The Politics of Multiculturalism

The book Politics of Multiculturalism is the memoir of an academic whose expertise in the education of Canadian minorities led him to take on a major political role in the Canadian multicultural movement. Born in the Ukrainian bloc settlement of east-central Alberta and educated at the universities of Alberta, Minnesota, and Harvard, Manoly R. Lupul combined the outlook of a liberal secular humanist with a conviction that modern society could be enriched by the cultural potential of ethnicity. His concern for the expansion of minority linguistic and cultural rights in Canada was sharpened by a direct encounter with the policy of Russification in Ukraine during a sabbatical leave in the late 1960s. Dr. Lupul's involvement in Canadian multiculturalism began with the drafting and passage of Alberta's first school legislation for bilingual programs (1971); similar laws were subsequently enacted in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. He went on to serve as an executive member of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism and a member of the Alberta Cultural Heritage Council. In 1976 Dr. Lupul became the founding director of CIUS Press at the University of Alberta, the first publicly funded institution of its kind outside Ukraine. He contributed significantly to the development of the multiculturalism section of the Constitution of Canada (1982). This memoir, based not only on personal writings and recollections but also on extensive documentation, brings together much information previously unavailable in print. In his frank account, Dr. Lupul offers unrivalled first-person insight into the aspirations that gave rise to Canada's policy of multiculturalism and the interplay of forces that shaped and blunted its development. The book will appeal to readers interested in Canadian culture and politics and, more generally, in the problem of promoting minority-group rights in democratic societies.