in World News How Do You Like Multiculturalism Now?
by Philip Carl Salzman
Canada is officially a multicultural society, thanks to Trudeau pere et fils. According to PM Justin Trudeau, Canada has no cultural core, and is a post-national society. This framing ignores the relevant evidence: Canada has two official languages, English and French, not dozens or hundreds. Canada has two official legal systems, English Common Law and French Civil Law. Canada, until Justin Trudeau, historically has been allied with the other Commonwealth anglophone countries, and not China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Africa, Vietnam, Palestine, or Russia.
Canadians have responded with enthusiasm to multiculturalism, endorsing the idea of multiculturalism in every public opinion poll on the subject. But, and it is a large but, by multiculturalism what they mean, again according to the opinion polls, is people coming from many different countries to become Canadians, to adopt Canadian ways. What they do not mean, and do not approve of, according to the polls, is immigrants expecting to keep their language, culture, and traditional practices.
In other words, Canadians expect immigrants to assimilate to Canadian life and culture. This is a divergence from the vision of the Trudeau Liberal government, which stresses that “diversity is our strength.” The government has no initiatives and no plans and no desire to assimilate immigrants. On the contrary, it appears to be happy with separate enclaves of outward looking immigrant groupings which it can treat as voting blocs and pander to for votes. As well, the government has decided to inundate the existing Canadian population with a flood of foreigners, through open door immigration, legal and illegal, plus apparently unlimited numbers of temporary workers, asylum seekers, and foreign (alleged) students from around the world. This will apparently “multicultural us” nicely.
How has multiculturalism worked out for us? Canadians have lived through long periods of its own, homegrown cultural divide and divisiveness between French and English, including historical wars and conquests, and more recent attempts by Quebec to separate from Canada. Canadians are not enthusiastic about new social divides, whether indigenous or imported. Yet that is what we now have.