Guyanese Independence Day

Remarks by David Kilgour,
Member of Parliament for Edmonton Southeast
Romanian Orthodox Hall, Edmonton, 24 May 1997

It is a great pleasure to be with you tonight to celebrate the Guyanese Independence Day. It was thirty-one years ago, on May 24, 1966, that Guyana gained independence from Britain and became a Republic within the British Commonwealth of Nations only a few years afterwards in 1970.

Guyana’s ("land of many waters") multi-ethnic population reflects the country’s immigrant history and as such our countries bear many similarities. You have done remarkably well as a people and a nation in 1996. On the economic front, Guyana is one of the very few countries in the world to have grown by over 5% in 1996. I’m told that prospects for 1997 look even better.

Politically, your country continues to recapture the spirit and essence of democracy. Your record on human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of media, and unhindered freedom of association is attested to by probably the highest number of private media agencies in the Caribbean, and also the mushrooming of political parties of every description.

Much as in Canada, the most crucial political issue in your country is national unity. In fact, this has been the most persistent issue on Guyana’s political agenda for the last 50 years. It was one which the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan had had to confront throughout his long career and one which stared the nation straight in the face during the period of national mourning following his death.

Canadians of Guyanese origin are part of a long-established, respected cultural community. Building upon traditions of dedication, hard work and loyalty, you are making a growing contribution to all sectors of Canadian economic and social life.

During 1996, Canada commemorated the 25th anniversary of its multiculturalism policy - a defining characteristic of our country. Cultural diversity is both a fact of life in Canada and a vital Canadian value. Through generation upon generation, Canadians have built a nation on the principles of democracy, opportunity, fairness, cooperation and mutual respect. Those principles have made our country the envy of the world.

Canada’s cultural diversity is founded in a noble ideal. The advantages of that diversity are, however, very real and very practical. We have connections of culture, language, custom and family with all parts of the globe. Those links mean more competitive strength, more trade, more tourism, more economic growth and more social vitality for Canada. The benefits accrue to all Canadians regardless of our origins.

We are thirty million people who share a land recognized by the United Nations as the number one country in which to live. Our ability to create unity in diversity is a success on which we must continue to build.

As we prepare for the 21st century, Canadians must rise to the challenges of constantly evolving economic, social, technological, environmental and demographic issues. But, the ideals that Canadians hold dear remain the same. Canada’s commitment to multiculturalism is really a commitment to ensuring that Canada remains a beacon of hope to the globe, and a nation that benefits from the heritage and talents of all its citizens.

It is a central part of our national dream to believe we possess a unique ability to maintain harmony among diverse cultural communities. This, undoubtedly, is one of Canada’s sterling successes even if it has faded somewhat with some recent incidents of bigotry, intolerance and racism. Long before it was formally recognized as a touchstone for Canadian society, multiculturalism was a fact of life in this country.

More than a fourth of Canadians are now of origin other than British or French. Some argue that if multiple origins are considered, the figure is nationally about thirty-eight per cent. Whatever the case may be, the percentage will rise as the cultural profile of new immigrants and refugees changes with world political and economic conditions. Countries of South East Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean are becoming the primary sources of newcomers to Canada. These "third-force" Canadians constitute a particularly dynamic component of Canadian society.

In recent decades, newcomers have not been pressured to believe in any particular Canadian credo and to discard their previous identity. They were instead encouraged to preserve their heritage, roots and culture while enjoying our national values of fairness, equality, and moderation, celebrated throughout the world. "Come to the Last, Best West" boomed Canadian immigration posters during the 1890s, "You may keep your language and religion, just come and till our prairie soil." Fortunately, this remains the essence of our cultural mosaic: by a collage of races, cultures and religions, we continue to build a nation bound by a thread of feelings of belonging to a country, and the understanding that together we benefit from one another and from our respective differences and contributions.

Episodes like the active campaign against turbans in the RCMP, an increased number of anti-Semitic acts and persisting negative ethnic stereotypes indicate growing intolerance. In my view, Canada is not now the American melting pot and never should be. The United States, in fact, appears to be moving briskly in our own direction as indicated by the fact that Spanish is almost as common as English on exhibits at Florida’s Disney World. Nor should people rush into concluding foolishly that all those opposed to the turban for use in the RCMP dress uniform are bigots. Many of those opposed only felt the uniform was a national symbol which they did not wish to see changed.

