The purpose of this study is to examine the Jewish Immigrant Aid Services (JIAS) as an example of an ethnic lobby in the Canadian political system. The research explores how in-group and external political factors influence the techniques and effectiveness of JIAS within the immigration policy arena. Specifically, this paper examines how JIAS' lobbying efforts are influenced as a result of issues emerging from within the organization (e.g. structure, hierarchy, leadership, etc), and those arising from within the organization's constituency: Canadian Jews as a whole, and other organizations within the Jewish polity. Further, the broader context of public opinion and the Canadian immigration system are explored to determine how each affects JIAS' advocacy efforts. The political system is examined from the perspective of the structure and agendas operating at three levels of government involved in the development and implementation of immigration policy (the Department of Immigration, Legislative and Senate committees on immigration and employment, and the Cabinet).

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In this thesis, I argue that the First Nations Governance Act (FNGA) shares the colonial aspirations of other pieces of historical legislation in the Canadian context. The FNGA attempted to have First Nations' local governing structures mirror those of the Canadian state. As a result, this piece of legislation fails to recognize and respect the jurisdictional authority of First Nations over their own internal socio-political structures and systems. The FNGA is therefore a colonial assault on First Nations' jurisdiction in the realm of governance undermining the right to self-government and self-determination of First Nations. / I demonstrate this by examining three major issues dealt with in the FNGA: the status of historical and modern Canada-First Nations treaties, the jurisdiction of First Nations governance authority as well as control over band membership and Indian status classification systems.

Language has become a central feature of the debate surrounding Canadian identity. The Canadian project is an example of a state struggling to find a means of accommodating linguistic difference. This struggle is epitomized by the language legislation in Quebec as well as by federal bilingualism. Language legislation is ultimately aimed at promoting and protecting identity. An examination of language legislation as promoted by Quebec and the federal government reveals a different orientation toward the concept of equality. Language policy thus presents both a vision of community and a political argument. Federal language policy promotes a vision of Canada in which English and French are juridically equal. Politically, this vision of community denies Quebec is distinct. Quebec's language policy, on the other hand, asserts the importance of protecting Quebecois culture against the majoritarian impulses of a larger Canadian identity. As a result, Quebec's language legislation incorporates Quebec's different position in Canada into a definition of equality. Recognition that Quebec has a right to protect its language is tantamount to an acknowledgement that Quebec is a distinct society in Canada. The language debate thus embodies competing visions of equality that relate to a specific identity. The national unity issue plaguing Canada cannot be resolved through a commitment to equality as similar treatment. The problem of language planning, in Canada, revolves around finding a way to acknowledge and promote the local aspirations of the Quebecois, without creating an inequitable language environment for the English linguistic minority in Quebec.