More on Multiculturalism

A year or so before Wendy and I left Edinburgh for Ottawa at the end of 1969, an article in the Guardian or the Observer about Canadian multiculturalism aroused our interest. That may have been where I first saw the word 'mosaic' used to describe Canadian attitudes to culture and ethnicity. It was very different from the American 'melting-pot' concept. Canada's social,demographic and cultural composition was changing when we came to live in Ottawa at the end of 1969. I see this change with a perspective of more than 40 years when I look at the names and faces of our graduating medical classes. In  the early 1970s, almost all the names were male and indicated roots in the UK, Ireland or France - "white men in suits" - and barely a handful of women. There were occasional names from Poland, the Baltic states, Central and Eastern Europe. Ten years later, thanks to Idi Amin's eviction of the South Asian intelligentsia from Uganda, names and faces of recognizably South Asian origin were appearing, followed by more whose parents had come direct from India rather than via Uganda. Others came from South-East Asia, children of Vietnamese refugees and Chinese from Taiwan or Hong Kong. All the while, the proportion of women rose until now when it often exceeds the proportion of men in a graduating class. From my position at the podium looking out at classes of eager students, I rejoiced to see such variety of skin pigment, hair texture and facial features. I also saw much pairing off, not infrequently across ethnic and racial lines. I'm happy to report that among former students with whom my friendship has continued after graduation, ethnically diverse pair-bonding has usually survived the stresses of medical life and children are growing up, carrying with them the ethnic and cultural qualities of both parents.

Canadian multiculturalism is celebrated on Parliament Hill on Canada Day with performances by ethnic groups who have often preserved the songs and dances of their ancestors' homelands through several generations. In the early 1970s, Wendy and I watched a spectacular troupe of Manitoba Ukrainian dancers who were probably the grand-children if not great-grand-children of the original Ukrainians who settled and farmed the prairies. And of course there are Highland dancers, bagpipe players everywhere in Canada, and more Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton Island than in Scotland. Across Canada wherever the railroad runs, at every town large enough to support a restaurant, there is one established by a Chinese family descended from the indentured laborers who built the railroads, and left this little relic of Chinese culture like beads on a string all the way across the country that wasn't yet a nation, but became one in part at least because of this cultural infusion. These well established cultural and ethnic entities in Canada are being reinforced by more recent arrivals from South and South-east Asia, Latin America, East and West Africa.

It's acceptance of features and events like these, and the tolerance of differences, that make Canadian multiculturalism  so admirable. These qualities bind Canada together, and make it such a splendid place to live. This goodness far, far outweighs the blackness of honour killing - dishonour killing - and genital mutilation that I deplored in my last post.