This paper examines the discourse of Canadian multiculturalism. The au
thor argues that, because it is grounded in presuppositions about cult
ure and how culture serves to identify a people or nation, this discou
rse constructs culturally defined ethnic identities as categories of e
thnic difference that both permit and deny inclusion within the Canadi
an nation. This argument is illustrated by an examination of the strug
gle of Aboriginal peoples to claim a place within the nation. The auth
or concludes that, despite the possibilities it allows, the discourse
of multiculturalism is close to a racialist discourse, and that it all
ows difference only in circumscribed ways.