Many Indigenous leaders and public figures, as well as scholars of Indigenous culture and history, assert that non-Indigenous ignorance of Indigenous realities has systematically disadvantaged Indigenous peoples in Canada, weakened Canadian society, and makes it impossible to address the conditions of life for Indigenous people in Canada in a sustained or coherent way. Additionally, for many scholars silence and unawareness are deeply linked to colonialism and are implicated in the maintenance of unequal social relations. Drawing from this literature, I contend that in Canada, silence around Indigenous peoples and issues works as a spatial tactic of exclusion. I argue that unawareness is bound up in interests that work to render Indigenous peoples absent from the concerns of modern Canada, and that these interests are deeply intertwined with national and provincial identities such that silences around Indigenous peoples and issues are expressed differently in each Canadian province and territory. This thesis explores the nature of public unawareness of Indigenous realities in Québec. Using the remarkable public voice resource generated by the 2007 Reasonable Accommodation Commission in Québec, a public inquiry into Québec citizens’ opinions about the nature of Québec identity and its relationship to the integration of minorities in the province, I analyze the Commission’s mandate and geographical movements, as well as over 750 written briefs submitted to the Commission. I argue that unawareness of Indigenous realities is widespread in Québec and is unconstrained by participants’ social positions, interests, arguments, or level of engagement with the question of indigeneity in Québec. Though the Commission worked to exclude Indigenous content (and perhaps peoples) from its activities from the outset, eight Indigenous leaders submitted briefs and spoke powerfully and critically of the Commission’s exclusion. These authors point out that the question of Indigenous rights is far from settled, that the Commission’s and Quebecers’ unawareness of Indigenous realities is complicit in a long history of exclusion in Québec and in Canada, and assert that Quebecers will not be able to address their anxiety around immigration in any meaningful or coherent way until Indigenous rights are respected. In my focus on the Reasonable Accommodation Commission, I suggest the particular nature of exclusion in Québec. While exclusion of Indigenous peoples is a Canadian universal, its flavour varies. In this case, the provincial jurisdiction is important. / Thesis (Master, Geography) -- Queen's University, 2012-04-22 18:11:39.47

In December 2010, the National Post published an article discussing the rather costly enterprise of state-sanctioned official bilingualism in Canada. According to statistics provided by the Fraser Institute (2006), translation and interpretation represented 15% of the total federal government budget spending allocated to bilingualism, a cost that many Canadian commentators deemed “unnecessary.” Shifting demographics and diverse immigration flows (Census data, 2011) are also having a significant impact on Canada’s linguistic landscape, forcing policy-makers to consider whether the Official Languages Act (and thus translation) would benefit from innovative reform. Using this contextual backdrop as its main impetus, this dissertation argues that translation, as defined and practiced in Canada, needs to be broadened for a number of reasons, including accounting for technological advancements, for the increasingly web-based dissemination of translated materials, and for the reality of evolving markets. Tymoczko (2008) has championed *translation as an open-cluster concept, a theoretical perspective that has found resonance in this project, given that the notion is the central premise upon which three additional conceptualizations (i.e. *translation sub-types) are founded. The first sub-type, intersemiotic translation, is explained at length and constitutes the focal point of the project. Instead of using a Peircean approach, the dissertation develops a model based on visual social semiotics in order to facilitate the application of intersemiotic translation in not only professional settings but research contexts as well. The second sub-type, cultural translation, builds on insights from the 1980s and 90s cultural turn, with a specific focus on the relationship between the representation of Canadian micro-cultures and intersemiotic translation. In other words, the effects of these translation processes will also be analyzed. Finally, civic translation is proposed as a third *translation sub-type, which offers a potential framework for multicultural management in democratic countries facing the challenges of globalization. A case study using content from the 2006-2008 debate surrounding reasonable accommodation—with specific attention given to the activities of the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences (also known as the Bouchard-Taylor Commission)—is woven through each chapter, illustrating all three sub-types of *translation. The case study provides compelling examples of why translation practices in Canada should move beyond verbal and state-sanctioned definitions. The novelty and contribution of this research project are manifold: it transcends traditional verbocentric approaches in TS; it responds to other scholars’ claims that there is a lack of case studies that involve text-image relationships and/or explore the role of translation in the news media in a Canadian context; it explores multimodality and its significance for TS in an era of increased Web presence; it showcases a Canadian case study; and, finally, it explores cultural representation through a translation-based framework.

