Ch13 Test Questions & Answers Diversity And Representation

CHAPTER 13

Diversity and Representation

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which metaphor is most often used to describe Canada’s multicultural character?
   1. melting pot
   2. mash-up
   3. mosaic
   4. mirror
2. What is a political attachment to someone or something that is seen to epitomize what it means to be a part of one’s political community?
   1. symbolic representation
   2. descriptive representation
   3. mirror representation
   4. nationalism
3. What is a policy or policies consisting of proactive measures to guarantee the descriptive representation of traditionally underrepresented groups known as?
   1. political equity
   2. assisted action
   3. affirmative action
   4. None of the above
4. Which of the following statements captures the meaning of formalistic representation?
   1. My member of parliament (MP) should look like me.
   2. My MP should stand up for my district.
   3. My MP is elected to use her best judgement.
   4. My MP is the voice of a new generation.
5. What is legislated in Quebec’s Bill 21, an act respecting the laicity of the state?
   1. Ensuring that all new immigrants can speak both French and English.
   2. Prohibiting certain provincial government employees from wearing religious clothes or symbols while on the job.
   3. The process by which the province can formally leave Canada.
   4. Requiring that all signs feature French in a prominent size and location.
6. Which of the following scenarios describes an attempt to achieve reasonable accommodation?
   1. RCMP officers are permitted to wear turbans as an exception under the uniform code.
   2. Indigenous smudging ceremonies can be held indoors despite smoking bans.
   3. Children of francophone parents can be educated in French if the number of students is sizeable.
   4. All of the above
7. Which of the following statements is correct according to a Senate committee report?
   1. Sexual minorities are more likely than others to experience harassment and discrimination.
   2. Within two decades, one in four Canadians will belong to a visible minority community.
   3. Urban Indigenous peoples face lower standards of living than non-Indigenous people.
   4. All of the above
8. Which of the following statements is correct with regard to federal political parties?
   1. Since the 1990s, the Liberal Party has set a quota of half of its candidates being women.
   2. Since the 1980s, the NDP has set a quota of half of its candidates being women.
   3. In 2019, more than 30 percent of Conservative Party candidates were women.
   4. All of the above
9. Since 2009, legislatures in _______ have featured the highest proportions of women members.
   1. Saskatchewan and Manitoba
   2. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
   3. Alberta and Prince Edward Island
   4. Quebec and British Columbia
10. Which federal government policy requires civil service managers to proactively consider employing women, people with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, and visible minorities?
    1. affirmative action
    2. employment equity
    3. pay equity
    4. None of the above
11. Which policy is designed to eliminate gender-based discrimination in terms of how federally regulated employees are paid?
    1. employment equity
    2. laicity
    3. pay equity
    4. None of the above
12. What is the community of citizens in Canada outside the realm of government known as?
    1. civil society
    2. mainstream society
    3. public sector
    4. None of the above
13. Which term describes an adjustment(s) to policies that allows for the inclusion of traditionally disadvantaged groups without causing undue hardship to others?
    1. reverse accommodation
    2. reasonable accommodation
    3. Charter-proofing
    4. None of the above
14. Which of the following provides the legal foundation for those seeking reasonable accommodation in Canada?
    1. Section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    2. the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
    3. provincial human rights codes
    4. Both A and C
15. The federal government’s employment equity policy sets _______ to increase the presence of _______ and other traditionally marginalized groups within _______.
    1. quotas / women / the House of Commons
    2. targets / francophones / the bureaucracy
    3. guidelines / people with disabilities / the public service
    4. pay levels / Indigenous peoples / the private sector
16. What is a secular state?
    1. a state controlled by religious leaders
    2. a state run by expert bureaucrats
    3. a state with few if any elected offices
    4. a state that seeks religious neutrality
17. What was the outcome of the Bedford v. Canada case in 2013?
    1. Women were equally entitled to serve in the Senate and, by extension, other political offices.
    2. Abortion was no longer a criminal act in Canada.
    3. Anti-prostitution laws were declared unconstitutional.
