Fwd: "Do We Celebrate Diversity, Or Simply Put Up With It?"
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TESL Network Canada
Jun 13, 2011, 3:38:17 PM6/13/11
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Debora Kelly, YorkRegion.com
February 18, 2011
http://www.yorkregion.com/opinion/columns/article/957035--we-all-share-role-in-creating-multicultural-success-story
Are we laying out the welcome mat, only to slam the door in the face of immigrants?
Do we celebrate diversity, or simply put up with it?
Naheed Nenshi, who has made headlines as Calgary’s new Muslim mayor, had me thinking as I listened to him speak at the CivicAction summit in Toronto last week.
About 800 of the GTA’s thought leaders in business, labour, education, community activism and politics had gathered to explore civic-boosting issues related to the economy, environment, transit, housing, arts and diversity.
The timing couldn’t be more relevant to discuss diversity and its impact on urban communities, with some global leaders saying multiculturalism as a failure, while our own immigration rates are flourishing.
Britain’s David Cameron, Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy are saying multiculturalism has led to racial ghettos and religious extremism in their countries.
And while the Harper government has embraced immigration as a driver of the economy — 280,636 immigrants came last year, the most in 57 years — it has also closed settlement agencies and is supporting a private member’s bill to ban voters from wearing veils at federal elections polls.
Mayor Nenshi told CivicAction delegates Canada has a moral obligation to share its multicultural success story with the world.
He speaks with sincerity and passion — and, not to mention, brims with charisma — about the Canadian experience with diversity.
But he said it isn’t enough to simply welcome immigrants — in acknowledging diversity isn’t threatening — but that we must see their presence as enriching.
To the first-generation Canadian whose parents immigrated from Tanzania, it’s crucial immigrants have “the right pathways” to follow on arrival.
With taxi-driving PhDs and MDs likely in mind, he said, “I don’t need to tell any of you that it is the ultimate crime to waste human potential by saying to immigrants ‘we need highly skilled people in these professions and, by the way, when you get here, you can’t work in that profession’. It’s the ultimate bait-and-switch program.”
The key “ticket to success” is language training, Mr. Nenshi believes, as well as strong public institutions and services equally accessible to all communities.
While his family didn’t have a lot of money, he feels he had plenty of opportunity, thanks to public schools, libraries and recreational facilities.
And why should the success of our immigrants matter to Joe Canada?
Almost all of Canada’s growth will come from immigration — and the potential is phenomenal, according to CivicAction panellist Don Drummond, a Matthews Fellow on global public policy.
“We have to get out of this singular economic model of being latched only to the U.S. economy and expand into the fastest growing emerging economy – that’s not what’s happening, of course. Immigrants are suffering enormously when they come into the economy,” he said.
Mr. Drummond added we’re in a global competition for talent.
Mayor Nenshi says immigrants also have ownership in creating Canada’s multiculturalism success story.
“I also have a challenge to immigrant communities ... and that is that we must always resist the urge to be insular. Yes, we must hold on to what makes our community special... but we must share those gifts (and) make sure that we are contributing to the greater success of every community and of all of our neighbours in the country.”
Ultimately, we all must share a value that “the success of immigrants is the success of our community, the success of our community is the success of our nation”, he said.
“That takes vigilance, that takes some policy prescriptions; above all, it takes goodwill amongst all of us.”
Since we live in region that is among the most diverse in North America, I think that’s advice worth taking to heart.
Debora Kelly, YorkRegion.com
February 18, 2011
http://www.yorkregion.com/opinion/columns/article/957035--we-all-share-role-in-creating-multicultural-success-story
Are we laying out the welcome mat, only to slam the door in the face of immigrants?
Do we celebrate diversity, or simply put up with it?
Naheed Nenshi, who has made headlines as Calgary’s new Muslim mayor, had me thinking as I listened to him speak at the CivicAction summit in Toronto last week.
About 800 of the GTA’s thought leaders in business, labour, education, community activism and politics had gathered to explore civic-boosting issues related to the economy, environment, transit, housing, arts and diversity.
The timing couldn’t be more relevant to discuss diversity and its impact on urban communities, with some global leaders saying multiculturalism as a failure, while our own immigration rates are flourishing.
Britain’s David Cameron, Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Nicolas Sarkozy are saying multiculturalism has led to racial ghettos and religious extremism in their countries.
And while the Harper government has embraced immigration as a driver of the economy — 280,636 immigrants came last year, the most in 57 years — it has also closed settlement agencies and is supporting a private member’s bill to ban voters from wearing veils at federal elections polls.
Mayor Nenshi told CivicAction delegates Canada has a moral obligation to share its multicultural success story with the world.
He speaks with sincerity and passion — and, not to mention, brims with charisma — about the Canadian experience with diversity.
But he said it isn’t enough to simply welcome immigrants — in acknowledging diversity isn’t threatening — but that we must see their presence as enriching.
To the first-generation Canadian whose parents immigrated from Tanzania, it’s crucial immigrants have “the right pathways” to follow on arrival.
With taxi-driving PhDs and MDs likely in mind, he said, “I don’t need to tell any of you that it is the ultimate crime to waste human potential by saying to immigrants ‘we need highly skilled people in these professions and, by the way, when you get here, you can’t work in that profession’. It’s the ultimate bait-and-switch program.”
The key “ticket to success” is language training, Mr. Nenshi believes, as well as strong public institutions and services equally accessible to all communities.
While his family didn’t have a lot of money, he feels he had plenty of opportunity, thanks to public schools, libraries and recreational facilities.
And why should the success of our immigrants matter to Joe Canada?
Almost all of Canada’s growth will come from immigration — and the potential is phenomenal, according to CivicAction panellist Don Drummond, a Matthews Fellow on global public policy.
“We have to get out of this singular economic model of being latched only to the U.S. economy and expand into the fastest growing emerging economy – that’s not what’s happening, of course. Immigrants are suffering enormously when they come into the economy,” he said.
Mr. Drummond added we’re in a global competition for talent.
Mayor Nenshi says immigrants also have ownership in creating Canada’s multiculturalism success story.
“I also have a challenge to immigrant communities ... and that is that we must always resist the urge to be insular. Yes, we must hold on to what makes our community special... but we must share those gifts (and) make sure that we are contributing to the greater success of every community and of all of our neighbours in the country.”
Ultimately, we all must share a value that “the success of immigrants is the success of our community, the success of our community is the success of our nation”, he said.
“That takes vigilance, that takes some policy prescriptions; above all, it takes goodwill amongst all of us.”
Since we live in region that is among the most diverse in North America, I think that’s advice worth taking to heart.
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