Countries that want immigrants must first educate its citizens on immigrant customs before demanding that its immigrants adapt to host country values
The Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was adopted 25 years ago and that should be reason for reflection and celebration. But recent headlines which presents a disturbing reality about our tolerance and attitudes towards immigrants, raises the question: what exactly are we celebrating?
Canada has cultivated an international reputation of being a tolerant and open society. We are a nation of cultural differences welcoming of foreigners envied around the globe. We have become a nation of people joined by if not a common religion, ethnicity or history, then a shared constitution and a heritage founded on �multiculturalism�, a term coined in the 1970�s by our federal government to help immigrants overcome barriers to their full participation in Canadian society and enshrined in our Charter in 1982.
But has this vision of being a harmonious multicultural society become too majestic to maintain or moreover, is this reputation an accurate description of what we have become? What is the answer when nearly forty years later; we ask ourselves the question, �Are we as tolerant as the image we try to project? Or, have we become over accommodating in trying to be multicultural?�
In Quebec, we have experienced a long standing �accommodation problem� of sorts dating back more than 100 years. Henri Bourassa elected to Parliament in 1896, and founder of Le Devoir in 1910, one of Quebec�s most respected intellectual dailies, was virulently anti-semetic. In 1906, when Parliament was considering a resolution of sympathy for victims of Russian pogroms, Bourassa voiced his opinion stating, �The experience of every civilized country is that Jews are the most undesirable class of people any country can have�.
Recently, a small town in Quebec passed its immigrant code of conduct outlining �standards� of what it expects of its �new arrivals�. A sign at the entrance of this rural town located 165 kilometers northwest of Montreal, says: �H�rouxville welcomes you�. The municipality, which has only one visible minority family among its community, and apparently wants more, included in their code of conduct to would-be immigrants a series of standards that would hardly seem consistent with the norms of any Charter of Rights and Freedoms toting country. Among them, "a woman can ... drive a car, sign cheques, dance, decide for herself, speak her peace, walk alone in public places, study, have a job� and that �killing women in public beatings, or burning them alive are not part of our standards of life". After much public outcry, the town council recently implemented changes removing references to the banning of stoning of women in public and female circumcision.
In response to the situation in Herouxville, the Quebec Premier, Jean Charest initially mused that the �H�rouxville affair� was an isolated case of intolerance yet ordered a commission to look into a debate over reasonable accommodation of the practices and customs of minorities with those of its established citizens. Then, the Premier announced a plan to spend $5 Million a year for three years to fight racism and discrimination in Quebec.
An isolated case of intolerance? Hardly. And, what is troubling is that there is a prevailing attitude, even among Quebec�s political leaders, that �Quebec culture� must not take a back seat to �over accomodating� minorities.
Mario Dumont, leader of the Action D�mocratic du Qu�bec, the newly elected official opposition party leader, recently struck this cord by saying that Quebec should �quit bending over backwards to accommodate minorities� and �make gestures which reinforce our national identity and protect those values which are so invaluable to us.�
And Andr� Boisclair, the leader of the Parti Quebecois, claiming that his statement got misunderstood in translation while speaking to university students on global competitiveness, said that he was surprised to see so many students "with slanted eyes" when he was studying at Harvard University. "When I was at Harvard, where I spent a year, I was surprised to see that on campus, about a third of the undergraduate students had �slanted eyes," he said to a large classroom packed with students.
How we as a society respond to these important issues will ultimately determine whether or not we are a tolerant society. But if Quebec�s political leaders are perceived to harbor unwelcoming attitudes towards minorities, then who exactly can we rely upon to educate our citizenry on relations with minorities and immigrants? It is imperative that our politicians lead by example if they wish for citizens of this country to be accepting of our �new arrivals�.
Since the 1990�s Immigration has played an increasingly important role in Canada to combat a number of demographic developments including an aging population, a growing elderly dependency ratio, a shrinking labour force and a problem of brain drain. Repeated studies show that by 2030, labour force growth in Canada will be almost entirely fuelled through federal and provincial immigration policies and programs. Canada currently admits 250,000 immigrants each year with about 150,000 destined for the province of Ontario and about 40,000 settling in Quebec.
These numbers would be higher � some say our annual intake of immigrants should be raised to 300,000 to ensure our strong economic performance in the future. However policy makers are reluctant to increase the numbers substantially until programs are in place to ensure that our infrastructure can successfully absorb an increased number of immigrants to Canada.
Our future economic standing depends on immigration. Government policy should continue to promote immigration policies that will maximize the capacity of our existing economic, social and demographic infrastructure while simultaneously ensuring that the numbers of newcomers settling in Canada is proportionate to our ability to absorb them successfully. But joint federal and provincial programs must also be implemented to educate Canadians on the importance of immigration and to ensure that with reasonable limitations, the pillar of tolerance that we extend towards immigrants by our citizenry, is consistent with the image that is required to attract and keep newcomers here. This double edged strategy is critical to ensuring the success of our immigration policies.
