Politics and Public Policy – serie

The CLB/NCLC success was dependent on many factors-outstanding work by leading Canadian scholars; steady commitment of the government and non-governmental stakeholders at the federal, provincial, and local level; and, last but not least, unconditional commitment and caring on the part of an invested community of practice. Language is the key covers a range of topics: historical and political context that lead to the development of the Canadian standards, their current positioning in global educational markets, as well as their research and teaching cultures. This edited volume provides a comprehensive overview of recent and ongoing projects and of CLB- and NCLC-related materials, tools and resources for teaching and assessment. Finally, it offers a bold outlook, proposing various scenarios to branch out beyond these benchmarks into the domains of higher education, essential skills, literacy, workplace training, as well as international and indigenous languages. The 20th anniversary of the CLB/NCLC provides an opportunity to reflect on the scope and importance of this exceptional Canadian intellectual product.

Separate but Unequal provides an in-depth critique of the ideology of parallelism—the prevailing view that Indigenous cultures and the wider Canadian society should exist separately from one another in a “nation-to-nation” relationship.Using the Final Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples as an example, this historical and material analysis shows how the single-minded pursuit of parallelism will not result in a more balanced relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. On the contrary, it merely restores archaic economic, political, and ideological forms that will continue to isolate the Indigenous population.This book provides an alternative framework for examining Indigenous dependency. This new perspective—the political economy of neotribal rentierism—shows that Indigenous Peoples’ circumstances have been inextricably linked to the development of capitalism in Canada. While Indigenous Peoples were integral participants in the fur trade, the transition from mercantilism to industrial capitalism led to their marginalization.Published in English.

Immigration at University Level: Rethinking Policies, Approaches and Implementations establishes a framework for higher education institutions hoping to create French immersion program. French immersion came to life in a primary school in the suburbs of Montreal in the 1960s. This was done to meet the needs of anglophone children who had to live in the new francophone context in Québec. While immersion spread rapidly in primary and secondary institutions in Canada, it remains, to this day, almost inexistant at the university level. However, Graham Fraser, the Commissioner of Official Languages—the federal spokesperson with regards to the promotion and protection of linguistic rights—recommended on multiple occasions that immersion continue at the post-secondary level. This volume revisits this recommendation; indeed, the title of this book alludes to the highly political nature of any linguistic accommodation, especially in a bilingual or plurilingual context. Graham Fraser's preface places the concept of immersion in a historical perspective of language debates in Canada. The book presents language policies and French immersion programs in higher education institutions in Canadian universities, and more specifically those at the University of Ottawa. It offers a valuable frame of reference for higher education institutions in Canada and abroad.

With the new geological age known as the Anthropocene heralding dramatic disruptions in the earth system, geopolitics needs to be fundamentally reconsidered to deal with these new circumstances. Planetary boundaries and ecological change are now the key contextualization for considering future global political arrangements. We now find ourselves in a new geological age: the Anthropocene. The climate is changing and species are disappearing at a rate not seen since Earth’s major extinctions. The rapid, large-scale changes caused by fossil-fuel powered globalization increasingly threaten societies in new, unforeseen ways. But most security policies continue to be built on notions that look backward to a time when geopolitical threats derived mainly from the rivalries of states with fixed boundaries. Instead, Anthropocene Geopolitics shows that security policy must look forward to quickly shape a sustainable world no longer dependent on fossil fuels. A future of long-term peace and geopolitical security depends on keeping the earth in conditions roughly similar to those we have known throughout history. Minimizing disruptions that would further put civilization at risk of extinction urgently requires policies that reflect new Anthropocene “planetary boundaries.” Published in English.

What motivates “ordinary people” to support refugees emotionally and financially?This is a timely question considering the number of displaced people in today’s world is at an all-time high. To help counter this crisis, it is imperative for the Canadian government to determine which policies encourage volunteers to welcome asylum seekers, and which ones must be reviewed.Ordinary People, Extraordinary Actions relates the story of the St. Joseph’s Parish Refugee Outreach Committee over its thirty years in action, revealing how seemingly small decisions and actions have led to significant changes in policies and in people’s lives—and how they can do so again in the future.By helping readers—young and old, secular and faith-oriented—understand what drives individuals and communities to welcome refugees with open hearts and open arms, the authors hope to inspire people across Canada and beyond its borders to strengthen our collective willingness and ability to offer refuge as a lifesaving protection for those who need it.

Border culture emerges through the intersection and engagement of imagination, affinity and identity. It is evident wherever boundaries separate or sort people and their goods, ideas or other belongings. It is the vessel of engagement between countries and peoples—assuming many forms, exuding a variety of expressions, changing shapes—but border culture does not disappear once it is developed, and it may be visualized as a thread that runs throughout the process of globalization.Border culture is conveyed in imaginaries and productions that are linked to borderland identities constructed in the borderlands. These identities underlie the enforcement of control and resistance to power that also comprise border cultures. Canada’s borders in globalization offer an opportunity to explore the interplay of borders and culture, identify the fundamental currents of border culture in motion, and establish an approach to understanding how border culture is placed and replaced in globalization.Published in English.

Legislatures in Evolution presents a series of essays on evolution and change in the legislative context. They cover a wide range of topics, including both proposed and implemented reforms. The contributions included here discuss parliamentarians’ attitude toward party discipline; the specific challenges associated with implementing sexual harassment policies within legislatures; the consequences of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada on the government’s duty to consult Indigenous Peoples when drafting legislation; parliamentarians’ engagement in budgetary control issues; the reform of the rules governing prayers in the Legislature of British Columbia; and time management reforms in the Legislative Assembly of Yukon. Charles Feldman, Geneviève Tellier, David Groves, and their contributors bring together both practical and academic experience and perspectives. They conclude with an analysis of parliamentary reforms, paying particular attention to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the functioning of legislatures.