Ethnic Pluralism under Siege: Popular and Partisan Opposition to Multiculturalsim

Since the mid-1980s, diverse criticisms of the federal multiculturalism policy have emerged from various sources. While ethnic minorities have faulted the policy for its inefficacy in redressing issues of racism, and for its ghettoizing of minority concerns, the Reform Party, the Conservative Party and the Citizens' Forum have all treated multiculturalism as a source of division in the national unity debate. This article examines the current critiques of multiculturalism policy by academics, the Spicer Commission, federal parties, and ethnic minorities. Factors accounting for attacks on the policy include the constitutional impasse, along with a shifting, though resistant ethnic power structure, and the fears linked to growing immigration and refugee pressures from Third World countries in a global context of economic decline.