(1994), which argued that multiculturalism pro-
motes social conflict and a diminished sense of Ca-
nadian identity. In contrast, Will Kymlicka, inFind-
ing Our Way: Rethinking Ethnocultural Relations in
Canada(1998), argued that the multiculturalism
had not decreased the rate of integration by immi-
grants. His statistics showed considerable levels of
political participation, rates of intermarriage, and
the ability of new Canadians to speak an official lan-
guage, French or English.
Canadians experienced considerably less ethnic
violence than persons living in the United States, al-
though violent incidents did occasionally take place.
The most highly publicized event occurred in the
town of Oka, Quebec, during the summer of 1990,
when the town announced plans to expand a golf
course into an area near the Mohawk community of
Kanesatake. The disputed area included a tradi-
tional burial ground and a grove of pine trees that
was considered sacred. After losing a court battle,
members of the Mohawk community erected a barri-
cade around the area. At the request of the town
mayor, the provincial police of Quebec intervened,
and they attacked the barricade, deploying tear gas
and flash-bang grenades to create confusion in the
Mohawk ranks. One police officer was killed during
the resulting fifteen-minute gunfight. Native Ameri-
can groups in Canada and the United States then
joined the conflict. In solidarity, several Mohawks
from another community, Kahnawake, blockaded a
bridge between Montreal and a southern suburb, re-
sulting in large traffic jams and angry anti-Mohawk
crowds. The federal government then brought in
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as well
as 2,500 members of the Canadian armed forces.
Most citizens of Quebec expressed outrage with the
Mohawk actions. After lasting seventy-eight days, the
crisis finally ended when the federal government
agreed to spend $5.3 million to purchase the dis-
puted land. One consequence of the dispute was
passage of the First Nations Policing Policy, which al-
lowed aboriginal peoples more control over their
police services.
Impact In 1997, U.S. president Bill Clinton spon-
sored a national discussion on racial issues, which
was called One America in the Twenty-first Century:
The President’s Initiative on Race. The announced
goal of the initiative was to promote appreciation for
the nation’s growing diversity as it entered the new
century. Although the initiative produced a number
of interesting conferences, most observers were dis-
appointed with its results. Native Americans and
other minority groups protested their lack of inclu-
sion in the initial organization, and some conserva-
tive white Americans bitterly complained that their
ideas and perceptions about issues like affirmative
action were not taken seriously.
As the twentieth century ended, in both the
United States and Canada there were many indica-
tions of improvements in race relations. In the
United States, for instance, 12.1 percent of the new
marriages were between persons of different races,
compared with only 3 percent in 1970. A Pew Carter
poll of 1999 found that 63 percent of respondents
said that interracial marriages were good “because
they helped break down racial barriers.” Many busi-
nesses and educational institutions tried to improve
race relations with sensitivity training—with mixed
results. Although growing numbers of disadvan-
taged minorities were achieving middle-class status,
the U.S. Census Bureau reported in 1999 that Afri-
can Americans, in comparison with non-Hispanic
whites, were three times more likely to be poor and
six times more likely to serve prison terms. Although
overt racial discrimination was illegal and increas-
ingly rare, most experts agreed that covert discrimi-
nation, often encouraged by negative stereotypes,
continued to be widespread.Further Reading
CQ Research Staff.Issues in Race, Ethnicity and Gender.
Washington D.C.: CQ Press, 2002. Balanced dis-
cussions of controversies relating to Native Amer-
icans, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian
Americans at the end of the twentieth century,
with bibliographical essays.
Feagin, Joe R., and Clairece B. Feagin.Racial and Eth-
nic Relations. 7th ed. New York: Prentice Hall,- A popular, one-sided textbook asserting
that American institutions continue to be white
supremacist, racially hierarchical, and oppressive
of minority groups.
Li, Peter S., ed.Race and Race Relations in Canada.2d
ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. An
interesting collection of essays about issues of dis-
crimination, multiculturalism, and the status of
visual minorities.
Marger, Martin.Race and Ethnic Relations: American
and Global Perspectives. 5th ed. Belmont, Calif.:
700 Race relations The Nineties in America