Bridging Divides: How the Edmonton Heritage Festival Can Mitigate Ethnic Polarization and Build Social Trust

Abstract

Although Canada is often celebrated as a multicultural nation, the political reality of multiculturalism is more complicated than it appears. This paper explores how government-funded multicultural events, such as the Edmonton Heritage Festival, promote the building of social trust and mitigate ethnic polarization. Social trust plays an essential role in multicultural societies as its abundance fosters the cooperative attitudes necessary to maintain social order. The Edmonton Heritage Festival serves as a site where cultural visibility and intercultural contact promote mutual acceptance and understanding. Through attitude and behaviour altering, individuals are exposed to different cultures in ways that can gradually build trust. However, the festival also presents challenges, including the potential exoticization and objectification of cultures, especially those marginalized and racialized within Canadian society. The commercialization of the event may reduce its significance and reinforce orientalist stereotypes. Despite these tensions, the festival creates a space for increased cultural exposure, providing opportunities for people to come together and form shared understandings. As such, even if it is sometimes superficial, it still contributes to a more cohesive and inclusive society by allowing difference to coexist with respect.