Multicultural meltdown

Non-white immigrants and their children are feeling "less Canadian". Not to worry, multiculturalism is irrelevant. It was never the answer to the real problem: the white power structure.

Embracing diversity or legislating multiculturalism is not enough, he [Robert Jensen, who teaches journalism at the University of Texas] maintained. That merely creates room in the existing power structures for non-whites. The structures themselves have to be changed.

The York students sat impassively through the first half of Jensen's lecture. But when he assailed multiculturalism, their ears pricked up.

They knew what it was like to be allowed into white-run institutions without being treated as equals; to be denied opportunities by bureaucrats who were supposedly colour-blind, to be patronized by employers who had taken diversity courses...

Judging from the response in the lecture hall, young Canadians are looking for educators who understand that multiculturalism – however bold it may have been when Trudeau announced the policy 36 years ago – is an aging relic as far as they're concerned. They need new tools to advance the fight for equality...

The Globe's Margaret Wente quotes an Indo-Canadian who gets to the heart of the matter:

He [Binoy Thomas, editor of the Indo-Canadian newspaper Weekly Voice] argues that official multiculturalism, with its emphasis on race and difference, only makes matters worse. "We glorify something that never should have been glorified," he says. "Multiculturalism means you're always thinking about somebody's skin colour. In Mumbai, people don't think, 'Oh, I have to be inclusive with this guy.' People think, 'How can I do business with him?' "

Mr. Thomas is also riled by the political ideology dispensed on every university campus -- the official narratives of Western wickedness and discrimination. "It's a kind of self-perpetuating victimhood, the sense that maybe we can't survive in the mainstream without special help." The last thing that immigrants and minorities need is special help. What they do need is "to be able to contribute, to make money, to do well."

It's no accident that immigrants do best in open, highly entrepreneurial economies. The Europeans say, "Come on in, and we'll take care of you, but that doesn't necessarily include a job." The Americans say, "Come on in, and that's the only favour we're going to do you. Good luck. Take a shot at the American dream." In Mr. Thomas's view, we'd be a lot better off if we behaved more like Americans -- or businessmen in Mumbai...

Mark C.

Posted by markc at January 13, 2007 05:39 PM