Where to find school bullies? Not where you might expect: Saunders

2016/09/19 Leave a comment

Interesting study noted by Doug Saunders on the positive correlation between number of immigrant children and lower levels of bullying (and higher levels of academic achievement). End comment on Fraser Institute studies and real estate agents pushing the opposite view of note:

A few years ago, I found myself in the vice-principal’s office at a Toronto elementary school with a majority of recent immigrants and refugees from Africa, Asia and the Middle East in its student body. I was struck by all the posters in her office, and in the hallway outside, devoted to anti-bullying campaigns. “I guess schoolyard bullies are a big problem at a school like this,” I said.

“Oh no,” she said, visibly surprised, “not here – we’re required to run those campaigns, but bullying is really something for the white schools. You don’t get much of it at schools like this.”

I later heard similar remarks from teachers and education experts in other cities: that it’s the “white” schools with mainly non-immigrant populations where bullying and psychological distress are serious problems.

I assumed, for a while, that this was a matter of perception. After all, bullying is a current obsession of middle-class white parents. New-Canadian parents, lacking fluency and time to monitor their kids, might not be able to perceive or report schoolyard abuse when it takes place, I guessed.

And then I ran into Kathy Georgiades, a clinical psychologist at McMaster University’s Offord Centre for Child Studies, who happened to be conducting a series of large-scale studies of exactly this question, and finding surprising results.

In 2007, she and her team of researchers conducted a study based on interviews with 14,000 primary-school students, their parents and their teachers. They found that children living in neighbourhoods with higher immigrant populations experienced “lower levels of emotional-behavioural problems” – including those problems that are usually classified as “bullying” and “being bullied” – than those in mainly non-immigrant neighbourhoods.

That study had its limits: The interviews were only conducted in English and French, leaving out non-fluent families who might be more vulnerable. And they were classified by neighbourhood makeup, not by actual school experience. Her results had doubters among education officials, who had always classified non-fluent immigrant kids as “at-risk” – extra vulnerable to emotional and behavioural problems. Her results suggested the opposite.

So Dr. Georgiades assembled a larger, better-funded team and spent the past couple of years conducting a more comprehensive study. It held lengthy, structured interviews with students, parents and teachers at 36 primary schools in the Hamilton area’s public and Catholic boards, in nine languages, on the details of their experiences, feelings and actions; and cross-tabulated the interviews with the students’ academic, standardized testing, counselling and disciplinary records.

She told me that the study results (to be published later this year) show conclusively that more immigrant-heavy schools have a lot less bullying, as reported by students, teachers and parents – especially if more than 20 per cent of the students are foreign-born.

“In schools with a higher concentration of first- and second-generation migrant students, immigrant students are less likely to report bullying other kids, and less likely to report being bullied,” she said.

This extends to all emotional and behavioural problems. The more immigrants in a school, the better the mental-health outcomes for the newcomers. It appears to be an example of what some scholars call the “protective effect of migrant density” – newcomers and their children are more likely to help each other out than to turn against others.

If immigrant-heavy schools are good for mental health, it appears they may also be good (or at least no worse) for educational results. Research in the United States and in Britain has shown that the introduction of significant numbers of immigrants and students not fluent in English tends to improve educational outcomes in schools – not just for the immigrants themselves, but for the native-born students, who appear to have better grades and higher graduation rates than they would if they attended a school with mainly native-born students.

This may be because immigrant-heavy schools have more resources, such as teaching assistants, and because they’re forced to abandon front-of-class lecturing and offer lessons at multiple levels and tailored to multiple learning styles and paces – which is good educational practice for everyone.

Given such findings, it may be time to rethink the way we judge schools. School rankings, such as the Fraser Institute database popular with real estate agents, tend to rate schools higher if they have fewer foreign-born students. It appears that they may have it backward.

Source: Where to find school bullies? Not where you might expect – The Globe and Mail

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Apple says it has investigated recent allegations of sexism on campus and ‘actions have been taken’ – Recode

2016/09/19 Leave a comment

Parts of interview with Apple HR head on sexism and diversity challenges at Apple and in tech more generally:

Young Smith said Apple is committed to diversity in its many forms, noting it is an issue long important to Apple and one that CEO Tim Cook has made a priority.

Without a wide range of perspectives, she said “we cannot continue to be the great innovator we constantly strive to be.”

Cook himself came out rather famously in a column he wrote and has since been vocal with regards to LGBTQ issues, including the need for a national employment non-discrimination act.

But even companies like Apple and Intel, which have been more vocal advocates on the need for diversity, remain largely white and male. Women only make up 32 percent of Apple’s workforce, for example. That’s up two percentage points from two years ago and roughly on par with Google and Facebook, but still far short of having a truly representative workforce.

This has consequences — in hiring and recruitment as well as when it comes to creating an inclusive culture. Most of Apple’s engineering teams are dominated by men and it is not uncommon for women in tech to experience sexism in different forms.

In another incident described in the Mic article, a female employee recalled hearing one male co-worker tell another that he sounded like he was on his “man period.”

Asked how she would respond if she heard such talk, Young Smith noted that people tend not to say such things around her, but added that if she did hear that kind of talk, she hoped she would have the courage to call “time out.” Other employees, she said, might prefer to address things afterward, but Young Smith said she wants a company where people do call one another out.

“I don’t think people are too shy about doing it,” Young Smith said, “but I am also very cognizant that we are still 70/30 in our very hard-core engineering team. We have to be cognizant that someone may not feel that their voice is heard or valued.”

