Immigration Canada’s delusional new guide
Last Thursday, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney revealed Canada’s new Immigration Guide
Last Thursday, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney revealed Canada’s new Immigration Guide, a 58-page document intended to assist immigrants in studying for their citizenship test. The new document, which replaces one created by Jean Chrétien’s Liberal government in 1995, is a very different text than its predecessor. Purporting to be a comprehensive portrait of Canada as a nation, the new citizenship Guide is amnesiac in its treatment of Canada’s history, hawkish in its fetish for Canadian war-making, and racist in its position toward immigrants from non-Western countries.
The new Guide seeks to reimagine Canadian identity, replacing the concepts of multicultural acceptance and pacifism with a homogenous and exclusive national identity. Under the heading “Introducing Canada,” the 1995 citizenship guide asserted that “the only people originally from Canada are the Aboriginal Peoples. They lived in Canada for thousands of years before the first immigrants came here.” In contrast, the new Guide informs the reader that “to understand what it means to be Canadian, it is important to know about our three founding peoples – Aboriginal, French, and English.” Throughout, references are made to a proud Canadian history dating back 400 years – before Confederation, but not before the arrival of European colonialists.
Such an approach to Canadian history is both bizarre and disturbingly revisionary. The idea that Canada has three founding “peoples” is incomprehensible: not only does it reduce the mosaic of Aboriginal cultures and civilizations that existed prior to colonization to one, homogeneous entity, it also implies that they participated on an equal footing with French and English colonists in the foundation of Canada. The violence with which most of the indigenous cultures were destroyed is swept under the rug.
The new Guide’s historical editing is not limited to the colonial period, however. Before the release of the new guide, Kenney criticized the old one for emphasizing peace and peacekeeping and devoting too little attention to Canada’s participation in 20th century wars. The new Guide devotes three pages to Canada’s military history, complete with romantic portraits of soldiers and battles. The history of suffragettes is confined to a box in a corner accompanied by the picture of a smiling military nurse. By failing to mention the contributions of immigrants, these pages efface the legacy of the foreign-born people of colour who have been living in this country for over a hundred years. The section on Canada’s modern international role details the Cold War, the Korean War, and NATO. Most troubling of all, on the ninth page of the document, before any discussion of Canada’s history or culture, the Guide contains a recruiting advertisement for the army, which states that enlisting is “a noble way to contribute to Canada and an excellent career choice.” The box contains the web sites of both the armed forces and cadets. This advertisement is disturbing: by prioritizing army recruitment in a document for immigrants, who are often in precarious financial situations, the ad preys on their vulnerability, offering them “easy money” in exchange for military service for their new homeland.
Also highly problematic in the new immigration Guide is a small passage entitled “The Equality of Women and Men.” This topic was dealt with extensively in the old guide – through a section about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which ensures equality of the sexes. An additional passage in the new Guide, however, states the “Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings,’ female genital mutiliation, or other gender-based violence.”
This section smacks of racist contempt for specific societies, particularly those in the Middle East and parts of Africa. It is clearly targeted at non-white immigrants from those regions, and fosters the fear that these immigrants will bring this practice with them. Though female genital mutilation is a reprehensible practice, the fact that it merits mention, and serial killing or child molestation do not, reveals the underlying xenophobia of this Guide.
Spousal abuse, on the other hand, is and has been a widespread problem in Canada. The new Guide codes it as a foreign crime – the implication is that immigrants specifically must be warned against it, that they are somehow more prone to abuse than the average, native-born Canadian.
On a more fundamental level, this Guide creates a negative Canadian identity based on difference from cultures perceived as inferior. This document levels an unwarranted accusation at all immigrants, insulting people who are already on the defensive with the significant systemic barriers that make immigrating to Canada difficult enough.
The importance of these changes should not be underestimated. Nations imagine themselves into being – the visions countries project of themselves become self-fulfilling prophecies. The version of Canada found in the new Immigration Guide is a whitewashed, homogeneous delusion. If Kenney needs an example of positive contributions immigrants of colour have made to our society, he need only look around – our country was built on immigration.
If you’re dissatisfied with the vision of Canada the Immigration Minister is presenting to immigrants, why not give him a call? He can be reached at 403-225-3480 (his Calgary number) and 613-992-2235 (in Ottawa). You can also email him at kennej@parl.gc.ca.
Tags: This article has no tags
John wrote:
Garbage like this from 19 year old students who take themselves too seriously is why I try not to read The Daily...
Nov 19, 2009 at 05:15 PM
Adam C. Sieracki wrote:
"This section smacks of racist contempt for specific societies..."
Huh?! After the Aqsa Parvez tragedy, 'Womyn's groups' practically tripped over themselves, trying to deny that things like honour killings, bride burnings, female genital mutillation and other atrocities are NOT culturally-specific. Equivocate and deny all you want, but the fact remains that these horrors are only endemic to Islamic, African and South Asian cultures. Apparently, gender rights are secondary to cultural sensitivity. And yes, "the fear that these immigrants will bring this practice with them" is a valid one, considering incidents of honour killings that have occured, since large numbers of Muslim immigrants entered Canada--unheard of here, thirty years ago. And if serial killing and child molestation bothers you, have a look at the femicidal Muslim culture in Afghanistan, and their 'Man Love Thursdays' activities.
Nov 19, 2009 at 06:45 PM
Stuart Smith wrote:
It may be true that Western culture is not perfect. However, it is vastly preferable to any of the alternatives. Stop hating yourselves and grow up.
Nov 20, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Joshua wrote:
Canada owes a lot to the immigrants who built it and we still need immigrants in specific areas of our economy.