In December 2010, the National Post published an article discussing the rather costly enterprise of state-sanctioned official bilingualism in Canada. According to statistics provided by the Fraser Institute (2006), translation and interpretation represented 15% of the total federal government budget spending allocated to bilingualism, a cost that many Canadian commentators deemed “unnecessary.” Shifting demographics and diverse immigration flows (Census data, 2011) are also having a significant impact on Canada’s linguistic landscape, forcing policy-makers to consider whether the Official Languages Act (and thus translation) would benefit from innovative reform. Using this contextual backdrop as its main impetus, this dissertation argues that translation, as defined and practiced in Canada, needs to be broadened for a number of reasons, including accounting for technological advancements, for the increasingly web-based dissemination of translated materials, and for the reality of evolving markets. Tymoczko (2008) has championed *translation as an open-cluster concept, a theoretical perspective that has found resonance in this project, given that the notion is the central premise upon which three additional conceptualizations (i.e. *translation sub-types) are founded. The first sub-type, intersemiotic translation, is explained at length and constitutes the focal point of the project. Instead of using a Peircean approach, the dissertation develops a model based on visual social semiotics in order to facilitate the application of intersemiotic translation in not only professional settings but research contexts as well. The second sub-type, cultural translation, builds on insights from the 1980s and 90s cultural turn, with a specific focus on the relationship between the representation of Canadian micro-cultures and intersemiotic translation. In other words, the effects of these translation processes will also be analyzed. Finally, civic translation is proposed as a third *translation sub-type, which offers a potential framework for multicultural management in democratic countries facing the challenges of globalization. A case study using content from the 2006-2008 debate surrounding reasonable accommodation—with specific attention given to the activities of the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences (also known as the Bouchard-Taylor Commission)—is woven through each chapter, illustrating all three sub-types of *translation. The case study provides compelling examples of why translation practices in Canada should move beyond verbal and state-sanctioned definitions. The novelty and contribution of this research project are manifold: it transcends traditional verbocentric approaches in TS; it responds to other scholars’ claims that there is a lack of case studies that involve text-image relationships and/or explore the role of translation in the news media in a Canadian context; it explores multimodality and its significance for TS in an era of increased Web presence; it showcases a Canadian case study; and, finally, it explores cultural representation through a translation-based framework.

Avec la sécularisation, la laïcité et la diversité croissantes de la société québécoise, la place de la religion en général et du catholicisme en particulier se sont vues remises en question. Cette situation a d’ailleurs mené à la mise en place de deux commissions : l’une sur la place de la religion à l’école (1999) et l’autre sur les pratiques d’accommodements reliées aux différences culturelles (2008). Ces deux commissions auront fourni énormément d’informations sur les rapports qu’entretiennent encore les Québécois avec le catholicisme. Cette recherche a donc pour but de faire le point sur certains aspects du catholicisme au Québec à partir d’une perspective reposant principalement sur des instruments heuristiques issus des écrits signés « Jacques Derrida ». Pour ce faire, nous nous appuierons sur les travaux du Groupe de travail sur la religion à l’école, de la consultation générale sur la place de la religion à l’école et de la commission de consultation sur les pratiques d’accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles. Nous posons comme hypothèse que de manière générale, les Québécois entretiennent avec le catholicisme, des rapports « archivaux », c’est-à-dire conditionnés par des perceptions de ce dernier informées par son passé, plutôt que par son présent. De plus, ces perceptions du catholicisme, probablement développées dans le sillage de la Révolution tranquille et peut-être même un peu avant, nourriraient l’existence de « spectres » qui viendraient hanter les rapports des Québécois à tout ce qui touche le religieux et la diversité culturelle. En ce sens, il s’agit d’une dimension essentielle de ce que nous appellerions la « postmodernité » religieuse québécoise. Pour illustrer ce propos, nous mènerons une