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realities: ‘diversity’ reminds us to challenge larger process of nation-building, but to do so
analyses which homogenize. At the same would involve overlooking the fact that
time, we do acknowledge that the dichotomy other Canadian provinces and municipalities
on the basis of being a member of a ‘visible are also asking for some control over
minority’ or not can facilitate an overview of immigration.
over-arching practices of social discrimina- Institutional diversity, however, goes
tion which are based on physical features beyond simply increasing the role of sub-
or appearance. national actors in regulating migration.
Our third point raises the impact of social Cities, in particular, are being shaped by
institutions and policies on scholars and migration flows, which are often very specific.
illustrates it in the Canadian/Quebecois Migration has always been sharply patterned:
context. In effect, sociologists often find flows become established and tend to main-
themselves working within, or doing contract tain themselves in specific directions. In
research for, government ministries which other words, migrants are not randomly dis-
address issues of ethnicity, language and immi- tributed across the world. This is obvious in
gration, such as the Department of Canadian the case of post-colonial migration or tempo-
Heritage or Citizenship and Immigration rary migrant worker programs. But there
Canada. At the same time as they help shape are also regional specificities that emerge
the discourse on these topics, their analytic because of geographical proximity (Cubans in
vision may be constrained by institutionally Miami), cultural and linguistic resemblance
defined boundaries. The three solitudes sepa- (Francophones in Montréal), network effects
rating the study of First Nations peoples, (residential concentration within cities).
official language groups and one or more of These tend to generate different responses
the ‘other’ ethnic groups is a case in point. that greatly diversify the policy and institu-
Separate government departments or sections tional responses to migration. In that sense
have responsibility for each, resulting not then, diversity also means the rise of different
just in varied policies but also varied (and polities endowed with their own approaches
separate) funding opportunities for research and structures designed to handle diversity
about these groups. (Nairn, 2003). The great, and partly fictitious
There are also considerations of diversity national models of managing migration and
in the policy and institutional pluralism that cultural pluralism are in part giving way to
result from migratory flows. Whereas diver- more localized, frequently urban and
sity is most commonly understood as the regional models of understanding, building,
rising social and cultural pluralism that and experiencing diversity.
marks a number of urban areas throughout Finally, we will consider limits in our appli-
the world, the fact that migration also gener- cations of diversity. Empirically, in our analy-
ates a wide array of policy responses to the ses sociologists of ethnic relations generally
movement of people is often overlooked. work with no more than three or four aspects
Nation-states have, of course, developed of the social differentiation that constitutes
their own ‘immigration models’ over the past human diversity: for instance, migration or
two centuries, but increasingly regions, sub- citizenship status, together with race, lan-
national units in federations, and more guage and/or religion. Rarely can we consider
recently cities are developing their own insti- all aspects of an individual’s social identity
tutions and programs. The case of Québec within groups, such as those based on sex,
discussed in this chapter is a very clear age, ethnicity, language spoken, disability,
example of this, although Québec is in many being part of a Diaspora, or the dynamic char-
ways a quasi nation-state. Its gaining control acter of any (or all) of such social locations.
over immigrant selection and integration From this observation we might consider that
could be simply understood as part of a our own analyses contribute to making