Immigration policies of the government of Quebec in the context of Canadian multicultural policies. Contextual Notes for a social work ethnic environment.

Abstract

The English-speaking Canada and the rebellious Frenchspeaking «province» of Quebec are going through a broad and deep identity crisis that dates back to the 19th century, but intensified in the new age of globalization. A country created by immigration, it is still a country of immigration and one of the most multiethnic countries in the world. Multiculturalism is the model of political management that belongs to this diversity and the ideology that legitimates it —a Canadian inventio— at the same time that it recognizes, ignores and eludes the internal conflict —the Canada-Quebec conflict— that implicitly determines the differentiated migratory policies of both political communities. On its part, Quebequian multiculturalism («interculturalism») shows two different models (pro-assimilation and pro differentiation). These tensions, ambiguities, and diversity of models shape the current Canadian and Quebequian debate about citizenship, which conditions and functions as a frame of reference for social work (professional social intervention) with immigrants, very developed both in theory and in practice in this American country, and that is aware of the political challenges offered by multiculturalism in Ottawa and Quebec. The study and evaluation of this dynamic reality can be extremely useful in Europe, both North and South, for working out public policies and organizing social work in a multiethnic environment.