THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WORK AND THE PLURALISM IN QUEBEC

In Canada and Quebec, dealing with issues related to cultural diversity and racism has been a challenge for the governments since the sixties. Before and up to our days, a large part of responsibilities in terms of developing ethnocultural sensitive public services (social services, training programs in social work, etc.) have been left in the hands of non-profit and charity organizations. But, little by little, since the sixties then, both governments, federal and provincial had to develop politics and programs of action. In Quebec, social work has been part of the debate facing two mainstream politics, the Canadian one based on multiculturalism and, in Quebec, on interculturalism. The article intends to give a historical perspective on how social work had to deal with different contradictions.