Public Commissions on Cultural and Religious Diversity ― Analysis, Reception and Challenges

The question of how to manage cultural and religious diversity has found expression in several countries through the creation of government-initiated public commissions. These commissions have produced carefully written reports on the contexts and challenges regarding national identity and the impact of greater diversity on the law, public institutions, integration and religion. Analysing the work of public commissions in Britain, France, Belgium, and Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Singapore and Norway the book reflects on how they were formed, the way they framed religious and cultural diversity, the questions and controversies they examined, the key political actors involved, public and media reception, legal challenges and the impact they had both on public policy and in concrete situations such as work, schools and health care. The reports represent a rich body of work charting the fundamental questions nations face about their nature, history, and future while the different ways they were initiated and their impact on peoples’ lives tells us much about different approaches to the issues of cultural identity between countries.

Solange Lefebvre is titleholder of the Chair of Religion, Culture, and Society. She founded and directed the Centre for the Study of Religion (CERUM) at the University of Montreal. She is the principal investigator of an eight-member international research team whose focus is religion, diversity and commissions. She is also on the executive committee of the Religion and Diversity SSHRC Partnership Project.Between 1997 and 2000. She is also a commentator for the national media. Lefebvre also served as a member of the Committee of Experts for the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences (CCPARDC), chaired by Gerard Bouchard and Charles Taylor. Patrice Brodeur, is a Canadian national, and joined KAICIID as Director of Research. With a BA in Religious Studies and an MA in Islamic Studies, both from McGill University, as well as a second Master’s in Comparative Religion and a PhD in Islam and Judaism from Harvard Brodeur’s extensive experience stretches back to early beginnings as a Teaching Assistant at Harvard and Director of the National Conference for Community and Justice Seminarians Interacting Program in New York. He later became Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at Connecticut College. Since 2005, prior to joining KAICIID, Brodeur served as Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair on Islam, Pluralism and Globalization in the Faculty of Theology and the Religious Sciences at the University of Montreal. An esteemed author and multilinguist, Brodeur has received numerous awards, including fellowships, scholarships, research grants, and prizes during his distinguished career. He won 1st Prize for the Social Entrepreneurship Venture Plan Competition at the University of Notre Dame Mendoza Business School (2005) and received an Interfaith Visionary Award? from the Temple of Understanding (2010).