    4. The National Action Committee on the Status of Women was disbanded.
18. Which case established that Indigenous rights predated the Charter?
    1. R v. Morgentaler (1993)
    2. Egan v. Canada (1995)
    3. R v. Sparrow (1990)
    4. Persons case (1929)
19. According to law, what is hate speech in Canada?
    1. messages that offend a person based on their gender, ethnicity, or sexuality
    2. messages that promote harm or contempt of an identifiable group of people
    3. messages that are damaging to a person’s reputation
    4. messages that target a traditionally marginalized group
20. Which of the following statements is correct?
    1. All UN declarations and conventions are binding on all countries.
    2. UN rapporteurs may tour member countries without advanced notice or invitation to study and report on the state of human rights.
    3. Previous UN reports have criticized Canada’s treatment of First Nations people.
    4. All of the above
21. Which settler colonial term refers to a tract of land set aside for First Nations people by the federal government?
    1. Band
    2. reserve
    3. treaty lands
    4. Turtle Island
22. Approximately _______ of people living in Canada are Indigenous, and _______ of Indigenous peoples in Canada are status Indians.
    1. 20 per cent; less than one-tenth
    2. 10 per cent; one-tenth
    3. 5 per cent; half
    4. 1 per cent; two-thirds
23. Which of the following statements is correct?
    1. Métis comprise less than 10 per cent of Canada’s Indigenous population.
    2. All Métis people have status under the Indian Act.
    3. All Métis people qualify for treaty rights.
    4. None of the above
24. Which term refers to Indigenous peoples with historic ties to the northernmost lands in Canada?
    1. Status Indians
    2. Inuit
    3. Métis
    4. Non-status Indians
25. Established in 1993, which organization represents non-status First Nations in Canada?
    1. Native Council of Canada
    2. Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
    3. National Indian Brotherhood
    4. National Indigenous Organization
26. A _______ ceiling is a metaphor that constrains groups of people who experience difficultly reaching positions of political power.
    1. twelve-foot
    2. popcorn
    3. glass
    4. false
27. Which of the following is an example of descriptive representation?
    1. half the seats in a legislature are filled by women
    2. a member of parliament holds town halls to hear the concerns of her constituents
    3. a judge is respected for her ability to decide domestic violence cases
    4. All of the above
28. Which of the following is an example of formalistic representation?
    1. a city councillor is known for voicing the concerns of businesses in his ward
    2. a Crown attorney is the first person born in Nunavut to be named to the Supreme Court
    3. a Senator is popular for remaining independent in providing sober second thought
    4. All of the above
29. Which of the following is an example of substantive representation?
    1. a Nova Scotia cabinet minister secures a new shipbuilding contract for her constituency
    2. an MP routinely conducts opinion polls to understand his constituents
    3. a retired farmer chairs the Senate Standing Committee on Agriculture and Forestry
    4. All of the above
30. Which of the following is an example of symbolic representation?
    1. Quebec has three seats on the Supreme Court of Canada
    2. Viola Desmond is the first woman of colour to appear on a Canadian bank note
    3. a gender-balanced cabinet supports legislation that increases paid family leave benefits
    4. All of the above
31. Which of the following is attributable to the success of National Indigenous Organizations?
    1. the inclusion of Aboriginal self-government in the text of the ill-fated Charlottetown Accord
    2. the inclusion of treaty rights in the Constitution Act, 1982
    3. the death of the 1969 White Paper
    4. All of the above
32. Which of the following groups is not identified in the federal Employment Equity Act?
    1. women
    2. Indigenous people
    3. francophones
    4. persons with disabilities
33. How many of the 10 core UN Human Rights declaration is a Canada a party to?
    1. none
    2. fewer than half
    3. most
    4. all
34. Which of the following groups does not have its own officially-recognized National Indigenous Organization that meets regularly with federal and provincial first ministers?
    1. Indigenous women
    2. Indigenous youth
    3. Inuit
    4. Non-status Indians
35. Critics of Senate reform prefer government appointments to direct elections because the current approach achieves better:
    1. formalistic representation for disabled Canadians.
    2. descriptive representation for women and Indigenous peoples.
    3. substantive representation for whitestream Canadians.
    4. symbolic representation for Canadians living abroad.
36. Founded in 1867, which forms of diversity were most reflected in the original institutions of the Canadian state?
