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The purpose of this study was to analyze Canadian Citizenship Guides as a proxy for an official policy voice of the Canadian government about what it means to be a Canadian citizen and what is expected from a Canadian citizen. This study analyzed six Canadian Citizenship Guides in the English language developed between 1947 and 2012 and identified how the selection of historical, governmental and social topics, and the use of different words and rhetorical strategies within each contemporary historical context constructed a narrative about what constitutes a Canadian citizen. To construct the narratives of Canadian citizen present in each Canadian Citizenship Guide, the study analysed the narratives about Canada, adaption to Canadian culture, and expected citizenship participation present in each guide. The study also sought continuities and disruptions in the narratives to explore how the narratives changed over time. The study concluded that while the narratives constructed by each guide (good character citizen, responsible citizen, wholesome citizen, politically active citizen, citizenship student, and loyal citizen) had unique elements, at the macro-level it could be said that from 1947 to 2012 there seemed to be more continuities than disruptions in the construction of the narratives of the Canadian citizen, and the narratives about Canada, adaption to Canadian culture, and expected citizenship participation.

The process of identification for émigrés in host countries requires an investigation into the “politics of identity”, and epistemological tensions of how identity is conceptualized and practiced in the context of multicultural environments. Indeed, multiculturalism frameworks in Canada have emerged from attempts to manage coexisting cultures living in the nation-state. This research is a comparative theoretical discussion that mobilizes postmodern perspectives to open limited notions of Canadian identity, and describes the potential challenges that English Canadian and Francophone Quebec multicultural frameworks raise in cultural identification for Canada as a whole, and specifically for émigrés. Secondary literature for the analysis of multicultural frameworks is examined with citizenship markers from Census of Canada questionnaires, to conceptualize Canadian identity through discourse. The findings: (1) postulate how the multiculturalist framework in English Canada and the politics of intercultural identity in Quebec intervene in the meaning-making process of national identity and thus impede on the preservation and development of different cultural identities; and (2) discover that both frameworks of multiculturalism and interculturalism, as an institutionalization of social justice and equality, should be reframed or refined due to the limiting conceptualization of cultural identity as fluid. The findings conclude that multiculturalism, interculturalism, and citizenship frameworks may not provide effective strategies to balance the relationship between different groups with regards to ethnic and cultural rights and equality, and that these frameworks should be revisited to account for, and represent, the complexities of identity in Canada.

In this research, I undertake an analysis of the relationship between aggregate voter turnout and income inequality within late-modern capitalist democracies to better understand the problem of declining voter turnout in these societies. I analyse this relationship at the sub-national level using provincial-level Canadian data and at the national level through a sample of twenty-one nations. At both levels, cross-sectional time-series regression analyses of pooled data are applied. Findings are interpreted through a citizenship lens; specifically the work of T.H. Marshall (1950) and Esping-Andersen (1990), as both social and political inclusion are fundamental and constitutive elements of citizenship. Initial findings include a statistically significant negative relationship between income inequality and voter turnout, for both provincial and federal general elections in Canada (1976-2011); this relationship is also found at the national level in a sample of older democracies (1980-2013). The relationship holds using various measures of income inequality including the Gini coefficient and a range of income ratios. However, once time is controlled for in the model this relationship seems to disappear. This suggests a lack of support for the theory that income inequality has a direct impact on participation in the exercise of political power. Rather, a more fundamental factor or factors seem to be causing these societal shifts. I discuss alternate ways of understanding this relationship, including how declining voter turnout and income inequality might be related to the broader socio-political and economic changes associated with economic globalisation and the global spread of neo-liberal fiscal policies. I conclude that to better understand the relationship between voter turnout and income inequality further research is required. / Graduate / 0630 / stewartl@uvic.ca

