Perhaps immigrants’ children find multiculturalism obsolete because they are the ones who understand that there is one culture in Canada to which they belong. Canada, like all Western countries, is founded on ethical monotheism-the Judeo-Christian ethic- which gave us the revolutionary command to care for the other, the stranger, making it possible for people from different tribes, of different ethnicity and cultures to come together, bound by the necessity to care for those who are different from each other in order to develop a culture that prioritizes equality and free-will.
As Darwin wrote in Descent of Man, “There can be no doubt that a tribe including many members who from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage and sympathy were always ready to give aid to each other and to sacrifice themselves for the common would be victorious over most other tribes and this would be natural selection.”
This is the recipe for a successful culture. And this is the Canadian culture to which their parents brought them. These young people don’t want to be identified as a different culture but will proudly carry on their ethnicity in our Western culture
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Pierre Trudeau did us no favour when he introduced multiculturalism to Canada. It encourages fragmentation rather than unity in shared stories, beliefs, values and priorities. The children of immigrants know this. That is a lesson they bring to the rest of us.
