The "New" Canada

Canada, because of the low birth-rate among Canadians, needs to persuade people from other countries that this could be their home, a place of great opportunities to grow and to raise their children. So goes the common wisdom. And it does make good sense to strengthen our population base; we're a huge geography with a fairly modest population-base. And Canada is, basically, a country with a population comprised of immigrants.

At the present tine, however, Alone among other developed countries, Canada takes in a whopping quarter-million new immigrants each year. The settlement costs associated with this huge influx of new citizens is enormous, from providing language training, to assistive housing, to helping with job searches, to welfare if required. And of course, access to universal health care. None of which social niceties were so obligingly offered to previous surges of immigrants in the old days.

In response, newcomers are obliged to ... integrate, become good citizens, value the new opportunities circumstances have permitted them, and help build this country into the future. Most do just that. And always have. But some things have changed since the 'always has' was the case of immigrant-assimilation into Canada.

Immigrants are increasingly arriving with ideas of their own, that rather than adapt to Canadian values and social mores, they have a right to retain their heritage values and traditional mores and customs. That 'right' to retain their original heritage values has been encouraged by the Government of Canada, which prides itself on precisely that, congratulating itself on its urbane and enlightened stress on "multiculturalism."

Which is very nice, to be certain, but which has also been responsible for encouraging the belief in the minds of immigrants that there is no real need to assimilate. That it is quite permissible, admirable even, to remain detached from the larger society, to accept what is of value to them in their economic aspirations and simply reject what they perceive as contrary to their religious or traditional values.

Many of which not only do not reflect mainstream Canadian values, but go well beyond refuting them. Some traditions and customs and values practised in other parts of the world do not reflect Canada's universality of equality and egalitarianism, and peaceful co-existence. For that element of the immigrant-population who defy the need to practise Canadian values and customs this is clearly a case of unadaptability.

Whether aspirants to emigrate from their home countries to Canada qualify for consideration, weighing their prospects for successful integration can be determined through a process of careful questioning by immigration officers. And by clearly delineating those values which are of great importance to justice, values and customary behaviour and acceptance as part of the immigration procedure, the vital message of meshing with Canadian mores is delivered.

Canadians have to ask whether the current rate of immigrant-acceptance into the country is feasible, under current conditions. There have been increasing unemployment rates as some industries shut down, and the recent recession, though relatively minor compared to the economic disaster that befell many other advanced economies, means that the high rate of immigration has imposed an additional burden on the economy.

Large-scale immigration, additionally, stresses the country's large urban centres where most immigrants head for. Placing huge strains on education- and social-services, health care systems, transportation, housing, and the environment, representing a drain on taxpayer resources. Surveys indicate that most Canadians have an awareness of all this, yet governments don't appear to be overly concerned.

There are some areas where the costs could be alleviated, if newcomers to Canada can be expected to be able to communicate, before arriving, in either of the two official languages. Obviously enhancing their ability to find employment. As it is, there are huge swathes of immigrants residing within specific communities who never become proficient in either language, remaining mired in their original language because they feel no real need to learn another language.

If those holding Canadian citizenship choose to re-locate outside the country with the comfort of knowing that they can invoke their Canadian citizenship at times of conflict in their country of origin to which they have permanently removed, they should also be prepared to pay taxes to Canada while living abroad. This is a common enough practise in some other countries to ensure that those countries are not left holding the bag for uncommon strains on their economy.

In a very real sense it is not entirely fair for Canada to encourage would-be emigrants to settle in this country if their prospects for decent-paying jobs are not as rosy as advertised, and the family then lives in poverty. It is costly to the self-esteem and aspirations of the immigrant family, and costly to the country in the extraordinary provision of services required to ensure that these families and their offspring still receive all benefits accruing to them with residency.

So the news out of Statistics Canada informing the country that the foreign-born population is expected to expand four times faster than that demographic representing Canadian-born over the next several decades evokes not jubilation but perturbation. It is a distinct benefit to the diversity of the Canadian population that we have become more cosmopolitan in our outlook, more accepting of differences, in a vast learning opportunity.

But the upheaval represented by such an immense demographic shift is momentous and not necessarily all for the good. Not if that vast sea of immigrants from countries that practise religious, social and political exclusion resulting in sharp divisions between people once they arrive in Canada, cannot be depended upon to abandon hostilities and accept both the concept and the practise of living in harmony.

Religious, ethnic and ideological disputes ferried into the country by disparate ethnic and religious and traditional cultures create an atmosphere conducive to replicating conditions that prevail in the countries of origin. Canada and Canadians have no need, no wish, no inclination to accept those alienating conditions. Diluting the Canadian-born population to such an ongoing degree does not bode well for the future.

It is past time that the sheer width and breadth of the current intake of immigrants be more carefully studied and reconsidered.