The pursuit of division : race, gender, and preferential hiring in Canada

The topic of equity policies and identity politics in Canada is at the forefront of public and media discussion, and Martin Loney adds fuel to the fire. In The Pursuit of Division he provides a provocative critique of recent government policies with respect to race, gender, and preferential hiring, exposing the suspect methods of so-called progressive thinkers in their pursuit of the politics of difference. Loney takes issue with popular attitudes toward race and gender, whereby to be born a woman or a member of a visible minority is to enter life at a disadvantage and therefore be entitled to compensatory provision. Arguing that social class not group membership determines life chances, he refutes the claims of those who detect systemic prejudice and discrimination and reap considerable public subsidy in return. From the release of the Abella report to the present, Loney sets the growth of federal involvement in preferential hiring in the context of a growing industry whose success depends on the constant affirmation of group grievance based on gender or race. He argues that preferential hiring policies and a muddled multiculturalism leads to the continual assertion of the primacy of race even as the government officially opposes racial thinking. Loney discusses many up-to-date and high profile examples, including Bob Rae's preoccupation with skin and gender politics, Brian Mulroney's attempts to strengthen the Conservative Party's ethnic constituency by funding ethnic groups and maintaining high levels of immigration, and former defence minister David Colinette's extensive use of public funds to court ethnic voters in his Toronto constituency. The Pursuit of Division will be essential reading for anyone concerned about where government-mandated policies on equity and multiculturalism may be taking us and about the implications of emphasizing the politics of difference over that of shared community. Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 The New Orthodoxy: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Grievance 2 Orthodoxy: Asserting Race and Gender Inequality 3 Canadian Feminists and the Cultivation of Racial Grievance 4 Beyond Orthodoxy: Canadian Race Relations in International and Historical Perspective 5 Rebutting Orthodoxy: The Myth of Racial Discrimination in the Canadian Labour Market 6 Government by Race and Gender 7 Endorsing Orthodoxy: The Abella Report and Federal Employment Equity Legislation 8 Lies, Damn Lies, and Federal Employment Equity Data 9 Immigrants and Refugees: Policies in Search of a Rationale 10 Alabama North: Race, Gender, and the Politics of the Rae Government 11 Spare Me the Facts: Orthodoxy and the Flight from Scholarly Inquiry 12 The Pursuit of Division Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z