THE MEANING OF BEING CANADIAN: A COMPARISON BETWEEN YOUTH OF IMMIGRANT AND NON‐IMMIGRANT ORIGINS

The meanings attached to national identity are the most salient citizenship issue today. We analyzed over 300 written responses of Canadian high school youth, of immigrant and non‐immigrant origins, to the question of “What does it mean for me to be/become a Canadian?” The participants related a greater sense of national identity than of ethnic and/or supranational belonging. Youth of immigrant origins used a discourse of becoming and understand multiculturalism to recognize ethnic identities associated with Charter rights. The findings are contextualized in social unrest in other countries, a global migration pattern, and new forms of economic, social, and political domination. Keywords: Canadian identity, immigrant youth, ethnic identity, changing economic conditions Les divers sens donnés à la notion d’identité nationale, telle est la question la plus importante de l’heure en matière de citoyenneté. Les auteures ont analysé plus de 300 réponses écrites de jeunes Canadiens au secondaire, immigrants et non‐immigrants, à la question : « Que veut dire être ou devenir Canadien pour moi ? ». Les participants font état d’un plus grand sentiment d’appartenance au pays qu’à des groupes ethniques ou supranationaux. Les jeunes immigrés adoptent un discours axé sur le devenir et considèrent le multiculturalisme comme la reconnaissance des identités ethniques dans le cadre de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés. Les résultats de l’étude sont mis en contexte : agitation sociale dans d’autres pays, mouvements migratoires à l’échelle mondiale et nouvelles formes de domination politique, sociale et économique. Mots clés : identité canadienne, jeunes immigrants, identité ethnique, évolution des conditions économiques.

The Values Debate at the Nexus of Transnational Perspectives on Human Rights and Citizenship Education

Serving as introduction to the collection of papers in this issue, this paper takes up seven themes to situate each paper in the debates that characterize the field of citizenship education and to attempt to understand the linkages between values, human rights and citizenship education in a transnational era. The themes explore planetary philosophical perspectives; understand values as practice and human rights as foundational to values; set geopolitical considerations of values in postcolonial perspectives and pedagogical perspectives in transnational contexts; characterize citizenship education as a contested field; and reflect upon the relevance of transnationalism to the values debate. In a concluding note, we remark that negotiating multiple, transcultural and transnational frames of reference is not unusual for many youth today nor is it in many countries; and as such, is the very nexus of education for democratic living in a transnational and transcultural times. Jouant le rôle d’introduction à la série d’articles publiés dans ce numéro de la revue, cet article met en relief sept thèmes qui permettent de situer chaque article dans les débats qui caractérisent le champ de l’éducation à la citoyenneté, pour ainsi tenter de faire comprendre les liens entre les valeurs, les droits de la personne et l’éducation à la citoyenneté dans notre monde transnational. Ces thèmes portent sur l’exploration des perspectives philosophiques planétaires; la compréhension des valeurs dans la pratique et les droits humains comme fondements aux valeurs de la citoyenneté; le fait de considérer les aspects géopolitiques des valeurs dans une perspective postcoloniale et ses répercussions pédagogiques dans des contextes transnationaux; les caractéristiques de l’éducation à la citoyenneté comme champ faisant l’objet de critiques; et la réflexion sur le sens du transnationalisme dans le débat sur les valeurs. En conclusion, nous remarquons que le fait de considérer des cadres de référence multiples, transculturels et transnationaux n’est pas inhabituel pour de nombreux jeunes ni pour de nombreux pays. Cela constitue en soi le coeur dynamique d’où peut jaillir l’éducation pour la vie démocratique à notre époque caractérisée par le transnational et le transculturel

The contribution of insects to global forest deadwood decomposition

The amount of carbon stored in deadwood is equivalent to about 8 per cent of the global forest carbon stocks. The decomposition of deadwood is largely governed by climate with decomposer groups—such as microorganisms and insects—contributing to variations in the decomposition rates. At the global scale, the contribution of insects to the decomposition of deadwood and carbon release remains poorly understood. Here we present a field experiment of wood decomposition across 55 forest sites and 6 continents. We find that the deadwood decomposition rates increase with temperature, and the strongest temperature effect is found at high precipitation levels. Precipitation affects the decomposition rates negatively at low temperatures and positively at high temperatures. As a net effect—including the direct consumption by insects and indirect effects through interactions with microorganisms—insects accelerate the decomposition in tropical forests (3.9% median mass loss per year). In temperate and boreal forests, we find weak positive and negative effects with a median mass loss of 0.9 per cent and −0.1 per cent per year, respectively. Furthermore, we apply the experimentally derived decomposition function to a global map of deadwood carbon synthesized from empirical and remote-sensing data, obtaining an estimate of 10.9 ± 3.2 petagram of carbon per year released from deadwood globally, with 93 per cent originating from tropical forests. Globally, the net effect of insects may account for 29 per cent of the carbon flux from deadwood, which suggests a functional importance of insects in the decomposition of deadwood and the carbon cycle

Foro de educación

Título, resumen y palabras clave en español e inglésResumen basado en el de la publicaciónMonográfico con el título: Educación para la ciudadanía : significado y experienciasA partir de un enfoque comparativo de las minorías etno-culturales en Australia, Canadá y Francia, se tratan cinco cuestiones: (1) la visión de los jóvenes de sí mismos y su sentido de comunidad; (2) las barreras de integración; (3) los acercamientos innovadores gubernamentales y comunitarios a la integración de la juventud; (4) las oportunidades que la juventud crea por sí misma; y (5) el impacto de tipos programas políticos. El caso de Australia dibuja una imagen no lineal de las transiciones de los jóvenes, sus luchas y la participación en comunidad. La investigación en Canadá se centra en los procesos transculturales de identificación, la escolarización, la adhesión racial y espacial, y las redes sociales de legitimidad vinculadas a la cohesión social en un país que no reconoce su pluralidad inherente. De tal forma, la segregación espacial, el desempoderamiento y la exclusión política de la juventud varía en su gravedad, sensibilidad hacia la multiculturalidad y en función del contexto político ciudadano.ES

