Race,Power and Social Action in Neighborhood Community Organizing: Reproducing and Resisting the Social Construction of the Other

Scholars argue in favor of social action in community organizing to address the oppression experienced by racialized groups. This study examines how community organizing practice in one diverse neighborhood constructed race to understand the potential for social action. Using interview and observational data with 16 community organizers working in 1 diverse, low-income neighborhood in Québec, Canada, I examine the social construction of race through the lens of postcolonial theory and the writings of Michel Foucault. I argue that a discourse of neutrality existed among community organizers, which was tied to state policy and a colonial discourse embedded therein. The resulting disconnect between race and power in community organizing practice not only forecloses on social change efforts, it also extends a state-driven nation-building agenda into community. As the basis for an anticolonial approach to neighborhood community organizing, I juxtapose the discourse of neutrality in community organizing with strategies that recoupled race and power by drawing attention to efforts among community organizers that were antagonistic to the discourse.     

RICHARD & JUDY'S BOOK CLUB AND 'CANADA READS': Readers, books and cultural programming in a digital era

This article is a result of a transnational comparison of two broadcast book programs' influence on readers' book choices. Online surveys and focus group interviews in Canada and the UK illustrate active audience participation in the converged era of print books, the internet, television and radio. The analysis examines readers' negotiation of book choices through uses and gratifications theory as informed by a cultural critique of the programs themselves. Readers simultaneously respond to and create a hierarchy of cultural tastes that are bound up in the cultural assumptions that they have about the different media.     

Contrôle des normes internationales du travail et complémentarité des systèmes nationaux et internationaux: récentes évolutions

Les systèmes nationaux et internationaux de régulation du travail, loin de s'opposer, sont largement imbriqués. De hautes juridictions nationales ont utilisé les normes de l'OIT dans de récentes décisions. Les auteurs décryptent les conditions et les conséquences de cet usage en examinant deux décisions de la Cour suprême du Canada (liberté syndicale) et une de la Cour d'appel de Paris (contrat de travail). Outre que ces affaires ont fait l'objet de procédures tant nationales qu'internationales, le choix de pays aux cultures juridiques différentes permet de discuter l'appropriation du droit international du travail par les juridictions nationales.     

Labour Market Policy in the United States, Canada and Sweden: Addressing the Issue of Convergence

'Convergence theorists' suggest that domestic and/or global challenges and pressures are rendering welfare states broadly similar across national boundaries. 'Resilience theorists', in contrast, argue that a range of socio-political factors have allowed states to respond differentially to these pressures and maintain their distinct national social policy approaches. However, both research streams have addressed the 'welfare state' writ large in a multitude of nations and typically relied upon narrow, quantitative budgetary indicators. This study examines qualitative changes to key income security and social service programmes in one central social policy domain – labour market policy – in three nations, the United States, Canada and Sweden. It suggests that there is evidence of some degree of 'convergence' in the broadest sense of the term across these three nations. However, while both the USA and Canada have readily embraced genuinely neo-liberal restructuring, and become increasingly similar over the past two decades in this policy area, Sweden has managed to retain its distinctive social policy approach so far, despite notable changes, developments and trends. It also suggests that the character and direction of change may vary across and within policy domains in a single nation. The conclusion provides a discussion of universality, equality and solidarity, concepts that are commonly employed in accounts of welfare state change.     

Public Opposition to a Proposed Nuclear Waste Repository in Canada: An Investigation of Cultural and Economic Effects

Residents of four northern communities were surveyed about Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's proposal to site an underground repository for high-level nuclear waste somewhere in the Canadian Shield. Opposition to the repository was relatively strong in all communities, but was strongest among aboriginal respondents. Path analysis revealed that trust in nuclear regulators, faith in science and technology, and anticipated net costs were important mediators of this effect. Aboriginals were less trusting, exhibited less faith in science and technology, and perceived the costs associated with the repository to be higher than their nonaboriginal counterparts. No support was found for the hypothesis that, after controlling for aboriginal status, financially insecure individuals would display greater support for the nuclear waste repository than financially secure individuals. Policy implications for balancing perceived risks and siting needs are discussed.     

加拿大多元文化主义政策与法国多元文化主义政策对比研究

多元文化主义政策是西方国家解决国内民族问题的途径之一,不同的国家实施多元文化主义政策有着各自的特点。由于国情的差别、实施多元文化主义宗旨的不同以及实施手段的差异,多元文化主义政策在加拿大取得成功,却在法国遭到失败。不同的国家有着不同的文化、历史、民族构成等不同的国情,民族问题的实质也不尽相同,因而解决民族问题的方法和手段也不能盲目套用。     

土著文化融合教育的经验与借鉴——以加拿大四省为例

过去十几年里,各类旨在包含土著文化内涵和观点的融合教育方案,在加拿大公立学校教育体系中持续发展.在土著文化融合教育中,学生和家长是土著文化融合教育的积极参与者,教师是土著文化融合教育的践行者和榜样.学校与社区是土著文化融合教育有效实施的保障.加拿大的土著融合教育,在课程设置、师资培训以及发挥学校和社区作用方面,为我国的少数民族教育提供了借鉴与参考.     

北极原住民自治研究——以加拿大因纽特人为例

结合政治学的有关理论和社会学的实证方法,围绕加拿大因纽特人的自治省——努纳武特省的建立过程、自治模式、自治实践三个方面展开,可以探讨北极原住民的自治运动。努纳武特自治政府是以非暴力的、谈判协商、团结合作、通过民主投票的方式而建立的;其权限是有完全的行政权,部分的司法权以及在联邦政府议院规范下的部分的立法权,这是加拿大多元文化政策的重大成就。但在运作过程中,问题依然严峻：政治架构上的水土不服,经济发展的先天不足,社会生活的分崩离析,传统文化的传承江河日下,这些影响了因纽特人自治运动的健康发展。     

论加拿大高等教育的特色及其借鉴

如何办好高等教育,走特色发展之路是世界各国积极探索的永恒主题.加拿大高等教育管理的制度化、层次化和依法办学等成功经验,对我国的高等教育的改革和发展有着许多可供借鉴之处.     

Muslims’ social inclusion and exclusion in France,Québec,and Canada: does national context matter?*

This article compares the social experiences of Muslim minorities in three contexts – France, Québec, and English Canada – each reflecting a different approach to immigrant integration. France’s republican model emphasises cultural assimilation and the exclusion of religion from the public sphere; Canada’s multicultural model advocates official recognition of minority cultures; Québec shares Canada’s tradition of large-scale permanent immigration but embodies a unique intercultural discourse of integration, in some ways resembling France. We compare the social experiences of Muslim and non-Muslim minorities in these three settings using the French ‘Trajectories and Origins’ survey (2009) and the Canadian ‘Ethnic Diversity Survey’ (2002) data on reports of discrimination, friendship networks, social trust, voluntarism, and national identity. We find the Muslim/non-Muslim gap in social inclusion is significant in all three settings and results from ethnic, cultural, or racial differences, more than religion. In assessing immigrants’ social inclusion, we suggest consideration be given to: (i) the reality of ‘national models’ in the community, (ii) a tendency for minorities to locate in more accepting segments of mainstream society, and (iii) the limited impact of policies based on national models.