    1. region and gender
    2. gender and language
    3. language and religion
    4. religion and Indigeneity
37. Which of the following pieces of legislation did not advance the cause of increasing the descriptive representation of ethnic minorities?
    1. The Multiculturalism Act
    2. The Act Respecting the Laicity of the State
    3. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    4. The Canadian Human Rights Act
38. Specific rules forbidding hate speech in Canada are embedded in:
    1. the Criminal Code of Canada
    2. the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    3. public service codes of conduct
    4. all of the above
39. Through a settler colonial set of policies and labels, the federal government distinguishes among different types of Indigenous peoples:
    1. according to their current place of residence.
    2. according to their place of birth.
    3. according to their eligibility for federal programs and services.
    4. according to how Indigenous peoples self-identify.
40. A _______ is a group of status Indians defined by the federal government.
    1. First Nation
    2. Band
    3. National Indigenous Organization
    4. None of the above
41. Which of the following focusing events served as a catalyst for the establishment of Canada’s first National Indigenous Organizations?
    1. the return of Indigenous veterans at the end of World War II (1945)
    2. the release of Pierre Trudeau Liberals’ policy proposals concerning the Indian Act (1968-69)
    3. the Meech Lake round of constitutional negotiations (1984-87)
    4. the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1991-96)
42. When it comes to federal elections in Canada, which of the following is not a primary driver of low Indigenous turnout?
    1. Indigenous peoples tend to have a weaker sense of civic duty toward the Canadian state.
    2. While Canadian citizens, most Indigenous peoples remain ineligible to vote in federal and provincial elections.
    3. Many Indigenous peoples do not view federal and provincial legislators as providing legitimate formalistic representation for themselves or their communities.
    4. Indigenous peoples tend to share many of the socioeconomic characteristics of non-voters in the non-Indigenous population.
43. Leaders of which of the following types of political parties are least likely to march in many Pride parades in Canada?
    1. left-wing parties
    2. right-wing parties
    3. Atlantic Canadian parties
    4. Western Canadian parties
44. When it comes to breaking the glass ceiling in Canada, which of the following events is most recent?
    1. the appointment of the first woman to serve as prime minister
    2. the appointment of the first woman to serve as governor general
    3. the appointment of the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
    4. the appointment of the first woman to serve in provincial cabinet
45. A political system is said to suffer from a democratic deficit whenever:
    1. non-voters outnumber voters in a given election.
    2. citizens’ evaluation of the political system fall short of their pluralistic democratic standards.
    3. a first minister’s approval ratings drop below two-thirds.
    4. citizens’ democratic expectations decline considerably.
46. To people who value _______ representation, the best candidate, regardless of their socio-economic status or background, should be selected to make decisions on behalf of the entire country.
    1. symbolic
    2. formalistic
    3. substantive
    4. descriptive
47. In all but which one of the following Canadian institutions are quotas increasingly being applied to improve their representativeness?
    1. appointments to the boards of Crown corporations
    2. appointment of candidates to run for major federal political parties
    3. appointments to federal and provincial cabinets
    4. appointments to the Senate
48. Which of the following statements is accurate about political parties in Canada?
    1. Most parties require local constituency associations to search for nominees from traditionally marginalized candidates.
    2. Some parties establish targets for the number of women or visible minorities in their overall slate of candidates.
    3. Most women who win the party nomination are just as likely to win a seat as their male opponents.
    4. All of the above
49. People who believe in _______ often disagree with supporters of _______ on what, if anything, should be done to address the vertical mosaic in Canada.
    1. affirmative action; left-wing parties
    2. descriptive representation; formalistic representation
    3. employment equity; the federal government’s approach to hiring
    4. secularism; the Quebec government’s approach to interculturalism
50. Which of the following terms refers to a Quebec-based alternative to multiculturalism?
    1. interculturalism
    2. transculturalism
    3. nonculturalism
    4. monoculturalism