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Over the last twenty years, the academic work on citizenship education and democracy promotion has grown exponentially. This research investigates the United States federal government’s cultivation of a ‘politics of citizenship’ through the Corporation for National and Community Service and the AmeriCorps program. Drawing on Marxist-feminist theory and institutional ethnography, this research examines the ways in which democratic learning is organized within the AmeriCorps program through the category of ‘civic engagement’ and under the auspices of federal regulations that coordinate the practice of AmeriCorps programs trans-locally. The findings from this research demonstrate that the federal regulations of the AmeriCorps program mandate a practice and create an environment in which ‘politics,’ understood broadly as having both partisan and non-partisan dimensions, are actively avoided in formalized learning activities within the program. The effect of these regulations is to create an ideological environment in which learning is separated from experience and social problems are disconnected from the political and material relations in which they are constituted. Further, the AmeriCorps program cultivates an institutional discourse in which good citizenship is equated with participation at the local scale, which pivots on a notion of community service that is actively disengaged from the State. Through its reliance on these forms of democratic consciousness, the AmeriCorps program engages in reproductive praxis, ultimately reproducing already existing inequalities within U.S. society. The primary elements of this reproductive praxis have been identified as ‘a local fetish’ and the ‘democratic management of inequality.’ The local fetish refers to the solidification of the local as the preferential terrain of democratic engagement and is characterized by an emphasis on face-to-face moral relationships, local community building, and small-scale politics. The democratic management of inequality refers to the development of discursive practices and the organization of volunteer labor in the service of poverty amelioration, which is in turn labeled ‘good citizenship.’ This research directs our attention to a more complicated notion of praxis and its relationship to the reproduction of social relations. Also, this research brings into focus the problem of the conceptualization of civil society and its relationship to democracy and capitalism.

Several writers have described the aim of global citizenship education as developing in students a global ethic of social justice. Western post-secondary institutions have endeavored to educate students for global citizenship by traveling to and volunteering in developing countries. Such programs have the potential to perpetuate the epistemic violence of colonialism by ignoring the ways in which students appropriate the developing world as ‘other’ as use these experiences to solely benefit themselves. In order to address such issues and concerns, this qualitative study used post-colonial theory to analyze the experiences and reflections of six participants who participated in a Canadian university global citizenship program in Thailand. The study suggests that culture and perceived cultural differences have a major effect on how students understand their identity and agency as global citizens, bringing forth dimensions of ambivalence and cultural hybridity. In order for programs to develop a global ethic of social justice, however, students need to be informed and reflexive about the social-historical context of the country they are visiting as well as their positionality in relation to the people they engage with. / Theoretical, Cultural and International Studies in Education

In this thesis I use the case study of Portuguese construction workers in Toronto to provide an assessment of how Canada’s skill-based immigrant selection policies treat workers with low human capital. Government rhetoric and much academic writing has presented skill-based immigration programs as responding effectively to the needs of the labour market, and as a progressive move away from the racist and particularistic exclusions present in previous policies. However, the case study presented in this thesis provides a less optimistic reading of the situation. A persistent labour shortage in manual trades, and a selection system that excludes ‘blue collar’ workers from permanent membership, suggest an immigration policy that is neither in synch with the needs of the labour market nor justly administered. Through a discursive policy analysis, I critique Canadian citizenship and immigration policy in two areas. First, policies have been built on flawed assumptions about how certain segments of the labour market function, leading them to place too high a premium on human capital. Second, workers with low human capital tend to be denied permanent membership and held on precarious legal statuses. The result is a differential access to key social, civic and economic rights depending on a migrant’s skill category. An image of ‘fragmented citizenship’ therefore appears more realistic than writings proclaiming an expansion of universal rights and the emergence of a postnational mode of belonging. The new exclusions of skill-based selection systems have not gone unchallenged. In the case of Toronto’s Portuguese community, protests in 2006 surrounding the deportation of undocumented construction workers served to visibly challenge the state’s definition of what constitutes a ‘desirable citizen’. The protests generated wide public support by engaging a traditional logic of national citizenship, arguing that the Portuguese fit the bill as ‘good Canadians’, though this came at the cost of reinforcing the barriers to entry for other groups of migrants.

