Immigrants and Cultural Citizenship: Rights, Responsibilities and Indicators

Abstract

Cultural citizenship is a concept increasingly mobilized both in Canada and in other countries. Within the cultural policy circles of particular countries, it is often defined in terms of the nation-state, but outside of these it increasingly signifies complex, cosmopolitan forms of cultural identity shaped by diasporic and global networks. This paper explores how differing concepts of cultural citizenship play out in the policy contexts that govern the integration of newcomers to Canada. What role does cultural capital play in the creation of citizens? And how can we measure whether Canadian society is indeed encouraging cultural citizenship in its fullest sense?