Youth in Plural Cities, Multiculturalism and Citizenship: Policy Challenges and Opportunities

From a comparative focus on ethno-cultural minority youth in Australia, Canada and France, this synthesis addresses five issues: (1) youth’s view of themselves and their sense of community; (2) barriers to integration; (3) innovative governmental and community approaches to youth integration; (4) opportunities youth create for themselves; and (5) the impact of policy types and programmes. The Australian research draws a non-linear image of youth’s transitions, struggles and their community participation. The Canadian research focuses on transcultural processes of identification, school completion, racial and spatial attachments, and social networks of immigrant youth. The French research strains to hear young people’s voices, and struggles to find a way to cope legitimately with social cohesion in a country that does not recognize its inherent plurality. Thus, poverty, spatial segregation, economic disempowerment and political disenfranchisement of youth vary in their severity, sensitive to the multiculturalism and citizenship policy context.How to reference this articleHébert, Y. (2016). Youth in Plural Cities, Multiculturalism and Citizenship: Policy Challenges and Opportunities.A partir de un enfoque comparativo de las minorías etno-culturales en Australia, Canadá y Francia, este trabajo trata cinco cuestiones: (1) la visión de los jóvenes de sí mismos y su sentido de comunidad; (2) las barreras de integración; (3) los acercamientos innovadores gubernamentales y comunitarios a la integración de la juventud; (4) las oportunidades que la juventud crea por sí misma; y (5) el impacto de tipos programas políticos. El caso de Australia dibuja una imagen no lineal de las transiciones de los jóvenes, sus luchas y la participación en comunidad. La investigación en Canadá se centra en los procesos transculturales de identificación, la escolarización, la adhesión racial y espacial, y las redes sociales de legitimidad vinculadas a la cohesión social en un país que no reconoce su pluralidad inherente. De tal forma, la segregación espacial, el desempoderamiento y la exclusión política de la juventud varía en su gravedad, sensibilidad hacia la multiculturalidad y en función del contexto político ciudadano.Cómo referenciar este artículoHébert, Y. (2016). Youth in Plural Cities, Multiculturalism and Citizenship: Policy Challenges and Opportunities

Collectivized Identity among Shi’a Imami Isma’ili Muslims of Calgary:Implications for Pluralism and Policy

Installés au Canada depuis une trentaine d’années, les musulmans ismaéliens de secte Shi’a Imami à Calgary sont caractérisés par une grande diversité. Le critère déterminant de l’identité collective dans une société démocratique libérale plurielle est une question essentielle. À partir d’une étude sur les contextes identitaires des jeunes immigrés, des interviews avec parents et chefs communautaires indiquent que la religion est un élément-clé de définition. Plusieurs stratégies collectives servent à la construction d’un nouvel ordre social dans un nouveau contexte et le maintien de sa cohésion sociale. La citoyenneté est considérée par les participants comme un processus complexe qui garantit le respect des droits de la personne et permet aussi une appartenance collective tandis que l’intégration exige une recherche de l’ouverture face à la discrimination et les préjugés. Dans le cadre de la politique canadienne de multiculturalisme, la création des identités hybridisées exprime la double dimension de la brutalité linguistique de l’installation en terre nouvelle et d’un espoir idéalisé dans ce nouveau contexte de vie.In Canada for almost thirty years, the Shi’a Imami Isma’ili Muslims of Calgary are remarkably diverse. At issue is the basis of collective identity in a plural liberal democratic society. Set within a study of the contexts of identity formation of immigration youth, interviews with parents and community leaders indicate that it is religion that holds central defining value. Furthermore, several collective strategies contribute to the construction of a new social order in a new context and the maintenance of its social cohesion. The participants view citizenship as a complex process which guarantees human rights, while allowing for group membership, whereas integration involves a search for openness in the face of prejudice and discrimination. In the context of a policy of multiculturalism, the creation of new hybridized identities represents both the linguistic violence of resettlement and of an idealized hope in new contexts

Collectivized Identity among Shi’a Imami Isma’ili Muslims of Calgary:Implications for Pluralism and Policy

In Canada for almost thirty years, the Shi’a Imami Isma’ili Muslims of Calgary are remarkably diverse. At issue is the basis of collective identity in a plural liberal democratic society. Set within a study of the contexts of identity formation of immigration youth, interviews with parents and community leaders indicate that it is religion that holds central defining value. Furthermore, several collective strategies contribute to the construction of a new social order in a new context and the maintenance of its social cohesion. The participants view citizenship as a complex process which guarantees human rights, while allowing for group membership, whereas integration involves a search for openness in the face of prejudice and discrimination. In the context of a policy of multiculturalism, the creation of new hybridized identities represents both the linguistic violence of resettlement and of an idealized hope in new contexts

Second Generation Youth in Canada, Their Mobilities and Identifications: Relevance to Citizenship Education

Based on narrative data recently collected from youth’s in three Canadian cities, our paper focuses on second generation perceptions of youth’s identifications in a society increasingly influenced by the forces of globalization and how these perceptions may or may not be reflected in programs of study dealing with citizenship education. We utilize a framework consisting of a continuum of mobilities of mind, body, and boundaries to situate their sense of self. The façade of globalisation is examined in terms of its impact on identity formation and these youths’ impressions of diversity and multiculturalism. Finally, we consider the relevance of the findings for citizenship education in Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta