This research note reports on a new effort to track candidate diversity in Canadian elections. The dataset covers 4,516 candidates who ran in the 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2019 federal elections and includes novel data on their race, Indigenous background and age, alongside information on gender, occupation, prior electoral experience and electoral outcome. We outline the process for collecting and systematizing these data, which relied on genealogical methods and the principle of triangulation. The data can be used to track diversity among electoral candidates over time or merged with other sources to answer district-level questions about representational diversity, electoral dynamics, vote choice and political communications. The method could also be replicated and applied to other levels of government.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of the term multiculturalism by Canadian justices. The goal is twofold. First, identify the context in which it has been used and delineate the meaning given to multiculturalism by Canadian Courts. Second, contrast the Federal State’s conception of multiculturalism with the courts’ implicit understanding. Although Canadian courts often refer to multiculturalism, their conception is much less unequivocal and its scope quickly widened, going beyond what had been planned at the time of its adoption in 1971.

Chinese older adults may be at increased risk of social isolation and loneliness, and a fragmented understanding exists about the challenges they face for social participation in their neighbourhoods and communities. A scoping review was undertaken to describe the current knowledge on social isolation and loneliness in urban-dwelling Chinese older adults living in Western societies to inform future research, practice, and policy in Canada. Nineteen articles met the inclusion criteria. The World Health Organization’s age-friendly community framework contextualized the study findings. Studies identified issues related to (1) social participation; (2) community support and health services; (3) housing; (4) community and information; (5) respect and social inclusion; (6) outdoor spaces and public buildings; (7) civic participation and employment; and (8) transportation. Social isolation and loneliness is a growing concern in this population in Canada, and additional research is needed to identify its scope and effective interventions.

This paper focuses on the role of religion and ethnicity in providing social support for elderly Dutch Canadian Catholic and Calvinist parents and in establishing ethno-religious retirement and long-term care facilities. The data come from a 1995 survey of elderly Dutch Canadian immigrants (N = 79) and their adult children (N = 364) examining intraethnic differences in ethnic persistence and parent care. Continuity theory provides the theoretical framework for this study. In the last few decades, second generation Dutch Calvinist immigrants have been busy establishing retirement and long-term care facilities to look after the needs of the older Calvinist generation. Dutch Catholic immigrants have established very few retirement and nursing homes for their elderly members. Ethnic and religious differences influence the kind of support available to elderly Dutch Canadians.

Montrealers are often categorized into three distinct groups: Anglophones, Francophones, and Allophones. However, within these groups there are individuals whose trajectories are complex, as reflected, for example, in their linguistic practices. Our interest lies in the relationship between these complex practices and the ethnolin-guistic attributions of the speakers. We concentrate on two groups of Francophones: those from Spanish-speaking families who have been in Quebec for one or two generations and those from Francophone families who have frequent English-speaking contacts. After summarizing the results of a perception test, in which Francophones from Quebec were asked to identify the ethnolinguistic affiliation of speakers of various origins based on short clips of their French, we analyze the usage of sociopho-netic variables reflecting the influence of French, Spanish, or English. The analysis indicates that phonetic variation stems from speakers’ sociosymbolic orientation, as well as certain other sociodemographic factors linked to identity construction as it relates to ethnicity.

The possibility of exploring ethnic identities in past societies constitutes one of the most controversial fields of archaeological research. However, the reassessment of the conceptualization of ethnicity in the human sciences and the increasing transference of these theories to archaeological research is helping to develop new analytical frameworks for the study of this problematic subject. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to attempt a theoretical and methodological approach to the complex relationships between ethnic identity and material remains from the standpoint of Iron Age studies, showing both the possibilities and difficulties of archaeological research on ethnicity. For this period, the incipient availability of written evidence allows the development of new interdisciplinary research strategies. Finally, an introduction to practical work in this field is presented, specifically focusing on two case studies: Ruiz Zapatero and Álvarez-Sanchís' approach to the identity of the Vettones of the central Iberian Peninsula, and the author's own work on the Late Iron Age sanctuaries of the Middle Rhine-Moselle region.

This article bridges the literatures on nationalist projects and everyday nationhood by elucidating a repertoire of actions shared by both. Analysis of such “nation-work” contributes to the cognitive turn in ethnicity and nationalism research by showing how ethnonational categorization operates. Examining variation in this domain shows that though nationalism may project an image of a homogeneous “we”, internal heterogeneity is crucial for refining the experience and performance of membership in the nation.

This study examines the relationship between ethnicity and the provision of assistance to older relatives. A sample of employed Canadians (N = 2,753), a subsample of the CARNET Work and Family Survey, is used to explore how ethnicity influences the amount of assistance provided to older relatives. Findings from our study suggest that Asians, East Indians, and Southern Europeans provide higher levels ofhelp than British respondents. Final obligation affects the amount of help provided but plays a similar role within each ethnic group. However, structural factors — in particular, living arrangement and age — are stronger predictors of the level of involvement in helping older relatives than are cultural factors of filial obligation and belonging to a particular ethnic group.

This article highlights the incidence of poverty amongst older persons in Canada by documenting the poverty rates among women and men from seven different ethnic groups representing both White ethnic and visible minority populations (Chinese, Aboriginal, Ukrainian, Jewish, Black, Greek and Italian ethnic ancestry). Special attention is placed on the incidence of poverty amongst older women and reasons for differential poverty rates among ethnic older women will be addressed. An attempt is made to link these issues with an agenda for gerontological research, policy and practice including addressing the need for improved services for this population.

This study assessed changes in older peoples' levels of perceived respect between the 1970s and the 1980s using data from the Aging in Manitoba Study. A longitudinal analysis was conducted for Manitobans, age 65 and over, who were interviewed in the mid 1970s and subsequently reinterviewed in the early 1980s. Changes in perceived respect scores for those who survived into the 1980s, and who provided ratings at both interviews (n = 776), were assessed in a repeated measures ANOVA. Significant increases were found in the mean level of respect for some ethnic groups, namely for the British, French, and German. A subsequent analysis indicated that the reported improvements in perceived respect could not be explained by participation in the study. These results may suggest that over the decade, the social climate of the elderly population in Manitoba has improved, at least for some ethnic groups.

Data from the 1990 Canadian General Social Survey on Friends and Family were used to examine the relationship between ethnicity and patterns and characteristics of friendship in later life. Ethnicity (i.e. British, French, European – the most prevalent ethnic groups amongst Canadian seniors – and a “Multi-Ethnic” category) is examined in relation to the number of friends reported, satisfaction with friendships, and the geographic proximity to and frequency of contact with the closest identified friend, with attention also given to the factors of age, gender, and marital status. Although results indicate differences for both gender and marital status, ethnicity emerged as the most consistent predictor. Specifically, the French have fewer friends, they live closer to them and are in more frequent contact. The British live further from their friends, who are more numerous. The British and the French did not differ from each other in terms of satisfaction with friendship. The European and the Multi-Ethnic groups were similar across the comparisons made. These results are interpreted in the context of social support access and underscore the importance of including ethnicity in studies of aging and social relations.

This essay deals with the findings of an ethnographic study carried out in two urban neighborhoods in Germany. Although the German residents felt bound by the norms of ethnic equality, they used negative classifications to stigmatize upwardly mobile members of the Turkish community. In doing so, they undermined these equality norms without explicitly calling them into question. This paradox can be explained by a latently active, primordial belief in kinship, which is ultimately rooted in a symbolic order of ethnic inequality.

Stable isotope measurements and radiocarbon dates on 54 burials from northern Scotland document trends in marine protein consumption from the late Iron Age to the end of the Middle Ages. They illuminate how local environmental and cultural contingencies interrelated with a pan-European trend towards more intensive fishing around the end of the first millennium AD. Little use was made of marine foods in late Iron Age Orkney despite its maritime setting. Significant fish consumption appeared in the Viking Age (ninth to eleventh centuries AD), first in the case of some men buried with grave-goods of Scandinavian style but soon among both sexes in ‘Christian’ burials. There was then a peak in marine protein consumption from approximately the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries AD, particularly among men, after which the importance of fish-eating returned to Viking Age levels. The causes of these developments probably entailed a complex relationship between ethnicity, gender, Christian fasting practices, population growth, long-range fish trade and environmental change.