True or False Questions

In Canada’s House of Commons, Indigenous people tend to have more descriptive representatives than non-Indigenous peoples.

Statistics reveal that women, visible minorities, and Indigenous peoples are over-represented in Canadian legislatures, based on their respective proportions of the population.

Recent immigrants typically encounter difficulty finding work in their fields of expertise and earn less income than their non-immigrant peers.

Once an individual from a traditionally marginalized group has made the decision to run for office, they are not likely to face systemic barriers to gaining a seat in the legislature.

Most provinces have achieved gender equality in cabinet.

There has been a gradual, but noticeable, increase in the number of politicians of non-British origin in urban Canada.

Since 2009, at least four of the nine Supreme Court justices have been women.

The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the only piece of legislation protecting minority rights in Canada.

While not directly enforceable by international law, UN declarations hold their signatories to account through a combination of investigation and moral suasion.

All First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people in Canada have status under the Indian Act.

All status Indians must live on reserve.

Bands are defined by provincial governments taking into account the history and/or cultural ancestry of the communities affected.

Indigenous peoples make up some of the oldest and slowest-growing communities in Canada.

Interactions between the federal government and National Indigenous Organizations represent a nation-to-nation approach.

Prior to 1985, it was possible to lose one’s status under the Indian Act for a variety of reasons.

Canada is a signatory to all 10 of the United Nations’ core human rights declarations.

The Inuit form a majority of the population of Nunavut.

According to federal government policy, the definition of visible minorities includes Indigenous people.

Through the Band system, provincial governments are imposing American-style values and institutions on the Inuit without the regard for traditional modes of governance.

Employment equity is employed by the federal public service in the United States, while its Canadian counterpart practices affirmative action.

Among all provinces, Quebec features the most prevalent and tense debates over reasonable accommodation.

Compared to other minority groups, ethnic and religious rights tend to dominate discussions around reasonable accommodation in Canada.

In Canada, legal rules around hate speech apply exclusively to messages directed at Indigenous peoples and people of colour.

Métis are Indigenous peoples who self-identify as having mixed First Nations and European ancestry, and who maintain some historical connection to and acceptance by a Métis community.

In theory and practice, interculturalism is the same as multiculturalism.

In 2019, the Government of Alberta introduced a law to ban most provincial public servants from wearing religious clothing and symbols while on the job.

In cases involving Indigenous, women’s, and minority rights, the courts have often acted in advance of politicians’ will and even public opinion.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission handles discrimination disputes between Canadian citizens.

Cases involving hate speech in Canada are adjudicated solely by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and must demonstrate that the accused willfully “promotes genocide”.

Some Bands are distributed over several reserves, while some have no designated land whatsoever.

Short Answer Questions

1. In what ways does Canada’s self-image as a mosaic undermine efforts to advance multicultural equality?
2. What are some of the criticisms of Canada’s single-member plurality electoral system with respect to fostering diversity amongst candidates for office?
3. What is the difference between employment equity and affirmative action?
4. What is hate speech, and why are these cases among the most controversial to come before the courts?
5. Explain the origin and significance of the term status Indian.
6. Why is the party nomination stage the most pivotal when it comes to electing more women to Canadian legislatures?
7. Identify and describe the main criticisms of the Band system.
8. Explain the significance and the impact of the 1969 White Paper on Indian Policy on Indigenous political mobilization in Canada.
9. What are the key differences between interculturalism practiced in Quebec and multiculturalism practiced throughout Canada?
10. When it comes to federal elections, what are some of the reasons that Indigenous peoples vote in lower proportions than do non-Indigenous peoples?
11. What are some of the barriers to descriptive representation of people with disabilities?
12. Define and provide an example of symbolic representation in Canada.
13. Why is “settler” such a contested term in Canadian politics today?
14. What is pay equity and to whom does it apply?
15. Define reasonable accommodation using two examples.
16. Compare the dominant modes of multiculturalism in Canada and the United States.
17. When it comes to promoting diversity and inclusion, compare the function of the Canadian Human Rights Act with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
18. What is a Band Council and why is its role contested in Canadian politics?
19. Identify and describe a focusing event from the past decade that drew attention to the deeply embedded discrimination in Canadian political culture.
20. What are National Indigenous Organizations and to what extent do they provide substantive representation of Indigenous peoples in Canadian politics?

Essay Questions

1. What is the role of the courts in protecting disadvantaged groups in Canada? What are some of the criticisms of the judiciary’s role in this regard?
2. With the use of examples, distinguish among Pitkin’s four types of political representation. Which of these types is most important to measuring Canada’s democratic deficit, and why?
3. Which groups has a Senate committee identified as either vulnerable or facing significant barriers to inclusion in Canada’s representative democracy? What are the best solutions to enhancing their meaningful participation in Canadian politics?
4. Does Canada suffer from a democratic deficit? Why or why not?
5. When it comes to federal and provincial elections, why do Indigenous peoples participate at lower rates than non-Indigenous peoples? From whose perspective is this problematic and why?