As co-founder of the Institute of Canadian Citizenship in 2005, among other accomplishments, Clarkson identifies herself as an expert on the subject of citizenship. However, it is in her personal experience as an immigrant that she is most qualified person to speak about citizenship and about belonging in the Canadian society.
Clarkson, in exploring the liberal democratic ideals points to interdependence among people, which she calls belonging. She explains that “Life at its best exists in cooperative, sharing, and balanced relationships with other lives. It is this balancing between competitiveness and selfishness on the one hand and sharing, on the other, that is at the base of cosmopolitanism. She illustrates it with the example of
