Political reinvention and the value of membership: Constructing the 'good citizen' through naturalization policy in Canada

Canadian policy on naturalization, dictated by the Citizenship Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, constructs a notion of good citizenship which incorporates key virtues from the neo-liberal and cultural pluralist ideals. The criteria for admission to political membership established through this policy seek to determine self-sufficiency and formal willingness to subscribe to the rules of involvement of liberal, rational choice actors in a multicultural setting. Overall, the process of acquisition of citizenship impresses on newcomers that inclusion is based on desert, measured through participation in the market and representative institutions. The version of democratic values which this model cultivates is primarily procedural, and carries a promise for participation in a social order, the community essence of which remains anonymous. This formalized conception of membership can serve to illustrate the neo-liberal regime's inability to produce a sound vision of Canadian solidarity and citizenship.