This project, which is in its beginning stages, examines regional manifestations of cultural difference in Canada in order to evaluate whether national and provincial diversity/multiculturalism policy frameworks are equipped to address locale-specific tensions and persistent inequalities. Different regions and urban/rural areas face distinct issues, depending on the proportion of economic migrants versus refugees, the degree of ongoing transnational connections to former dwellings, the embedded local narratives about race and crime, the economic ups and downs of regions reliant on resource exploitation and temporary labour, the length of residence of migrant populations, and many other factors. Broadly, this project builds on my research on Canadian and Québecois debates about cultural difference, religious minority rights, and the pace of demographic transformations in urban regions. I am also interested in whether the urban studies literature on the ethics of indifference (e.g. Fran Tonkiss, Louis Wirth, Richard Sennett) might pose a worthwhile challenge to ideas of liberal tolerance that have guided the development of cultural diversity policies in Canada. Another aspect of this project seeks to develop a comparative framework in order to relate Canadian conflicts relating to religious minority rights and the endurance of anti-black racism (e.g. in police profiling and racializing media discourses) to similar conflicts in the UK and the Netherlands.