analyse de contenu documentaire. Premièrement, nous procéderons à l’analyse thématique de centaines de documents (rapports de recherche, rapports officiels, mémoires) déposés lors de ces débats. Le logiciel QDA Miner permettra d’effectuer une analyse documentaire en identifiant les passages thématiques reliés à la recherche. Nous procéderons ensuite à une analyse plus fine de ces extraits sélectionnés à partir de perspectives philosophiques provenant principalement du philosophe Jacques Derrida. / Due to the secularisation, laicité and the growing religious diversity of Quebec society, the place of religion and Catholicism has been questioned. This situation has led to the creation of two commissions: one on the place of religion in school (1999) and the other on Accommodation practices related to cultural differences (2008). These commissions gave a lot of information about the relationship between Quebecers and Catholicism. This research aims to understand certain aspects of Catholicism in Quebec with a perspective using texts signed "Jacques Derrida". To do so, we will use the works of Groupe de travail sur la religion à l’école, of General Consultation on the Place of Religion in School, and of Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences. Our research hypothesis is that generally Quebecers have an ‘archival’ relationship towards Catholicism. Meaning, past perceptions of Catholicism as opposed to present ones condition this relationship. Moreover, these perceptions of Catholicism, that probably developed either just prior to or during the Quiet Revolution in the sixties, would feed the existence of "specters," or "ghosts," that haunt the relationship between Quebecers and everything related to religious and cultural diversity. This would be a fundamental dimension of what we would call the Quebec religious "postmodernity". To illustrate this statement, we will first analyse hundreds of documents deposed to these commissions. The software QDA Miner will help to perform a documentary analysis by identifying key passages related to this research. Then, we will analyse more accurately, the selected passages using philosophical perspectives mainly from Jacques Derrida.

Dans ce mémoire, l’auteur part d’un constat : deux commissions sont lancées au Québec et en France dans des contextes similaires d’intense débat social autour de la question de la laïcité. Même si la commission française réserve le rôle principal au concept de laïcité et que la commission québécoise l’examine parmi d’autres concepts, il est évident que la polémique québécoise des accommodements raisonnables en matière sociale et religieuse fait écho au débat du voile en France, les trames de lancement des commissions, une comparaison des concepts de laïcité est ainsi pertinente. Des modèles différents de laïcité des commissions mises en parallèle : une laïcité ouverte mettant davantage l’accent sur la liberté de conscience et permettant le port de signes religieux pour le Rapport Bouchard-Taylor et une laïcité ferme mettant en équilibre la liberté de conscience et l’égalité de traitement avec une nécessité de respect de l’ordre et de la neutralité d’un espace public, alors que le port d’objet religieux ostensibles est exclu de l’école publique pour le Rapport Stasi. Les trajectoires historiques menant à ces commissions permettent de dégager l’importance de moments clés dans la formation de la laïcité : les révolutions, l’installation des idéologies étatiques et l’institutionnalisation par le droit et l’éducation. Ces charnières par leur spécificité nationale contribuent à façonner les laïcités québécoise et française. / The author of this thesis examines two cases, Quebec and France, in which similar issues and debates have propelled state commissions about laïcité. The concept of laïcité, otherwise known as secularism, is the main focus of the Stasi Commission in France and an important one in the Bouchard-Taylor Commission in Quebec. The concept of laïcité is analysed differently in both commission reports. The Bouchard-Taylor report puts forward the concept of « laïcité ouverte » (open secularism) which mainly insists on the promotion of freedom of conscience and allows individuals to wear religious objects. The Stasi Report chooses a firm conception of laïcité which balances freedom of conscience and equality with social order imperatives, putting forward a neutral public space in which public schools should not allow individuals to wear ostensibly visible religious objects. Key moments like revolutions, the installation of state ideologies and the institutionalization of laïcité in the fields of law and education, help us to understand the historical trajectories that have led to the respective apprehensions of secularism. Specific national settings are responsible for the differences in the processes of construction of French and Quebec secularisms.

