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Dr. Rajesh Shukla is an Associate Professor at the School of Ethics, Social Justice and Public Service in the Faculty of Philosophy at Saint Paul University, in Ottawa, Ontario. Dr. Shukla was born and raised in India and came to Canada in September 1999, in the pursuit of his higher education and learning. Like many international students, he faced some challenges early on, but found Canadian life and society very open and welcoming and decided to build his life in this country. He applied for permanent residency in the third year of his PhD program at the University of Ottawa, and later became a proud Canadian citizen in 2007.
Dr. Shukla brings with him a wealth of educational experiences and academic expertise on issues relating to immigration, migration, and democratic citizenship, and has been involved with the N4 and Saint-Paul University Online Program for newcomer-serving professionals since its inception in January 2020. As part of the program, he teaches the course Ethics, Multiculturalism, and Immigration, developing key ideas and arguments in the above field and presenting them to his students in the most accessible manner.
As a researcher, Dr. Shukla aims to overcome simplistic formulations of difficult issues relating to immigration and multiculturalism, questioning immigrant and local divides in terms of democratic priorities and cultural values. More strongly, he argues that the host societies and immigrants need to adopt, globally, a philosophy of mutual appreciation and respect, paving the way for a meaningful integration of immigrants against potential systemic barriers and attached institutional disadvantages.
If you ask Dr. Shukla what motivates him to do what he does, he will tell you without hesitation that he loves teaching and always wanted to be in academia. Prior to coming to Canada, he taught at Delhi University, in India, and after completing his PhD at the University of Ottawa, he joined the Faculty of Philosophy at Saint Paul University in 2008. He has worked there ever since. He says “teaching for me is a dialogical process. I teach to impart knowledge to my students and to learn from them as well. The goal is never to change any one’s perspective, but ensure that the adopted perspective is rationally sound, and that one is aware of the snares of relativism and absolutism in a multicultural context."
More explicitly, Dr. Shukla sees teaching as an invitation to think together, developing a theoretical grasp of complex ethical and multicultural issues, and learning how to tackle the problems that life throws at us. For Dr. Shukla, education always has a theoretical and a practical dimension, and a good student must be able to navigate them successfully. “Our goal in life is often to become something or to get something, and that’s totally okay. We should also learn though to be ready to do what life requires at a certain time, and these requirements may not be exactly what one anticipated. They are never the same in the case of the first-generation immigrants."
Taking an upbeat view of Canadian multiculturalism, Dr. Shukla contends that cultural diversity constitutes the very heart of Canadian society and needs to be celebrated. “The Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides us with the core principles and necessary legal frameworks to defend religious and cultural diversity and freedoms, but what is needed even more is a common understanding among Canadians to take the Charter seriously, not when their own interests are at stake but when others are at risk. In other words, there is something to the idea of being one’s brother’s keeper even in secular society. A sense of fraternity can go a long way in securing the common good for all."
To learn more about Dr. Shukla’s reflections on immigration and multiculturalism in the COVID-19 era and the path forward, become an N4 member to watch a recording of his N4 webinar from March 16, 2022, titled, “Immigration, Ethics and the Common Good.”
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