To my question about how to deal with different cultures in Canada, most of the respondents chose the "multicultural mosaic" type; a smaller, but still significant number were in favour of the "melting pot" model; the remainder endorsed neither or opted for a combination of both. The small number of replies to my query cannot be compared with the broadly based and admittedly random sample method of the Angus Reid poll. Yet I believe the discrepancy here reflects the essential ambivalence of being Canadian: We want to be different from others, especially Americans. We celebrate, enjoy and take pride in our differences, yet, collectively we are afraid that these differences could drive us further apart if formally sanctioned and fracture us into cultural ghettos and otherwise dilute our collective identity.

There is considerable pressure on any first generation of newcomers to conform to national norms. Yet on the other hand, people want to maintain their cultural heritage for their own children as a family bequest. In my own experience, the second and third generations of immigrants embody most clearly the process of becoming Canadian and moulding personalities, loyalties and identities. The second generation is often more a part of a new cultural climate, but is still fluent in the language of ancestors and conscious of its own cultural duality in bridging two cultures and two worlds.

No one can say how many generations it takes to become "fully Canadian" because no one really knows what the term implies. Certainly mere "time done" should not determine the degree to which anyone can consider him or herself a Canadian. The moulding of our national identity is an ongoing process, greatly influenced by the overall broad social, economic, political and even geographical context in which it is taking place. Essential to it is that we, as a nation of immigrants, must not exclude any individual willing to participate in the process of building Canada.

Today, and increasingly since the beginning of this century, the West has developed a character that is pluralistic in culture, religion and politics. This has been possible partly because no ethno-cultural community was numerically dominant. Some might say the British were, but no one who knows the history of those islands would group the Scots, Irish, Welsh and English together indistinguishably. In practice, most members of every cultural community, including the larger ones, today believe that all people are of equal worth and that all should have the right to choose their own lifestyle within the framework of cherished Canadian values like non-violence, civility and respect for others.

Consequently, a pattern of permissive differentiation, not coercive assimilation, emerged at an early date and has set very firmly in the West. More than in any other part of Canada, multiculturalism is all-inclusive. No one’s community has been left out, because each one is seen as an integral part of the regional kaleidoscope. Bitter experiences of prejudice and discrimination are gone. The region has emerged confidently from its aboriginal past into a multicultural present and future. A unique mixture of ethno-cultural cooperation now exists.

There is a Western consensus that the survival of all ethno-cultural communities is beneficial to the individual satisfaction and self-development of their members, since it builds a sound climate in which cultural differences do not limit social participation. The preservation of cultural communities also advances and enriches the community as a whole since each of them has a valued contribution to make to the whole. Sustained interaction between diverse groups on the basis of mutual respect and equality is an enriching social experience: each group affects the others, while maintaining its identity.

The various communities can provide wise counsel at a time of national tension and stress. Former Czechs and Slovaks know from experience the dangers of national fragmentation that have long imperiled the existence of their land of origin. Many Flemish- and French-speaking Belgians, Serbs and Croatians from Yugoslavia, and newcomers from Pacific Rim, African, and Caribbean nations also know just how fragile can be the human glue which holds countries together during periods of adversity. Newcomers from Lebanon similarly can tell what happens where one’s membership in a particular religion or cultural community is the most important component of citizenship and that Canada must avoid the Lebanese experience at all costs.

Immigration

Flows of immigrants have dramatically altered, and will continue to alter, the old playing field on which the concept of the two "founding groups" could play itself out. In fact, multi-ethnicity appears to be the nation-state norm of the future. In Canada, we become more, not less, ethnically and racially diverse in what has been described as the best truly international society.

Canadians will continue to use immigration to enhance and supplement our labour force, to address refugee problems, and to reunite families. Our human resources are our most important economic asset. Given our growing ethnocultural diversity, the effective use of these resources depends on harmonious race relations and cross-cultural understanding, especially in the workplace. Discriminatory employment practices lead to friction and reduced productivity that divert energies from the large economic challenges at hand.