Dans ce mémoire, l’auteur part d’un constat : deux commissions sont lancées au Québec et en France dans des contextes similaires d’intense débat social autour de la question de la laïcité. Même si la commission française réserve le rôle principal au concept de laïcité et que la commission québécoise l’examine parmi d’autres concepts, il est évident que la polémique québécoise des accommodements raisonnables en matière sociale et religieuse fait écho au débat du voile en France, les trames de lancement des commissions, une comparaison des concepts de laïcité est ainsi pertinente. Des modèles différents de laïcité des commissions mises en parallèle : une laïcité ouverte mettant davantage l’accent sur la liberté de conscience et permettant le port de signes religieux pour le Rapport Bouchard-Taylor et une laïcité ferme mettant en équilibre la liberté de conscience et l’égalité de traitement avec une nécessité de respect de l’ordre et de la neutralité d’un espace public, alors que le port d’objet religieux ostensibles est exclu de l’école publique pour le Rapport Stasi. Les trajectoires historiques menant à ces commissions permettent de dégager l’importance de moments clés dans la formation de la laïcité : les révolutions, l’installation des idéologies étatiques et l’institutionnalisation par le droit et l’éducation. Ces charnières par leur spécificité nationale contribuent à façonner les laïcités québécoise et française. / The author of this thesis examines two cases, Quebec and France, in which similar issues and debates have propelled state commissions about laïcité. The concept of laïcité, otherwise known as secularism, is the main focus of the Stasi Commission in France and an important one in the Bouchard-Taylor Commission in Quebec. The concept of laïcité is analysed differently in both commission reports. The Bouchard-Taylor report puts forward the concept of « laïcité ouverte » (open secularism) which mainly insists on the promotion of freedom of conscience and allows individuals to wear religious objects. The Stasi Report chooses a firm conception of laïcité which balances freedom of conscience and equality with social order imperatives, putting forward a neutral public space in which public schools should not allow individuals to wear ostensibly visible religious objects. Key moments like revolutions, the installation of state ideologies and the institutionalization of laïcité in the fields of law and education, help us to understand the historical trajectories that have led to the respective apprehensions of secularism. Specific national settings are responsible for the differences in the processes of construction of French and Quebec secularisms.

L’objectif de la recherche est de comprendre l’héritage du rapport de la Commission de consultations sur les pratiques d'accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles (Commission Bouchard-Taylor). Nous présenterons une analyse des mesures adoptées par divers gouvernements québécois, qui ont voté des lois en chambre parlementaire afin de promouvoir la laïcité de l’État. Plusieurs éléments socioculturels retiennent une attention particulière en ce qui concerne les recommandations émises par les experts, puis appropriées par les politiciens lors de projets de loi. Notre recherche de terrain se focalise sur les pratiques religieuses des catholiques pratiquants, ce qui représente une approche distincte par rapport aux autres recherches qui se sont principalement penchées sur les communautés religieuses minoritaires telles que les musulmans ou les juifs, dont les pratiques religieuses sont plus visibles et directement affectées par les lois sur la laïcité. Par le fait d’étudier des membres de la religion catholique dans cette étude, nous pourrons également mieux comprendre la perception de ces pratiquants dans une société qui, depuis de nombreuses années, a véhiculé des préjugés marqués à leur égard dans les médias et l'imaginaire collectif. / The aim of this research is to understand the legacy of the report by the Commission de consultations sur les pratiques d'accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles (Bouchard-Taylor Commission). I first analyze the measures adopted by various Quebec governments, that promote the secular nature of the State. Several issues come to the fore in the way recommendations issued by expert are conceived and then appropriated by politicians when bills are drafted. My research focuses on the religious behavior of practising Catholics, which represents a distinct approach from other research that has focused mainly on minority religious communities such as Muslims or Jews, whose religious practices are more visible and directly affected by secularization laws. By looking at members of the Catholic religion in this study, we will also be able to better understand the perception of these practitioners in a society which, for many years, has conveyed marked prejudices towards them in the media and the collective memory.