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MULTICULTURALISM AS A DISCOURSE OF DISGUISE: A POSSIBLE CANADIAN SOLUTION
independent cultures in Canada?" By grouping them together (as members
of one Indigenous culture) we assume that affirming that category will be
sufficient cultural recognition. Ihat portrayal can disguise particular cultural
differences and become a focal point for others to exploit.
Darryl Leroux: Multiculturalism
and the potential for exploitation
Darryl] Leroux gives us an example of the decline of multicultural protections
that Charles Taylor thought good will would ensure. Leroux, in Distorted
Descent, White Claims to Indigenous Identity, documents the evolution of
race shifting in various parts of Canada, meaning the movement of many
white persons towards the adoption of Indigenous identity. The reasons
include a desire to belong, to have something that separates them from
others who, like themselves, are poor, not well- educated and who struggle to
survive. Among some race shifters “kinship aspirations are at the forefront of
a strategic self-making process”.5! Leroux documents over 100,000 persons
in the Maritimes and surrounding areas of Quebec who have researched and
paid others to help find roots so that they can claim Indigenous identity. Such
individuals will enjoy benefits from the increasing support the Canadian
government provides for Indigenous groups. Not only is there comfort to be
found in having and knowing particular roots, race shifting also can disguise
hidden agendas. “In three large regions of Quebec, the logic of lineal descent
has emboldened individuals to claim an Indigenous identity as a strategy to
oppose Indigenous land claims.”**
Now the policy of multiculturalism, which encourages recognition of
cultural differences and claims to overturn historical injustices, has enabled
cultural identity to be a weapon in denying such agendas to others. If the
Indigenous peoples are not united in their claims for recognition, they stand
on weaker ground. Grouping them as Indigenous has weakened their claims
to cultural identity that multiculturalism is supposed to ensure.
Multiculturalism is a policy that disguises an arena of excuses for those
seeking advantage. If cultures, even adopted ones, are only looking to further
self-interest, and not looking to promote a greater good for all, then the original
50 A conference I attended in 2017 on Indigenous education revealed that there was striking
differences across Canada as to what these early cultures expected from the educational
systems. No single plan would reach the needs and expectations of all Indigenous peoples.
Some groups in remote communities were asking for on-site language instruction. Others
had already developed apps for students to access on i-phones to help learn their languages.
The World’s Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education, Metro Convention Centre,
Toronto, 24—28 July 2017.
51 Darryl Leroux, Distorted Descent, White Claims to Indigenous Identity, Winnipeg, University
of Manitoba, 2019, 198.
52 Ibid., 215.
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