Will Kymlicka Analysis

Multiculturalism is a debated topic in Canada and around the world. Will Kymlicka is a Canadian scholar who has written about various issues in multiculturalism. However, other scholars have determined that there are multiple constraints in Kymlicka’s theories. Major debates occurred around the notion of the value of culture and government protection, the distinction between different minority groups, if a culture is unique to a nation and the notion of equal participation of minorities in a liberal state.

Value of Culture and Government Protection

A few authors disagree with Will Kymlicka’s view that minority’s cultures are valuable and the state should protect them in order to ensure equality. Kymlicka states that the relationship between

Young questions Kymlicka’s view of a nation, finding it too rigid because not all countries share a distinct language and culture. She uses Israel as an example. Moreover, Piper identifies that in a culture structure it is difficult to separate the attributes of culture. For example, how different are the Welsh and English or Zulu and Xhosa cultural structures. Piper finds it is difficult to map from societal cultures to nations and vice versa. For example, America and Canada could be considered the same ‘nations’ because of the similar cultures. The authors identify that cultures and their nations are not clearly defined. To put the definitions into the Canadian context Richard Spaulding in “Peoples as national minorities: A review of Will Kymlicka’s arguments for aboriginal rights from a self-determination perspective” and Kymlica both discuss Aboriginals who have guaranteed national minority rights like the Quebecois but do not have the same equal rights due to various groups within the Aboriginals who are unique in culture. A.S.M Anwarullah Bhuiyan in “A Critical Response to Will Kymlicka’s View of Multiculturalism” mentions that national minorities deserve fair treatment by the state, but the Indigenous have lost their societal culture due to an unjust societal system. As a result of the critiques findings, a culture is not a synonym with a nation. It is difficult to identify unique cultures and to determine if each unique culture should receive special rights. In Canada, the Aboriginals have unique rights but the smaller groups identify they have unique cultural characteristics the harder it is to give rights to the defined