We don't need 265,000 immigrants a year though. Currently only 20% of those immigrants are meeting the points system requirements, the rest are third world refugees and family members who after a few years get benefits from a system they never paid into.
Nov 20, 2009 at 03:44 PM
Frank Blackwood wrote:
I think Canada has lost control of the Immigration system which has made the immigrants of the 1950's and 1960 look as slaves. Immigrants today are treated with a silver spoon which they do not have to earn, yet they are still complaining about the harshness of Canadians towards them.They have no idea as to what the Italian, Polish, Porteugese, and Russian immigrants went through before becoming a Canadian Citizen. They came to Canada with nothing and worked hard because they did not want handouts. They worked on the railroads, in the forest and fished the ocean for a decent living which they earned with pride. They were proud to be Canadian. They lived by our traditions and values, and were proud of it. Canada's Immigration System needs to control Immigrants and have those who come here to respect our way of life. Canadians need the jobs to get back to work, before Immigrants.
Nov 20, 2009 at 10:26 PM
Skippy wrote:
Ah, student types. Always trying to out-liberal each other. Nothing's ever good enough for you people, is it?
Nov 21, 2009 at 12:32 AM
M Laplante wrote:
Thank, Jason Kenney, for making it cool to be racist again. All those foreign countries filled with dishonest people making bogus refugee claims - the Mexicans, the Roma, who knows who else - and now these invisible enemies, the stereotypical dark-skinned people who all want to come to Canada to carry out violent crimes against women. Even the government is suspicious of them.
Nov 21, 2009 at 11:09 PM
alan wrote:
Wow. This is way over the top. Sometimes people just need to complain. Its been 10 years since I was in University but I can't ever remember being so eager to find fault with establishment.
Nov 22, 2009 at 10:40 PM
guru Hoodoo wrote:
Loth as I am to appear to be on the same side as some of the knuckle-draggers above, I do think this is a pretty silly editorial. There's quite a few howlers in here, but none more unintentionally comic as the part on violence against women that reads "This section smacks of racist contempt for specific societies, particularly those in the Middle East and parts of Africa. It is clearly targeted at non-white immigrants from those regions, and fosters the fear that these immigrants will bring this practice with them."
Why do the editors think this section is targeting people from the Middle East and Africa? The guide certainly doesn't say anything of the kind. I mean, it could be referring to all those genital-mutilators from Russia, Japan, or Argentina. Is it not a racist assumption to conclude otherwise?
Of course it isn't. As the Daily should know, in certain parts of the world violence against women is not only tolerated, but enshrined in custom and law. Serial killing is not tolerated in any jurisdiction that I am aware of. Informing immigrants that the legal environment is different here on such a fundamental issue, in a guide to immigrants, is completely appropriate.
Nov 23, 2009 at 12:01 AM
alan wrote:
Guru Hoodoo,
I am sorry you 'loath' to be on the side of us knuckle draggers. Learn how to spell before you criticise others. At least though you agree that this is a silly editorial.
Nov 29, 2009 at 08:33 PM
OGN wrote:
Frank Blackwood:
The hardships endured by Italians, Portuguese, Polish, and Russian immmigrants of the past were shared by Chinese and Indian immigrants too, who also worked on railroads and "came to Canada with nothing". I'm not sure why you failed to mention these immigrants among the Europeans you named.
Nov 29, 2009 at 11:34 PM
Megatron wrote:
Looks like we've hit a nerve hahaha. I especially like the people complaining about how this article is rocking the boat or simply waving off the issues adressed in it because of the author's age.
University students, pah! What do they know? Their ideas have obviously never positively affected society or aided progress.
One thing is for sure, this article has elicited a powerful emotional response from its readers.
Dec 2, 2009 at 07:11 PM
Spam Robot wrote:
I don't think there is any affirmative action favoring immigrants. It is amusing to note how personal insecurities play out in condemning immigrants. You see any competitive program at a top Canadian university and it must kill people to see so many "non-Europeans" doing well.
Dec 2, 2009 at 10:13 PM
Howard of Brampton wrote:
I am dismayed that the learned members of the Editorial Board are of the opinion that the new Emigration Guide is racist in its position toward immigrants from non-Western countries, particularly with regards to a small passage entitled “The Equality of Women and Men.” Nothing could be further from the truth! Their statement that "This topic was dealt with extensively in the old guide – through a section about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which ensures equality of the sexes.", is to me, indicia of naivete. I believe most Canadian citizens are not very familiar with our Charter, let alone new emigrants, and to expect that they would discern from perhaps a few readings, the meanings behind the equality provisions contained therein and what they actually mean in everyday life, is again, naive in the extreme. That this "section smacks of racist contempt for specific societies", is ample evidence of a lack of critical thinking. There's nothing racist about it. It's cultural, not racial!!! If looked at without intellectual, cultural, or institutional bias, then one should see it for what it is. It is a warning about Canada's intolerance for certain cultural practices (including Religious culture), and that if this represents a difficulty for potential emigrants, then at least they are being offered "Informed Consent", and the opportunity to decline emigration if gender equality is intolerable to them, and they are not cruelly left to find this out after arrival on these shores. To do otherwise would be patently unfair.
I may be labeled a cultural bigot, however I think my opinions are not formed out of any sense of self interest or misguided nationalism, but out of compassion for the plight of emigrants who experience culture shock here in Canada by the most horrendous of ways.
Feb 2, 2010 at 02:52 PM
We've switched commenting systems. Please scroll to the bottom of the article, where you can now log in and respond to this story.