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Castles, S. (2003). The Illusion of difference: Realities of ethnicity in Canada and the United States. In J. Reitz & R. Breton (Eds.), Host Societies and the Reception of Immigrants. La Jolla: University of California.

• Keywords: Pluralism, ethnicity.
• Timeline: 1970s-Early 1990s.
• Summary: On the matters of identity and multiculturalism, Castles notes: “Multiculturalism means abandoning the myth of homogenous and monocultural nation-states. It means recognizing rights to cultural maintenance and community formation, and linking these to social equality and protection from discrimination. Yet multiculturalism can still be seen as a way of controlling difference within the nation-state framework because it does not question the territorial principle. It implicitly assumes that migration will lead to permanent settlement and to the birth of second and subsequent generations who are both citizens and nationals. Thus multiculturalism maintains the idea of a primary belonging to one society and a loyalty to just one nation-state” (p. 437).

Chan, K. (1986). Ethnic urban space, urban displacement and forced relocation: The case of Chinatown in Montreal. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 18, 2, 65-78.

• Keywords: Chinese-Canadian; community building.
• Timeline: 1980s.
• Summary: On negotiating ethno-cultural space in Montreal, Chan states: “Chinatown was created by a unique set of historical, political and economic forces emanating from intergroup transactions. It existed because of an historical fact: overt structural discrimination. It has continued to exist because it serves a variety of functions, both for the Chinese and the larger society. The Chinese insist that they have historical and territorial claims over Chinatown, that the residents, the ethnic associations, the businesses as well as the traditional character of Chinatown will be protected, and that they have rights to an urban space that once was theirs” (p. 76).

Chow, H.P.H. (2006). Vietnamese-Canadian university students in Regina: Socio-cultural and educational adaptation. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 38, 2, 104-112.

• Keywords: Vietnamese-Canadian, identity, cultural change.
• Timeline: late 1990s-early 2000s.
• Summary: In this quantitative study, Chow notes: “Concerning ethnic self-identification, students who strongly identified themselves as Vietnamese exhibited a more negative adaptation experience, suggesting that a strong sense of ethnic identity devoid of positive identification with the mainstream society may aggravate psychological conflict” (p. 109).

Chumak-Horbatsch, R. (1999). Language change in the Ukrainian home: From transmission to maintenance to the beginning of loss. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 31, 2, 61-75.

• Keywords: Ukrainian-Canadian, cultural change, language, community building.
• Timeline: 1915-96.
• Summary: Chumak-Horbatch reflects on the linguistic identity/change in Canada’s Ukrainian community: “Mothers felt that the Ukrainian community of Toronto should function as a language support for parents, providing opportunities for Ss to meet and experience Ukranian life outside the home” (p. 72).

Claussen, C.; & Wong, L.L. (2004). Bridging unsettling waters: Ethnie and identity in the Calgary Jewish community. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 36, 2, 119-131.

• Keywords: Jewish, Calgary, identity.
• Timeline: Early 2000s.
• Summary: Claussen and Wong consider the overlapping nature of religious and ethno-cultural identity within Calgary’s Jewish community: “The work here contextualizes Jewish identity and Jewish people as ethnic, and this provides an alternative to the debate over the conflicting labels of Jews as being an ethnic versus a religious versus a cultural group. In using the Calgary participants as an example, it is clear that those within the Jewish community have difficulty in using any single term to define themselves. By using the term ethnie as a conceptual framework for the Jewish community, the special circumstances of history and persecution can be incorporated into the notion of Jewish identity” (p. 127-128).

Cohen, R.; & Gold, G. (1997). Constructing ethnicity: Myth of return and modes of exclusion among Israelis in Toronto. International Migration, 35, 3, 373-394.

• Keywords: Jewish, community, identity, cultural change, diaspora, Toronto.
• Timeline: 1990s.
• Summary: On Jewish identity and community in Toronto, Cohen and Gold note: “The emergence of exclusive organizations represents resistance to integration into the organized Jewish community. At the same time it symbolizes the reproduction of Israeliness in the Diappora. The myth of return, Chazara, become institutionalized in these new organizations in the same way that Diaspora Canadian Jews incorporate Aliyah as the symbolic essence of their Zionism. This myth facilitates the development of a distinctive Israeli ethnic community in Toronto” (p. 388).

Couton, P. (1999). The role of minority educators: Haitian teachers in Quebec schools. In H. Troper & M. Weinfeld (Eds.), Ethnicity, Politics, and Public Policy: Case Studies in Canadian Diversity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (pp. 142-163)

• Keywords: African-Canadian, education.
• Timeline: 1990s.
• Summary: Considering the matter of ethno-racial identity in Quebec’s Hatian-Canadian teaching community, Couton notes: “Ethnic mismatch in the origins of teachers, the curriculum, and the school environment is perceived as the primary cause of the negative educational experience of those students. The only way to prevent these harmful outcomes, according to some educators, is to increase the degree of ‘cultural congruence’ or ethnic match in the educational process” (p. 142-143).

Croucher, S. L. (1997). Constructing the image of ethnic harmony in Toronto, Canada: The politics of problem definition and nondefinition. Urban Affairs Review, 32, 3, 319-47.

• Keywords: Relations, exclusion, Toronto, image (of pluralism).
• Timeline: 1980s-1990s.
• Summary: Despite some who argue that Toronto is a symbol of harmony, Croucher argues that in reality it is still a landscape of inequity: “[I]mages, issues, and identities that achieve prominence on a given polity’s public agenda are those that are put forth by, and reflect the interests of, individuals and groups with the greatest access to a polity’s political, economic, and social resources. Despite the demographic changes that have swept Toronto in recent years, the city remains firmly in the control of an Anglo-British majority” (p. 341). Croucher goes on to note that: “[N]ot only has the claims-making activity of the elite and the policies, ideologies, that rhetoric of multiculturalism served to portray Toronto in terms of ethnic harmony but they have simultaneously functioned to prevent racism from being defined as a social problem in Toronto” (p. 341).