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IN THIS VOLUME, LEADING SCHOLARS HAVE EXPLORED TWO BROAD POLICY AGENDAS
generated by ethnic diversity in Canada and other Western countries. The first
agenda is the multicultural agenda, which seeks to recognize cultural differences,
to help minorities express their distinct identities and practices, and to build more
accommodating conceptions of citizenship. The second agenda focuses on integration, seeking to bring minorities into the mainstream, strengthen the sense of
mutual support and solidarity, and reinforce the bonds of a common community.

Most Western countries have pursued both agendas, to a greater or lesser
degree, in recent decades. There is nothing inherently contradictory in the two
agendas. Indeed, research by psychologists concludes that the most successful
forms of immigrant integration occur when newcomers retain a sense of their heritage culture and seek involvement in the larger society, suggesting that governments should encourage both forms of community (Berry et al. 2006). In
contemporary debates, however, many countries are shifting to a heavier emphasis on integration. This pattern is particularly marked in Europe, as the chapters
by Christian Joppke and Randall Hansen highlight. Many Europeans fear that
multiculturalism has bred separateness and cultural alienation, including among
some children of immigrants born and raised in the West. In the United
Kingdom, for example, Trevor Phillips, the head of the Commission for Racial
Equality and himself a Black Briton, has warned that Britain is in danger of “sleepwalking into segregation” (T. Phillips 2005), and in France riots in major cities
have illuminated the geographic, economic and social distance between minorities and the wider society. The common response has been to insist on higher levels of integration. The British prime minister recently proclaimed a “duty to integrate” (Blair 2006), and some European countries have gone further, occasionally adopting relatively illiberal policies to advance an integrationist agenda.

Recent debates in Canada have not shifted as dramatically. Nevertheless,
stress points are appearing, and a number of the chapters in this volume sound
warning signals. It is an appropriate time to stand back and take stock. How well
is Canada succeeding on the twin agendas of recognition and integration? Do we
recognize and support diversity as much as our self-congratulatory pronouncements often suggest? Do we face deepening ethnic divisions that weaken our
capacity for collective action and threaten our social cohesion? If there are problems around the corner, what should we do?

This chapter explores these questions, drawing on the evidence presented
in this volume and elsewhere.The first section starts by discussing the ways in
which Canadians have traditionally approached recognition and integration,
focusing in particular on the concept of shared citizenship. The following two
sections take stock of the current state of diversity in Canada, asking whether the
norms and expectations implicit in the concept of shared citizenship are being
realized in practice: section 2 focuses on the multicultural agenda and section 3
turns to integration. The fourth section examines three priorities that flow from
the stock-taking and policy issues implicit in these priorities.