Public education has helped a generation of immigrants integrate successfully into Canadian society and must be properly funded if the country is to continue to grow in racial and ethnic harmony, warns Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson.

"I think we have to become conscious of the kind of country that we are," Clarkson said in an interview after speaking with the Star's editorial board yesterday.

"It means don't take anything for granted," she said. "The reason we've been able to absorb more and more (immigrants) is that we have always had a very strong infrastructure of public education, which is so critical for immigrant people."

"We must keep our public education strong or we won't be able to do anything in terms of promoting our way of life, which I think is a very worthwhile way of life," she said.

Clarkson and her husband John Ralston Saul, who have just completed an official four-day visit to Toronto, said the introduction of fees for school supplies and after-hours recreation programs are worrying trends that are tearing at Canada's enviable social fabric.

"If there's one place that should be more like a community centre and should be open as late as necessary with as many programs as possible, it's the schools," Ralston Saul said. "And that should not be a question of money for the kids or the parents — not in a country with the kind of immigration that we have."

During the visit, Clarkson toured community programs in Regent Park, visited students in Malvern, led citizenship ceremonies and presented the Governor-General's Caring Canadian Awards.

She said she was particularly impressed with students in Malvern, who are anxious to dispel media depictions of their community as a hotbed of youth crime plagued by gun violence.

Clarkson's Toronto visit is the fifth in a series of trips to Canadian cities to learn what makes urban centres liveable. Clarkson and Ralston Saul have also visited more than 300 Canadian towns and villages during the last 4 1/2 years as part of what they see as their mandate to bring the Governor-General's office to the people. In a University of Toronto speech last week, Clarkson said her visits
have helped create better communities by bringing various stakeholders together to share ideas and learn from each other.

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