The need to manage diversity becomes all the more urgent in a workplace where, by the end of the century, 80 per cent of all new entrants will be women, immigrants, visible minorities or First Nations persons. In addition, Canada’s labour force will be growing less quickly. Employers will have to pay special attention to the demographics of this labour pool if they are to hire and keep the best qualified candidates. Many of the largest companies in Canada have already responded to this reality by introducing programs that tackle stereotypes, biases and barriers.

Discrimination in Canada

Without doubt, cross-cultural understanding in Canada has improved since, for instance, the treatment in the 19th century of Chinese railway construction workers or other instances of hostile, racially-exclusionary immigration policies. Although blatant racism is marginal and the social distance between communities, minorities and other groups is diminishing, racism still exists. Its forms are not as brutal as, say, "ethnic cleansing" in the former Yugoslavia or the stone-throwing at the homes of foreigners in Berlin, but racial confrontations in Montreal and Toronto, the activities of Keegstra, Zundel and the skinheads speak clearly about the degree of prejudice, tolerance and discrimination in walks of Canadian life.

Racial prejudice has become much less socially acceptable, or politically correct, than it once was. Many observers argue, however, that discrimination persists in more concealed forms. Some people hide real attitudes, discriminate in a covert manner, and tolerate discriminating institutions.

The saddest thing is what racial discrimination can do to our children and young people. Our schools need to address the challenge of adjusting to differences of race, language, tradition and backgrounds more effectively. Respect is thought when children see that their friends communicate in a different way. It gives an appreciation of the background of the other person and the realization that Canada is a country of many cultures.

Canada was a multicultural nation from birth. When Europeans first set foot on what is now Canadian soil, they found the land inhabited by a diverse range of native peoples. In recent years, multiculturalism has been attacked as a policy that ghettoizes ethno-cultural and visible minorities. But isn’t it clear that multiculturalism has helped increase awareness of Canadian diversity and increased opportunities for all Canadians? It is an important mechanism in promoting active and equal citizenship.

Canadians are comfortable with the idea of belonging to more than one place. We are largely a nation of people who come from other parts of the country, or from somewhere else as immigrants or as descendants of immigrants. We know what it means to put down roots and pull up stakes, sometimes again and again. Of course, for some people the attractions of home are overpowering. Familiar comforts and surroundings, closeness of family and lifelong friends, personal memories and shared traditions combine to fashion unbreakable bonds between individuals and community, bonds which make the idea of "leaving home" all but unthinkable.

As we move forward through life, all of us glance back, remembering where and what we have been, reflecting on individual experiences, honouring our heritage and traditions. This is part of the Canadian experience too. Whether our roots are across the street or across the ocean, they are never far away from our hearts. They remain with us for life.

The Canadian Century

This 20th century was supposed to belong to Canada. Historians may well decide that the prophecy by Wilfrid Laurier that "the twentieth century shall be the century of Canada and of Canadian development" was not only justified, but fulfilled. Canada came of age in the second half of this century, and it has done so in a way that should make us a model in the next for other countries in a turbulent, divided and often irrational world.

Certainly others have long expected big things of our country. In 1930, Winston Churchill described Canada as "the linchpin of peace and world progress"; in 1953, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower told Parliament that "to strive, even dimly, to foresee the wonders of Canada’s next generation is to summon the utmost powers of the imagination."

A question for all Canadians whose main linguistic bloodline is neither English nor French is to know what legitimacy their country attaches to their particular language or languages. The point to keep in mind is that no one is linguistically "simple" anymore than anyone is ethnically "pure"; even if we only speak in two dialects or three registers of the same language, every one of us remains, at best - and for our own good - a linguistic blend.

In closing, let me share with you a thought of a world-renowned Canadian critic and scholar, Northrop Frye, who said:

Man is a child of the word as well as a child of nature ... just as he is conditioned by nature and finds his conception of necessity in it, so the first thing he finds in the community of the word is the charter of his freedom.

Thank you.