Yvonne M. Hébert

THE MEANING OF BEING CANADIAN: A COMPARISON BETWEEN YOUTH OF IMMIGRANT AND NON‐IMMIGRANT ORIGINS

The meanings attached to national identity are the most salient citizenship issue today. We analyzed over 300 written responses of Canadian high school youth, of immigrant and non ‐ immigrant origins, to the question of “What does it mean for me to be/become a Canadian?” The participants related a greater sense of national identity than of ethnic and/or supranational belonging. Youth of immigrant origins used a discourse of becoming and understand multiculturalism to recognize ethnic identities associated with Charter rights. The findings are contextualized in social unrest in other countries, a global migration pattern, and new forms of economic, social, and political domination. Keywords: Canadian identity, immigrant youth, ethnic identity, changing economic conditions Les divers sens donnes a la notion d’identite nationale, telle est la question la plus importante de l’heure en matiere de citoyennete. Les auteures ont analyse plus de 300 reponses ecrites de jeunes Canadiens au secondaire, immigrants et non ‐ immigrants, a la question : « Que veut dire etre ou devenir Canadien pour moi ? ». Les participants font etat d’un plus grand sentiment d’appartenance au pays qu’a des groupes ethniques ou supranationaux. Les jeunes immigres adoptent un discours axe sur le devenir et considerent le multiculturalisme comme la reconnaissance des identites ethniques dans le cadre de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertes. Les resultats de l’etude sont mis en contexte : agitation sociale dans d’autres pays, mouvements migratoires a l’echelle mondiale et nouvelles formes de domination politique, sociale et economique. Mots cles : identite canadienne, jeunes immigrants, identite ethnique, evolution des conditions economiques.

Critical Perspectives on International Education

In the knowledge era, indeed, the struggle is between knowledge that is both resource and product in a world of fast capitalism and knowledge as mutual engagement in processes of shared critical social construction, and thus, more culturally inclusive and socially productive. The former has been taken for granted since the aftermath of the Second World War, but is now facing serious criticisms for its avaricious market approach. Today, the idea of knowledge as an economic product, commodified, for sale on a global market, is no longer palatable.

Second Generation Youth and Mobilities of Mind, Body and Boundary

The proliferation of new cultural flows, new modes of belonging and new practices of citizenship mobilise minds and bodies with identifications beyond nation-states. These referents stretch beyond nationality, ethnicity, religion, culture, nation, minorities, majorities, and territorial belongings (Hoerder, Hebert & Schmitt, 2006; Hannerz, 1997). New arenas of interaction, deliberation and influence are created, where diversities are taken for granted and where people are not defined as minority or majority, where transcultural modes of belonging are accommodated, organised, and lived, bypassing existing political, territorial and cultural boundaries between peoples (Appadurai, 1996; Sicakkan, 2005).