A comparative study of the development of places of worship in Sydney was conducted primarily through the collection of data from development applications to construct or to use premises as a place of worship over a five year period from 2000-2005. The data indicated that a greater and disproportionately higher number of applications by religious minorities were rejected. The significance of the findings does not lie exclusively in identifying the likelihood of development applications gaining approval. The process of determining development applications and the impacts of the outcome of the process were also important. This is why the content of the objections raised to development applications was analysed. The underlying themes in the opposition to development applications related strongly to citizenship, particularly how the boundaries of local forms of citizenship are negotiated. In establishing places of worship religious groups seek to have their citizenship claims recognised. These citizenship claims include: the right to access, mark and use space (Dunn 2005), equality of citizenship with local residents and with other religious groups, and importantly, the right to freedom of worship. One of the main assertions made in this thesis is that by restricting access to sites that people can worship and by restricting the practice of religion, the right to freedom of worship is compromised. Churches dominate the religious landscape of Sydney. This dominance can be partially attributed to the significant levels of historical assistance from the state with the building of Churches. This included access to land, free labour, support for clergy and income support which assisted in the development of early Churches. The appropriateness of giving this type of assistance is not debated in this thesis. However, the assistance itself is significant for two main reasons. Firstly it is emblematic of the privileged relationship between the Church and the state in Australia, and secondly, it raises questions over the lack of privileges afforded to religious minorities. In responding to the question of whether secularism is likely to assist religious minorities, the establishment of places of worship demonstrates how pluralising the Church state link may be of greater utility to religious minorities than strict forms of secularism. The examination of this issue introduces the importance of an equal relationship between the state and religious groups to equality of citizenship for religious minorities. The extent to which multicultural citizenship can assist religious minorities in realising their right to freedom of worship was critically examined in this thesis. The adequacy of the institutional responses to religious diversity was assessed. This included an examination of local government, courts, the media, heritage programs and the planning profession. The planning process demonstrates how a supposedly neutral or colour-blind approach can generate uneven outcomes, which discriminate against religious minorities. The broader policy and legislative responses to religious diversity were examined in order to identify how deficiencies in the multicultural framework contributed to difficulties for religious minorities establishing places of worship.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Collin, P. (2009) The Making of Good Citizens: Participation policies, the internet and youth political identities in Australia and the United Kingdom. PhD Thesis, University of Sydney. Abstract This thesis examines the relationship between youth participation policies, the internet and young people’s political participation. In recent times youth participation policies have become an increasingly popular solution to a range of perceived ‘issues’ related to young people: either problems of youth disengagement from democracy or their exclusion from democratic processes. At the same time, young people’s lives are increasingly mediated by information communication technologies: identity, social relationships, learning and cultural, political and economic practices are embedded in the internet and mobile usage. Consequently, the internet is being increasingly utilised to promote and implement the aims of these youth participation policies. Despite the need to understand the relationship between policy and practice, research rarely considers the relationship between policy, practice and young people’s views and experiences. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature by looking at what participation means in youth policy, in the practice of non-government organisations and for young people themselves. It engages directly with young people’s experiences and in doing so moves beyond questions of mobilisation and reinforcement. Instead it examines the diversity of ways in which young people conceptualise and practice participation, both online and offline. It also relates their views and actions to broader changes in governance and democracy and draws on contemporary theories of political identity and citizenship to make sense of the way that young people view, and exercise, citizenship. This study draws on original qualitative research generated in a comparative study of Australia and the United Kingdom. The experiences of young people in two national non-government organisations are studied and explored in relation to the policy discourses on youth and participation in each country setting. This study has drawn on participant observation, document analysis and in-depth interviews with twenty four young people and eight executive staff and board members across the two country settings. This thesis provides an in-depth account of how young people conceptualise and practice politics. In doing so, it argues, firstly, that the political identities of young people are shaped by dominant discourses of youth and participation and that youth participation policies are transforming the ways that young people conceptualise participation and engage in participatory activities. Although participation policies are often intended to connect young people to government policy making processes, young people remain cynical about the interest and ability of governments to recognise and respond to their views. They see governments and politicians as remote from their lives and the issues they cared about. Comparatively, they demonstrate a passionate commitment to causes, to personally defined acts incorporated in their everyday lives through local volunteering and contributing to national initiatives. Furthermore, these young people reject traditional hierarchies, show significant commitment to action over ideology and value the cultural and interpersonal dimensions of participation. They often conceptualise participation as everyday acts through networks that transcend traditional models of membership-based organisations, of state-oriented politics, of locally-based action and of formal and informal policy making processes. Secondly, young people use the Internet for a diverse range of participation activities. The internet facilitates activities which bring together the political, cultural, social and economic dimensions of young people’s lives. For instance, participatory activities, friendships, study, hobbies and consumer activities were often interwoven as young people discussed participation. However, the picture that emerged in this thesis is that the agency and autonomy that young people value in online participation contrasts starkly with government policies which favour structured, managed, prescribed processes for youth participation both on and offline. Thirdly, whilst participation policies have opened up new access points to policy-making from which young people have traditionally been excluded, they tend to legitimise managed forms of participation and de-legitimise others. Consequently, participation policies, in their present form, tend to exacerbate, rather than remedy problems of elitism and can further alienate young people from political elites. Furthermore, as discourses of participation are becoming more prevalent in the non-government sector, young people are increasingly oriented away from government towards other actors. This thesis finds that young people are becoming more, not less, alienated from formal politics as they find more resonance in non-government processes and feel more excluded from the processes of government.