Canada's Immigration Pride

The hugely controversial and highly respected (in environmental circles) David Suzuki has declared his informed opinion that Canada has more than enough population to suit the needs of the country. Apart from natural growth, Mr. Suzuki feels that the country is far too accepting of mass immigration levels. That we accept an astounding number of new immigrants yearly cannot be denied. Our rate of roughly a quarter-million new immigrants yearly is fairly amazing.

It's also quite costly. The argument is, of course, that Canada is reliant on new sources of potential workers to keep the economy healthy and vibrant. That the natural rate of growth has failed; Canadians tend not to raise large families. And that Canada's multicultural community is also kept healthy and vibrant by the constant infusions of new people from all corners of the globe. Canada's largest city is overwhelmed by the presence of new immigrants annually, as are all other major cities.

Mr. Suzuki is quoted as having expressed his remarks during an interview in the Paris-based publication L'Express, characterizing Canada's immigration policy as "disgusting", that "we plunder southern countries by depriving them of future leaders, and we want to increase our population to support economic growth. I think Canada is full, too! Although it's the second-largest country (land mass) in the world, our useful area has been reduced."

Canada's Immigration Minister has taken exception to these views by an influential Canadian; a candid expression of criticism expressed abroad by someone of immigrant stock himself, over the government's policy - all governments, regardless of which political party happens to be in power - in its ongoing determination and dedication to swelling the ranks of the Canadian population.

Carleton University's Centre for International Migration and Settlement Studies executive director, Adnan Turegun, pointed out that "Wilfred Laurier, at the beginning of the 20th century said that the 20th century would belong to Canada and projected a population of 100 million by the end of the 205th century. We were never close to that by the end of the 20th century; we were only one-third of that estimate."

Settling such huge numbers of new Canadians is costly for the country. In terms of providing health care, education, social services, resettlement assistance. And although it's often claimed that new Canadians boost the productivity of the country, they also earn less than native-born Canadians, and thus pay less taxes while taking their share of all the benefits accruing to residents of the country. They benefit their home countries often by sending back part of their earnings to relatives.

But by inviting and settling such vast numbers of immigrants into a country that has its own social, political and cultural values, we risk diluting those values beyond a point of difficult return. Particularly with the continuing emphasis on multiculturalism, and the lax attitude toward requiring immigrants to share the prevailing cultural values, to be prepared to leave behind them some of the cultural values of their place of birth. Particularly when they conflict with indigenous Canadian values.

"The flow of immigration into Canada from around the world and in particular the flow from Muslim countries, means a pouring in of numbers into a liberal society of people from cultures at best non-liberal. But we know through our studies and observations that the illiberal mix of cultures poses one of the greatest dilemmas and an unprecedented challenge to liberal societies, such as ours, when there is no demand placed on immigrants any longer to assimilate into the founding liberal values of the country to which they have immigrated to, and instead, by a misguided and thoroughly wrong-headed policy of multiculturalism encourages the opposite."
Salim Mansur, University of Western Ontario political scientist, testifying before a Senate committee

And there is more; Gilles Paquet, an economist and professor-emeritus at University of Ottawa is another outspoken critic of Canada's current, past and ongoing immigration policy; not least the institutionalized policy of multiculturalism dating back to Pierre Elliot Trudeau who introduced it and made it official. He is widely acknowledged as an intellectual appearing on talk shows where he exchanges lively debating time with other Canadian academics on politics and international affairs.

"Being solicitous of diversity risks generating silo-societies, tolerance emphasizes the negative leave-them-alone kind of virtue, and multiculturalism further works at maintaining and enhancing cultural differences." Gilles Paquet Moderato Cantabile: Toward a Principled Governance of Canada's Immigration Regime

None of these policy critics are racist, none of them are anti-immigration, nor xenophobic. They are thoughtful, they care about the stability of the country, and about its liberal-democratic values, along with its dedication to egalitarian existence between peoples. All of which are being slowly fractured. Surely we can do better for ourselves.