Francophone Minority Communities and Immigrant Integration in Canada: Rethinking the Normative Foundations

• Published in: Canadian ethnic studies 2013-03, Vol.45 (1), p.95-114
• Main Authors: Iacovino, Raffaele, Léger, Rémi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acculturation; Analysis; Assimilation (Sociology); Bilingualism; Canada; Community Relations; Conceptualization; Cultural Pluralism; Ethnic Groups; Francophones; Immigrants; Immigration; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority Groups; Multiculturalism; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Noncitizens; Political Sociology; Political Theories; Political theory; Quebec; Rights; Social aspects; Social Integration; Sociology; Strategic Planning; Studies
• ISSN: 0008-3496; 1913-8253; 1913-8253
• DOI: 10.1353/ces.2013.0034

This paper addresses one particular feature of Canada's accommodation of diversity—the existence of French-language communities outside of Quebec and New Brunswick—to show how there continues to be conceptual difficulties in reconciling Canada's many diversities. More specifically, we are concerned with conceptual ambiguities associated with the place of these minority communities in Canada's constitutive political sociology, and difficulties in promoting a coherent set of policies for their flourishing. Moreover, this paper will not simply rehash arguments about their formal and conceptual status. We are interested in illuminating a recent initiative that seeks to direct immigrants to these communities in the hope of maintaining their overall percentage of the Canadian population. This is a development that has received little attention to date from the perspective of the scholarship of multiculturalism and minority rights, and political theory more generally. We argue that the strategy to target Francophone minority communities as 'sites' of integration represents a false promise for both these communities and immigrants. This article will show that the federal framework of 'multiculturalism within a bilingual framework' obscures the realities confronting Francophone minority communities and thus their capacity to integrate newcomers, on both empirical and normative grounds. Cet article porte sur un cas particulier de l'accommodement canadien de la diversité - l'existence de communautés francophones en dehors du Québec et du Nouveau-Brunswick - pour montrer comment des difficultés conceptuelles à réconcilier les multiples aspects de cette diversité sont encore présentes. Plus précisément, ce qui nous concerne, ce sont les ambiguïtés de la sociologie politique constitutive du Canada envers la place donnée à ces communautés minoritaires et les difficultés promouvoir un ensemble cohérent de politiques en faveur de leur épanouissement. De plus, il ne s'agit pas ici de simplement répéter les arguments sur leur statut formel et conceptuel. Ce qui nous intéresse, c'est d'éclairer une initiative récente qui tente de diriger des immigrants vers elles dans l'espoir de maintenir leur pourcentage général de la population canadienne. Ce développement a reçu peu d'attention du point de vue de la recherche sur le multiculturalisme et les droits des minorités, ainsi que sur la théorie politique en général. Nous soutenons que la stratégie de viser les minorités francopho