Life, Love, and Everything In Between

Multiculturalism

I think that multiculturalism in Canada is a farse. I don't say this lightly, but with a heavy heart. I think culture in Canada is slowly falling apart. The British Magazine "The Economist" wrote 'the glue that holds canada together is weaker than maple syrup'. For a culture to flourish it must have a common ideological goal. I was born and raised in Canada, i grew up in a small town but i have yet to discover this common goal. I see little that differentiates us from America. If a single culture cannot survive its nearly impossible for a bi-cultural, let alone a multicultural one to. That said, once society stop hyphinating their citezings (french-canadian, filipino-canadian) then true progress can be made. We need to move towards unity before we can even think about multiple cultures. Multiculturalism has only served to further polarize an ununified nation.
Im not saying a homogenous society is what we want; variety is the spice of life, but, how does one attain unity in a country that has never been unified? Canada has never been unified, there has always been French Canada and English Canada, and they seem to be eternally pited against each other. I grew up being taught that the USA was a "Cultural Melting-Pot" and Canada was "A Cultural Mosaic". Pardon the next sentance. This is absolute crap. Canada is a Cultural Shopping Mall in my opinion. The Mall of Canada has many shops in it which represent the different cultures. One day i can go look at The Scottish Shope, or grab lunch at Little Italy, but, each of these shops is seperate and unique.
I'm really quite torn about this. Should we remain multicultural, and wander aimlessly into history, or do we become homogenous and go against the only sense of identity that Canada has? I think that Canada needs to walk the radical middle; live on the fence. How else does one reconsile this issue? I don't want Canada to be like the USA where immigrants are told to assimilate, i love the idea of integration. But, integration is not possible without something to integrate into. You cannot add something to nothing and get more than one. 0+1 does NOT equal 2. That seems to be the formula that Canada is based on. I've been racking my brain for weeks with this issue. Flip-flopping back and forth in my mind. Im going to talk to a sociologist about it.

posted by That Canadian Guy @ 12:03 p.m.