The Pearson Centre for Progressive Policy

Progressive Dialogue and Policy for a Better Canada

A Canadian’s Musings on Multiculturalism

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A Canadian’s Musings on Multiculturalism

By Yuk-kuen Annie Cheung, PhD, RPP

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne’er within him burn’d,
As home his footsteps he hath turn’d…
Sir Walter Scott, 1805

I pen this article simply from the viewpoint of someone who attained Canadian citizenship through official immigration channels over twenty years ago. I have been curious ever since as to what constitutes my realities and I often examine them in terms of how they might differ from those of other segments of the Canadian population.

Canada’s multiculturalism experiment brings many lessons, and I count myself as one of those who have insisted on accentuating the positive aspects, while rendering anything else as human failings that are just inevitable anywhere you go. In recent years, however, concerns about global security, including home-grown terrorism, are being questioned rigorously. Some have attributed this to intergenerational migration problems, and I begin to wonder whether our resolve and fortitude to suppress the negativity, to strive, and to keep faith in, what is to me, an abstract social contract, have been weakened or broken. Is some cultural milieu emerging as a significant factor behind the quarrels and violence that we are witnessing in our communities? I feel some careful attention is needed now to protect the very social contract that is meaningful to all of us and which brought us here in the first place.

I will not venture into the esoteric but very important matter of what constitutes the promises of Canada as a nation. But I will endeavour to illuminate the conversation by sharing some of my observations that come from over thirty years of Canadian experience, counting from the time when I was a foreign student in Canada.

Citizenship and a sense of belonging is a multi-dimensional relationship. The joy that comes with a letter of acceptance into a new country by the proper authority will be short-lived, if one does not embrace with vigour the life that the new country offers. This may be particularly challenging in a multicultural context, where the diaspora communities are expected to grow beneficial ties with the old country, while at the same time developing kinship in local communities. That might well be adding pressure to the push and pull tension experienced by individuals who are trying to transition to a new life in a new place. And that may also propagate a certain misperception about all newcomers by the rest of the population.

It has to be realized that the uprooting experience of migration is much more than relocation. In essence, it is a mentally challenging exercise that requires some deep thinking through and relearning in every mundane decision until everything becomes routine and normal again. In the arduous process of adaptation, one may struggle to maintain self-confidence; giving up the comfort of certainty can contribute to one’s vulnerability.

Predictors have many manifestations. Some recent studies reveal that terrorist groups are recruiting successfully through the internet. There are websites that employ modern and engaging images and corporate formats that are, not unlike established international charities or prestigious global agencies, designed especially to capture the imagination and attention of rudderless young people. For those who have misgiving about their parents and ancestors and who believe that they are caught in a dilemma, they may not identify with the grand bargain that those who came before struck for them years ago. They are likely easy targets for the predators who feed them with the illusion of emotional outlets and a false sense of power, which they feel is unavailable to them in their immediate circumstances.

As Canada is truly a nation of immigrants, any disillusionment in the immigrant experience is a project in progress. What are those essential ingredients in the glue that binds our communities into one nation? Of great importance to Canada, so far, is the strength of our institutions to uphold the magnificent gifts from our forefathers – the prerogatives of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. All our citizens need to know unequivocally that Canada is just and free. These core values are most important in our civil society. Should they be more frequently pronounced and referenced as the overarching guiding principles in our domestic public policy making?

Indeed, to the world Canada, an economy only a tenth the size of that of the United States, has for a very long time, quite impressively, punched well above its weight, spreading a very positive message of peace and fraternity. Renowned Canadians, such as John Peters Humphrey helped craft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Lester B. Pearson was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize (1957) for his proposal and organisation of the United Nations Emergency Force during the Suez Canal Crisis… Just last year, Canada proved again to be a bright light in the successful Paris Climate Agreement negotiation. This June, Canada launched its Feminist International Assistance Policy, which provides assistance to defending the rights of the most vulnerable individuals around the world. Canada is indeed a great brand!

And that is why we often see expressions of pure elation in the faces of our newcomers at the ports of arrival. Shall we make a commitment also to assist them finding their way here, never to disappoint them? Quite obviously, many of the immigrants have admired Canada from the outside, in particular from the perspective of what has been lacking in their countries of origin. These deficiencies may be democracy, human rights and the rule of law. But, at the same time, some well ensconced diaspora communities here may be putting up resistance to advancing in-step with the major society. These protests, on rights issues, for example, form the basis of grass-root authority, pertaining to political power brokering.

The legacies of Humphrey and Pearson have both domestic and international influences. In a nutshell, Canada must endeavour to demonstrate that there is a continuum between its public image abroad and its performance at home. For a start, when we receive newcomers from all corners of the world, we must take heart in the significance that the study of civics may offer valuable lessons to be learned, and that this should be repeated for every generation.

Canadians come from a strong stock of people from near and far. Our commitment to our country requires just as much as our commitment to each other as peoples. In so doing, my friends, it takes discipline!

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