Country of Asylum
This is my country, Canada. It was not always so. In the not-too-distant past Canada's first emigrants, those who came from the British Isles and western Europe were not inclined to welcome asylum-seekers from "foreign" countries with recognizably distinguishing features, skin colours, languages, customs and traditions seen as inimical to the white gentility of those who displaced Native Canadians.But this is a different era and Canada is much changed. This is a far different Canada from that of my childhood when to see a rainbow of skin colours was to examine the pages of National Geographic, not the streets of Canada's major cities. Now, some of Canada's largest cities boast immigrant populations approaching 30%. Canadians have matured as a people. We have, finally, become the sum of our various parts.
Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrines freedoms of religion, expression, peaceful assembly and association. We are a free and socially progressive country composed of a community of peoples from around the world. We are a nation of immigrants. Our refugee asylum absorption rate is second to none.
We embrace legally under our Charter the right to a democratic government, the right to mobility, the right to life, liberty and security of person, the right to equality and the right to use either of Canada's official languages, French and English. The rights of minorities are protected under the umbrella of our laws.
The Charter protects against discrimination based on race,national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age and mental or physical disability. There is public support to add sexual orientation to the equality rights covered by the Charter, while under it at present such rights are implicit and upheld by our courts of justice.
This mature Canada is a supremely tolerant nation, a multitude of immigrants melded and fused into a fairly cohesive society. A recent survey revealed that Canada is the most welcoming, immigrant-responsive country among the 19 European countries plus Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. There were 32,000 respondents in total who answered a basic question: "Would you like to have a person from this group as your neighbour?"
The groups singled out for this questionnaire were Muslim, homosexual, Jew, "of a different race", and immigrant or foreign workers. Only 6.5% responded they would not like to live beside a Muslim whereas respondents in Greece (20.9%), Belgium (19.8%), Norway (19.3%), and Finland (18.9%) were more likely to answer "no".
The average percentage of negative responses across all western countries was 14.5%, with Britain and the U.S. coming in at 14.1% and 10.9% respectively. Fewer than 5% responding from Canada revealed they would not want to live beside a Jew, an immigrant or one of a different race.
We're far from perfect, but we make an effort. After all, this is a country that is a true mosaic of nations, of ethnic derivation, of disparate cultures and traditions and we manage somehow to live together in a fairly respectable semblance of tolerance and good will.
From my own personal experience it's interesting, but I find more openness and welcome from within the immigrant population, first- and second-generation, than I do from within the earlier-settled immigrants, those who represent the initial settlers.
Better stop now, while I'm ahead.
Labels: Canada
posted by Pieface @ Friday, February 09, 2007
<< Home