Citizenship in a multicultural age

“According to Pierre Trudeau, “the modern state is a pluralistic society whose citizens must come together on the basis of their citizenship.” And he believed that citizens must come together as individuals “with equal rights and mutual tolerance — not on the basis of their ethnicity or background or religion.”

If people cleave to their ethnicity or religion — and fail to come together as equal citizens — the modern pluralistic society becomes “a self-defeating principle,” he declared. In other words, newcomers must integrate into Canadian society as individuals and adopt Canadian civic values.”

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