The State and Ethnic Diversity: Structural and Discursive Change in Quebec's Ministere D'immigration (Miinistere des Relations Avec Les Citoyens Et de L'immigration‪)‬

ABSTRACT/RESUME This paper presents an organizational analysis of the immigration and ethnic diversity debate as articulated by the Quebec government through its ministere del 'Immigration. Both structural and discursive transformations of the ministry are examined, and the two are set in the larger socio-political context of the times. The ministry mandated to regulate matters of immigration in Quebec has undergone a number of transformations throughout the thirty-four years of its history, from the ministere de l'Immigration du Quebec (MIQ:1968-1981) to the ministere des Commuautes culturelles et de l'Immigration (MCCI:1981-1993), to the ministere des Affaires internationales, de l'Immigration et des Communautes culturelles (MAIICC: 1993-1996) and finally, to the ministere des Relations avec les citoyens et de l'Immigration (MRCI:1996-). Both nominal and structural changes have marked these transformations. The thesis of this paper is that Quebec's ambivalence to immigration and diversity is reflected in, and symbolized by , the various transformations of its ministry. The paper examines the linguistic and structural nature of the changes, outlines the major issues of Quebec's immigration debate, and briefly compares the historical trajectory of Canada and Quebec's official visions of pluralism.