Based on exploratory research with adolescents, school personnel, parents and social workers in a mixed area of Montreal, the author attempts to cover the complexity of the characteristics and issues which the participants see as defining interethnic and interracial relations in the area. Among the youth, group dynamics and the fear of rejection keep the different cultures apart. For the adults, the challenges consist in developing cross-cultural relations in a situation where both the minorities and the majority are insecure about their very identity, in establishing an egalitarian approach towards differences, and finally in fighting discrimination linked to poverty, ethnicity and race, as well as the political utilization of such. The article concludes with an analysis of the sense of individual and collective integrity experienced by the respondents.
Titre de la publication
International Review of Community Development / Revue internationale d’action communautaire