Glossary

Allophone

In Québec, the term describes individuals whose heritage language is neither French nor English, although it does not apply to aboriginal peoples.

Alien resident

A person residing in a country who does not have citizenship, either because he has resided there for less than three years or because he has not requested it although he meets the residence requirement.

Assimilation

The process whereby an immigrant renounces his culture of origin to adopt that of the host society. Assimilation can be voluntary or forced.

Burka

A garment with veiled eyeholes that entirely covers the body and head.

Civic nation

A model of society in which collective life is based on rights by relegating to the background the dynamic of identity and everything pertaining to ethnicity (a feeling of belonging, collective memory, national myths, and so on).

Communitarianism

The encouragement by a society's political culture of the formation of ethnic communities that are fairly inward looking.

Concerted adjustment

Similar to reasonable accommodation except that the arrangement falls under the civic sphere and is usually granted by the manager of a public or private institution following amicable agreement or negotiation with users such as patients, students, customers or employees.

Differential

(see "Differential treatment")

Differential treatment

The application for reasons of equality or fairness of a right in different ways to each member of society.

Erub or eruv

In the Jewish community, a real or symbolic alteration of a boundary, for example by means of a simple rope or wire, that delineates a zone in which certain activities normally prohibited by the religion may be carried out on Shabbat or certain religious holidays.

Ethnicity

Collective traits such as language, customs and religion associated with a community, which are transmitted from generation to generation while undergoing changes.

Ethnocultural

Defines any cultural reality stemming from ethnicity.

Focus group

A discussion group led by one or two facilitators with a small group of individuals designed to ascertain the participants' perceptions, opinions and reasoning with respect to a given topic.

Fundamentalism

Religious fundamentalism is an ideology or philosophy that gives the religion absolute precedence over any other norm. It is usually accompanied by a literal, monolithic interpretation of sacred texts.

Heterophobia

In the realm of relations between cultures in a given society, fear, malaise or aversion aroused by what is different.

Intercultural harmonization

(see "Intercultural harmonization practices (measures)")

Intercultural harmonization practices (measures)

In a very broad sense all forms of relaxation or arrangement aimed at settling difficulties and misunderstandings that arise through the encounter of different cultures. More specifically, these measures are adopted in favour of individuals or minority groups threatened with discrimination because of their culture (including their religion). Reasonable accommodation and concerted adjustments are two forms of intercultural harmonization.

Immigrant

An individual established in a national territory but born outside of it. Natives are not immigrants. It is incorrect to refer to second- or third-generation immigrants.

Implicit norm

An informal rule that is not formulated explicitly but nonetheless applies.

Indirect discrimination

Injury to the rights of certain individuals stemming from the rigid application of a statute or a regulation. The notion appears to be falling into disfavour among Supreme Court of Canada justices but is still used by many jurists.

Integration

In a democracy, at the community or societal level integration is the array of processes whereby a community organizes institutions, social relations and culture in a way that leads to the support of the greatest number of its members. From an individual standpoint, it is the array of choices by virtue of which a citizen participates fully if he so desires in the life of the host society, especially in the public sphere, and develops according to his traits and outlook.

Interculturalism

A policy or model that advocates harmonious relations between cultures based on intensive exchanges centred on an integration process that does not seek to eliminate differences.

Interdenominationality

The coexistence in a society of two or more religions.

Islam

The religious faith of Muslims, not to be confused with Islamism (see "Islamism").

Islamism

Currents, often radical or fundamentalist, that combine the religious and the political.

Kirpan

The ceremonial dagger carried by orthodox Sikhs.

Liberal democracy

A democratic regime based on the recognition of individual rights and freedoms.

Liberalism

Principles, theories or actions that guarantee individual freedoms in society.

Mixing of cultures

The melding of two or more cultures through intensive, prolonged contact.

Moral contract

A policy adopted in 1990 by the Québec government to implement an integration framework for immigrants. The document established, in a spirit of reciprocity, the commitments of the host society and newcomers.

Multiculturalism

In its most common sense, a system centred on respect for and the promotion of ethnic diversity in a society. The notion frequently arises that respect for ethnocultural diversity takes precedence over the imperatives of collective integration.

Multiethnicity

A political system or philosophy that fosters the establishment and consolidation of ethnic communities in a given territory, even at the expense of collective integration.

Native

A person who lives where he was born.

Niqab

A garment (often two pieces) that covers the entire body, including the hair and face, except for the eyes.

Non-confessional education system

The abandonment of confessional schools in Catholic and Protestant school boards in Québec and the elimination of religious education in the schools.

Norm

A notion that is taken here to encompass legislation, regulations, contracts, administrative decisions, practice or use, and so on.

Obligation to accommodate

The duty, which, under law, makes it the responsibility of the managers of public and private institutions to avoid discrimination by adopting relaxation or harmonization measures in the administration of certain statutes or regulations.

Open secularism

A form of secularism aimed at banishing religion from State institutions while allowing certain religious expression, e.g. in schools and hospitals, among students or patients.

Pluralism

A system or philosophy, which, in the name of respect for diversity, acknowledges the existence of different political opinions, moral and religious beliefs, and cultural and social behaviour.

Plurinational model

A system that advocates the coexistence within a State of more than one nation.

Racialized groups

Ethnic groups that are the victims of discrimination that is supposedly warranted by biological traits. Related notion: racial profiling.

Radical multiculturalism

A variant of multiculturalism that advocates the promotion of ethnic diversity accompanied by a minimal concern for collective integration. It is synonymous with segregation and ghettoization and is a form of multiethnicity (see "Multiethnicity").

Radical secularism

A form of secularism aimed at banishing all religious expression from State institutions or in the public sphere overall and confining such expression to the private sphere.

Reasonable accommodation

An arrangement that falls under the legal sphere, more specifically case law, aimed at relaxing the application of a standard in favour of an individual threatened with discrimination because of personal traits protected by law.

Religion

(see "Subjective conception of religion")

Representative or parliamentary democracy

A political regime under which the people are represented by individuals elected to exercise power.

Root cause

A basic motivations or beliefs that encourage an individual to adhere to a particular value, moral standard or behavioural model.

Secularism

The principle of separation between church and State.

Secularization

The act or process of eliminating any confessional spirit from State institutions.

Societal

(see "Societal scale")

Societal scale

Refers to the entire array of components or structures of a society, as opposed to microsocial or community scale.

State neutrality

Against a backdrop of interdenominationality, the political philosophy that prohibits the State from favouring one religion over another.

Subjective conception of religion or religious life

Arises when a court, in the examination of a request for accommodation for religious reasons such as a belief or ritual, relies on the complainant's conception of his religion instead of ascertaining the belief's or ritual's conformity with the official doctrine of the religion concerned.

Sukkah or succah

A temporary booth or shelter built for the duration of the nine-day Sukkoth festival to commemorate the 40 years that the Jewish people spent wandering in the desert.

Transcultural dynamic

A process of intense exchanges between cultures leading to the reciprocal integration of various elements.

Undue hardship

The burden stemming from a request for accommodation in terms of bureaucratic red tape, cost, injury to the rights of others, and so on. It is one of the key criteria used in the examination of a request for harmonization.