Immigrants en banlieue et politiques publiques municipales : le cas lavallois (Québec,Canada)

Abstract: The growing number of new immigrants settling in suburban communities has caused researchers and policy‐makers to shift their focus from large cities to the communities that surround them, thereby side‐swiping several stereotypes commonly associated with “white” and “wealthy” suburban cities in North America. My article responds to this recent interest by proposing an analysis of the public policies that apply to immigrants and ethno‐cultural minorities in Laval, north of Montreal. The article establishes that Laval has had a policy in place since the early 1990s, with a specific institutional configuration that changes over time. I discerned two institutional configurations shaping two distinct sequences for this policy. The first sequence (1990–2003) involved an institutional configuration that shut down the channels for the representation of the interests of immigrants and ethno‐cultural minorities on the municipal level, and the second sequence (2003–2009) was marked by the regionalization of the shutdown of the mediation channels for the representation of these interests. In each sequence, the shutdown of the mediation channels is illustrated in three areas of this public policy: intergovernmental agreements, the recognition of associations, and affirmative action in the municipal public service.