Article Added On: August 29, 2009 - 11 months ago
Title: Multiculturalism or integration
Original URL: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/multiculturalism-or-integration/article1260426/
Author: Daniel Stoffman
Publication: Globe and Mail
Publication Date: August 25, 2009 - 11 months ago
Faith Groups: Other
Themes: Religion and society

"Canadians talk about multiculturalism but don't practise it," author Daniel Stoffman wrote Saturday in his Globe essay on multiculturalism.

"That does not mean we don't embrace diversity. Both Canada and the United States, because of high levels of immigration, are diverse societies, but diversity and multiculturalism are not synonyms . . .

"Diversity is not divisive in secular democracies that respect individual freedom, such as Canada and the United States. On the other hand, culture is not just about superficial differences but also about core values. The people (immigrants) who were (arrested for) attending cockfights in Cloverdale (B.C.) simply don't understand our tender feelings toward animals. This is a difference in values and there is no room for compromise.

"The notion that Canada is a mosaic while the United States is a melting pot does not survive scrutiny," he added.

"In 1994, a study by two University of Toronto sociologists, Jeffrey Reitz and Raymond Breton, found that language retention of third-generation immigrants was less than 1 per cent in both countries. This was significant. One would expect foreign languages to dissolve into the American melting pot. But Canada is supposed to be a mosaic: a set of separate and distinct cultural entities. If it really were a mosaic, ancestral languages would survive through the generations. But they don't, because the offspring of immigrants are quickly absorbed into the dominant language milieux of North America . . . "

Mr. Stoffman notes that Jason Kenney, the Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, says integration should be the goal of the immigration program.

“Our new focus is on integration,” Mr. Kenney said in Calgary recently. “We don't want to create a bunch of silo communities where kids grow up in a community that more resembles their parents' country of origin than Canada. We want people to be Canadians first and foremost – to be proud of and maintain their own tradition and heritage, but not at the price of developing their Canadian identity.”

But, Mr. Stoffman notes: If we don't want silos, then we don't want to be a mosaic either. Both images suggest a society composed of separate groups rather than an integrated whole.

"If the Minister of Multiculturalism is rejecting silos, he is also rejecting multiculturalism," Mr. Stoffman writes. "Maybe it's time the Department of Multiculturalism was renamed the Department of Integration."

Whether you agree or not, it's a provocative thesis so we at globeandmail.com are pleased that Mr. Stoffman was online earlier today to answer your questions about his essay.

Your questions and Mr. Stoffman's answers appear at the bottom of this page.

Daniel Stoffman’s book, Who Gets In: What’s Wrong with Canada’s Immigration Program and How to Fix it, published in 2002, was runner-up for the Donner Prize for best book on Canadian public policy and the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for best book on Canadian politics.

He has written or co-authored several other books, including Boom Bust & Echo, one of the best-selling titles in Canadian history.

In 1991 he was the recipient of the Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy which enabled him to spend a year studying immigration and refugee policy. This led to a series of articles published in The Toronto Star and a report published by the C.D. Howe Institute. He has written on immigration-related subjects for several national magazines and has discussed the subject frequently as a speaker and panelist.