Thread: Shame! Kenney Says Canada Has A "Sort-Of-Culture"

Shame! Kenney Says Canada Has A "Sort-Of-Culture"

"This week, Jason Kenney, the federal minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, visited the Edmonton Journal to share some of his successes. He contrasted Canada with countries of Western Europe that struggle so miserably with integrating new citizens, encouraging them to live in ghettos and 'ethnic enclaves' in big-city suburbs. [According to Mr. Kenney], we have an advantage over France and Holland because, here in Canada, we don't have a coherent culture. Multiculturalism is an essential part of our evolving sort-of-culture, and it's only controversial in some political science departments and certain regions of Quebec." (Edmonton Journal, March 19, 2011)

Okay, first of all, as so-called minister of multiculturalism, Kenney owes Majority Canadians the same grovelling apology Minority Canadians expect from their servile ministers of the Crown. Secondly, Kenney's grasp of European realpolitik is either deeply flawed or deeply dishonest. Europe has rejected multiculturalism precisely because it is the principal driver leading to the formation of ethnic ghettos. With our excruciatingly indulgent policies, Canada is living proof that, given the freedom to choose, immigrants stampede into ethnic silos: "There were only six ethnic enclaves in Canada's three largest metropolitan cities in 1981, but the number jumped to 77 in 1991 and 254 in 2001. Statistics Canada defines a visible-minority neighbourhood as one where more than 30 per cent of the population is from a particular ethnic group." (Toronto Star, March 10, 2004)

Note that with the 2006 census long since done and dusted, StatsCan has never entrusted Canadians with an update on the current number of ethnic enclaves. However, one indication that assimilation is increasingly elusive for an increasing number of newcomers would be tax dollars diverted to immigrant settlement funding -- according to CIC (2010-08-06), spending in that sector has tripled since 2006. Are we really doing better?

Kenney is insulting Canada and distorting the truth. I grew up in the 50s amd 60s. I knew I was not a Chinaman or even an American. We had hockey, Maurice Richard, football with a longer field, curling, the maple leaf, amazing explorers (Champlain, Radisson. Mackenzie, Hudson), bravery in war (Vimy Ridge, etc.), bold inventors and pioneers (Bell, Banting and Best, "Wop" May) maple syrup and, over all, a country shaped and a consciousness shaped by a wild a varied environment -- the cold Atlantic, the huge Arctic expanses, the vast prairies, the magestic Rockies. We were very coherent. It is Kenney and the tribe of self serving multiculturalists who would have us believe that we are a blank slate for the world to write on. In fact, our young culture is one that works. People from failed cultures all over the world have flocked to us to feast on the benefits. We should strictly insist that they conform or leave. -- Paul Fromm