongly, arguing that this position might seek to limit freedoms in the name of justice, that the problem is badly framed, or that silence is a virtue in rebalancing norms. The contributors not only debate the analytic arguments but infuse their discussion with their personal experiences, which have shaped their perspectives on multiculturalism in Canada. This volume is a highly personal as well as strongly analytic discussion of multiculturalism in Canada today.

David Robertson Cameron is the chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has divided his time between public service (in Ottawa and at Queen’s Park) and academic life.

John Ibbitson is the political affairs columnist for The Globe and Mail and author of several works on public policy.

Will Kymlicka holds the Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy at Queen’s University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and his works have been translated into thirty languages.

John Meisel is the Sir Edward Peacock Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Queen’s University and past president of the Royal Society of Canada. He has been a frequent media commentator and lectures widely in Canada, the United States, and Europe.