Canada cannot quite get the hang of this multicultural thing.
It seems so simple on the surface. We are a tolerant and welcoming people who allow citizens of all religions and ethnic backgrounds to flourish within our society. Everyone is free to live their lives via their own cultural boundaries.
But where does the line get drawn?
In years gone by an uproar has been caused every time a cultural group attempted to enforce its own beliefs within our borders.
The debate over whether Shariah Islamic law should be enforced in Muslim neighbourhoods in Ontario resulted in a contentious debate which played out in the Ontario legislature and newspapers around the nation. The provincial government eventually nixed the proposal.
The major issue in the last provincial election was whether public funds should go to faith-based schools. Currently, funding in Ontario is provided to Catholic schools but no other faiths. The law allowing this is enshrined in the constitution and is therefore difficult to change.
Progressive Conservative leader John Tory suggested bringing other faiths into the public system by offering them funding if they agreed to meet provincial standards.
The proposal proved wildly unpopular. People saw no reason why their tax dollars should go to fund religious teachings that contradict their own beliefs.
In that election the Liberals, under the leadership of Premier Dalton McGuinty, were returned to power with a huge majority. Most political pundits attribute the win to the faith-based schools issue.
Certainly, the provincial election put to rest any idea that state dollars should be extended to other faith-based schools. But wait: enter the Toronto black-focused schools initiative.
The Toronto District School Board has approved a proposal to set up an Africentric school, which aims to help reduce the drop-out and failure rate of black students by offering them a curriculum geared to their background. Proponents of the idea point out that this is hardly a new thing for Canadians, who already fund schools specifically for First Nations students. However, the education system for First Nations people remains a trouble spot and has certainly not yielded the expected results with dropout rates nearing 60 per cent, according to Statistics Canada.
The problem with these types of debates is that politicians don’t have the guts to address the issues head-on because racial issues tend to be emotional hotbeds.
McGuinty says although he objects to the school board’s decision he will not step in to stop it, despite polls suggesting only two per cent of Torontonians like the idea.
In Canada, we like to brag about how our brand of multiculturalism unites us and makes us an oasis in a sea of intolerance. The truth is we have not yet decided how multicultural we want to be.
Giving public funding to schools geared toward one ethnic group is akin to admitting our current multicultural society has failed. The real solution is incorporating multiculturalism into our current education system and making that system as strong as possible. That is the way forward.