Posted on: 15-11-06 22:52:52
Quote:
Originally posted by shankaracharya
If multiculturism promotes you to be who you are then, when will we become Canadian ?. .
When you decide that you are one. I do mention to my kids that they have a proud Indian heritage but are Canadians first. So am I.
Quote:
Canada needs to address this issue of multiculturism and how far it is willing to take it. The liberals are leading in polls today at 33%, while the Conservatives are at 31% and NDP at 15%. It is time the liberals define/redefine multiculturism.
Theres only so much politicians can do. Its your responsibility to find out why you have as much right to call your self Canadian as the next guy. If someones father died in the Flanders Fields fighting for Canada, you and I are now supporting that same persons families by our contribution to the social security coffers of the govt.
Dont expect a politician to make you feel that Canada is your 'home'. Signs in Tamil, Hindi or Gujrati can only do so much. If you feel its not your 'home' inspite of your best efforts...maybe one SHOULD seriously consider going back 'home'.
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Nov. 15, 2006. 03:34 PM
NICHOLAS KEUNG
IMMIGRATION/DIVERSITY REPORTER
There's a limit to Canadians' acceptance of multiculturalism, especially when a group's beliefs on gender equality clash with "mainstream" values, according to a new national poll.
While almost half felt that immigrants should be free to preserve their cultural and religious practices in Canada, 81 per cent of respondents in the Environics survey said newcomers should adapt to Canadian values on the rights and role of women.
The random poll of 2,021 Canadians, commissioned by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, also found that half of Canadians had a positive impression of Islam — a 4 percentage point increase from 2003 — despite post-9/11 backlash and the June arrests of members of an alleged terrorist cell in Toronto. One in three said Muslims were "rarely" portrayed fairly in the media.
"As part of our national identity, Canadians have a tendency to be defensive of minority groups who are under attack and stereotyped. But there is a limit to that sentiment when it conflicts with our traditional Canadian values, such as women's rights," explained survey author Derek Leebosh, a senior Environics associate.
Just as people can have a negative impression of U.S. foreign policy without disliking all Americans, he said, "people may have negative views of Islam as a religion, but they see the distinction of Muslims as individuals."
Almost seven of 10 respondents said law-abiding Canadian Muslims should not personally feel responsible for terrorist acts committed by others in the name of their religion, though one-fifth believed that Canada is "very likely" to be targeted in terrorist attacks by someone of Muslim background.
The poll, conducted by phone between Sept. 18 and Oct. 12, was released yesterday on the eve of the foundation's annual conference on public policy. Titled "Muslims in Western Societies," the Vancouver event will feature Toronto Star columnist and editor emeritus Haroon Siddiqui as a keynote participant.
The 13-question survey also found that:
54 per cent disagreed that there's too much immigration.
93 per cent opposed the suggestion that non-whites should be prevented from immigrating here.
68 per cent objected to the idea of screening potential immigrants' religious beliefs and values.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada (CAIR-CAN), a civil liberty and human rights advocacy group for Canadian Muslims, said it didn't expect to see such an overall positive view reflected. "We are happy with the overall results, but we feel that there's still room for improvement," said CAIR-CAN spokesperson Sameer Zuberi.
A sample of the size the poll used is accurate within 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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Dont help others because others have helped you,,,,help others because its the right thing to do!!!
http://www.indopia.in/
When you decide that you are one. I do mention to my kids that they have a proud Indian heritage but are Canadians first. So am I.
Well said, many of us who feel the same, having best of both cultures/backgrounds, finding it very interesting to learn, adapt and grow from there..and also confident about next generation will appreciate the fact, that they represent/live both canadian & indian values ..
Dont expect a politician to make you feel that Canada is your 'home'. Signs in Tamil, Hindi or Gujrati can only do so much. If you feel its not your 'home' inspite of your best efforts...maybe one SHOULD seriously consider going back 'home'.
Govt. does provide tons of programs out there, from english language training to employment/settlement ..do they all access this..? no...so it's absolutely upto us, as to how we want perceive this new country at this new phase in our life... yes, one thing is instead of providing multilingual/multiculture services all the time, it does make sense that the system seriously consider hiriing those immigrants and making equal standards by helping them merge into mainstream..e.g. there are some typical employers, like all school boards, municipalities.. how many immigrants work there..?
I personally think it is a terrible idea to have the kind of 'multiculturism' Canada supposedly promotes. It encourages the 'ghettozation' of Canada. Providing services in Punjabi, Gujarati, Chinese, etc. provides people who use these services an avenue where they can get by without learning English. This partially is the reason why we have Tamil, Punjabi, Chinese etc. areas of concentration. People never get out of their communities.
While I understand that having things like desi groceries etc. is a convenience and nice, I think it is a bad idea to have and promote this kind of 'multicultarism'. I mean if people want to live exclusively in Punjabi areas or areas where all they do is live amongst their own communities, speak only their language, interact only with other members of the community, then why come here(especially when a lot of people seem to be struggling to make ends meet)?
I think it is wrong to try and replicate your life from your country of origin to such an extent that that is all you have here.
At any given time at kennedy subway or the scarborough train, i find,
30% african canadians,
30% chinese
18% SL tamils
12% indian, pakistanis
10% whites.
I don't think anybody can stop ghettoing from happening with such a massive population of particular communities.
The point about ghettoes is well raised. It reminded me of my experiences in New Delhi, where certain communities gravitated towards certain parts of the city that had more members of that community. Even in USA, there are some so called 'Punjabi','Gujarati' or 'South Indian' dominated communties for example.
This is not limited to Indians. I know Cantonese and Mandarin speaking Chinese tend to move towards their own brethren too, for example.
I would argue that the little Italy's and little Portugal's also came about for the same reason, and people irrespective of colour have an affinity for what they consider their own.
What disturbs me is that once these communities form, the incentive to open up to other cultures disappears. So each community, whether the earlier immigrants to Canada or recent immigrants to Canada, is deprived of tremendous opportunities of knowing and learning from such interactions.
Research on immigration in Canada suggests that individuals who do not move outside their community network tend to do less well over a period of time,when compared to those who moved beyond their community network. It should be noted that individuals belonging to strongly linked and networked communities also report less trouble settling and establishing themselves in Canada.
I would argue here that assimilation should be encouraged, and the individual and community have as much a role as any government.
