By Irene Bloemraad & Doris Marie Provine
Canada and the United States share an English common-law tradition and commitments to the rule of law and personal freedom. They guarantee many of the same individual rights in their basic law, including liberty, due process, property, freedom of speech and equal opportunity. Anti-discrimination policy figures importantly in both countries.
The Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX) finds that the United States and Canada have the strongest anti-discrimination protections for immigrants out of the 31 democratic, highly industrialized nations surveyed (Migrant Integration Policy Index 2010). Many of these protections flow from civil-rights legislation and court cases. In the context of European debates over convergence or divergence, Canada and the U.S. share a similar legal and normative focus on liberal equality guarantees.
