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CONFLICT AND DIVERSITY: CANADA / QUÉBEC 437

referred basically to immigrant minorities is now perceived through the notion of diver-
(Juteau et al., 1998; Li, 2003a). In Québec, sity, this world remains divided into national
the notion of ‘cultural communities’ territories. Yet to grasp the complexity of the
appeared at the beginning of the 1980s to phenomenon of diversity – even while allow-
identify this segment of the population, and ing that we want to confine this diversity to
then, in the middle of the 1990s, the terms ethnicity – we cannot think only nationally
‘Québecers from cultural communities’ or and internationally. To take account of this
‘citizens from cultural communities’ marked reality, analyses need to encompass the
a willingness to expand the national borders, national, the intra-national, the international,
which were always being debated. 12 These and the extra-national dimensions within the
labels are also intended to distinguish same system (Crane, 2002). The extra-
minorities (stemming from immigration) national dimension also allows us to consider
from ‘Québecers’, who were the former the impact of Diasporas in each society, and
‘French Canadians’. What is noteworthy in thus it is associated with the intra-national
these new usages of the notion of diversity is dimension (Appadurai, 2001). This phenom-
the fact that, through this institutional dis- enon is rarely considered explicitly in analy-
course on the need to take cultural diversity ses. Similarly, the intersections of diversities
into account, the idea of an ethnically homo- based on gender and ethnic identity are too
geneous culture re-emerges. Within the rarely examined.
corpus about Québec, results of the analysis Beyond the Canada/Québec comparison of
could not be clearer about this. Diversity has institutional discourse about culture, we need
no relevance in describing Québec’s culture to be aware of the tension between protecting
or that of the francophone majority. It is per- the national culture, on the one hand, and, on
ceived as external and parallel to the Québec the other, valuing cultural resources on a
community of French Canadian origin, global scale, as expressed by the idea of
except in the 1978 policy, which we have diversity as a weapon against homogeniza-
already referred to as being exceptional. tion. It is indeed the concept of diversity that
This distinguishes the official discourse on structures the current discourse on cultural
culture in Québec from that of federal bodies policies, thus providing these policies with a
and brings us back to the early history of new perspective. I see in this an invitation to
this country where immigration played an turn our attention once again to the aspects of
important role, including British immigra- culture that have been selected for protection
tion. (See the sections by Couton and Denis at the national level, and that take account of
on this.) our representations of the nation. For the
Such an institutional discourse recalls the moment, these representations comprise the
problematic aspects raised by Stuart Hall core of concepts relative to human diversity.
(1992) with regard to concepts of homoge- They should also be constantly compared to
neous national and cultural identities that, empirical realities stemming from the
alone, could guarantee particular identities avowed existence of cultural diversity and
and values, to the exclusion of all others. ethnic (and sexual) diversification of institu-
This discourse also eloquently introduces a tions. In that respect, it is of interest to note
new element in the notion of diversity, that of that recently, first, second, and third genera-
protecting national cultures. To take account tion immigrants, and ‘visible minorities’,
of this phenomenon of cultural diversity on a have begun appearing in francophone
worldwide scale, we have to think in national Québec media – on television and in print
and international terms, which is, strictly- media. It should be emphasized that this new
speaking, accurate, both geographically and representativity of the population in these
politically. Even if the institutional discourse media is primarily due to affirmative action,
on culture, affected by that of globalization, employment equity measures, and programs