Deciding just what to do to change that is trickier, Young Smith said.

The company is looking at ways to improve the training it gives its managers as well as some of the courses in Apple University, but Young Smith said she is skeptical of top-down corporate lectures.

Nor does she see creating a giant diversity team as the answer. Rather, she said she wants 140,000 people who all feel it is their personal responsibility to make Apple more inclusive.

As for the articles, Young Smith said she is most concerned that Apple employees, especially women and people of color, will now feel like they can’t safely speak up if they experience discrimination.

“The unfortunate consequence of this is that we may have lost the trust of others,” she said.

Young Smith is particularly concerned about preserving the women-at-Apple mailing list that was the source of the emails leaked to Mic. The list has more than 1,000 participants and is an important place for people to talk about their experiences, good and bad, Young Smith said.

“We cannot risk losing that,” she said. “We have to have a safe place for people to do that.”

At the same time, Young Smith says the company may need to also find new places for people to share their concerns. “I think we need to constantly reevaluate the tools we have and think about what could be more effective.”

As we talked on Friday, Young Smith said she was finalizing an email she planned to send to the group talking about the issues raised in the articles and her personal commitment to making sure women at Apple are supported.

“As a woman (and a) leader, I think I have an even greater responsibility that I am listening to all the women, all the people of color, who may not feel as heard,” she said.

Addressing the impact of the articles, in addition to the specific incidents described, quickly became a top priority this week, not just for Young Smith, but also for Cook.

“In the midst of all this, he was deep down with all of us to understand what has transpired and what can we learn,” Young Smith said. And that came in a week where Cook was taking part in a board meeting and overseeing a major product launch.

“I think what that says is this is every bit as important as our products,” Young Smith said.

 Source: Apple says it has investigated recent allegations of sexism on campus and ‘actions have been taken’ – Recode

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Pauline Marois et Kellie Leitch : deux poids, deux mesures? 

2016/09/19 Leave a comment

I think Marie Vastel has it wrong here.

Most commentary has been critical of Lietch and her proposed values test for immigrants, including many Conservatives. Comparing a two-week period with the close-to-a-year period of the Quebec Values Charter debates is meaningless. It would have been more interesting to compare the first two weeks following the QVC announcement to make a proper assessment.

But that would take too much time and effort…

La controverse entourant la députée ontarienne reste jeune. Son idée de test de valeurs n’a été révélée qu’il y a deux semaines. Mais, pour l’instant, les commentateurs semblent moins pressés de dresser le même constat qu’au lendemain du dépôt de la charte des valeurs péquiste.

Source: Pauline Marois et Kellie Leitch : deux poids, deux mesures? | Le Devoir

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Canadians cannot be overly impatient with integration of immigrants, Justin Trudeau says

2016/09/17 Leave a comment

Worth noting the PM’s understanding of the integration process:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used the example of Italian grandmothers in Montreal on Thursday to explain why Canadians shouldn’t be “overly impatient” with the integration of newcomers.

Being fearful of immigrants is “nothing new” in Canada and around the world, he said, explaining that Italians and Greeks settling in Montreal in the 1950s faced similar kinds of discrimination as do Muslims and other immigrants today.

“The first generation is always going to have challenges in integrating,” Trudeau said during a panel discussion with London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

“There are districts (in Montreal) where Italian grandmothers still pretty much only speak Italian and don’t speak that much French or English. But their kids and grandkids are seamlessly and completely integrated into Montreal and the only difference is they tend to be trilingual and not just bilingual.”

The prime minister was taking part in a day-long conference hosted by Canada 2020, which describes itself as a progressive think-tank.

Asked by the panel moderator what can be done to reduce fear of and discrimination against newcomers, Trudeau replied that what’s happening in Canada and around the world is “nothing new.”

Italians, Greeks faced ‘tremendous distrust’

Italians and Greeks who settled in the northern part of Montreal and in other Canadian cities “faced tremendous discrimination, tremendous distrust.”

“This country didn’t happen by accident,” Trudeau continued. “And it won’t continue without effort. When we think about integration and success we can’t be overly impatient.”

He said citizens should “keep a solid pressure” to ensure human rights and the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms are respected by all Canadians.

Trudeau also referred to his time visiting places of worship around the country such as mosques and temples.

He was recently criticized online and in some Canadian media for visiting a mosque in Ottawa where women and men were kept separate.

Engage with all communities, Trudeau says

The prime minister said Canadians should engage with all communities.

“The question is, do you engage or participate or say ‘I’m not going to talk to you until you hit the norm or the perfect ideal that we all aspire to’,” he said. “I think (the latter) is wrong.”

Khan said Canada “has become a beacon of how a civilized G7 country should treat those who are vulnerable and need help.”

He also praised Trudeau for his “progressive” politics and said the prime minister’s election in October 2015 inspired him.

Source: Canadians cannot be overly impatient with integration of immigrants, Justin Trudeau says – Montreal – CBC News

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Suspicion of immigrants is a Canadian value: Cole

2016/09/17 Leave a comment

Element of truth in what Cole writes but lacks balance and nuance in failing to acknowledge attitudes and policies have and continue to evolve.

And are some of the ‘values’ talked about only a “reflection of our colonial, white, British, monarchical heritage,” or are they not broader and more universal?:

Conservative MP and party leadership contender Kellie Leitch doesn’t really want a conversation on Canadian values. The callous Leitch, who has been insisting lately that we consider a values test for prospective immigrants, simply wants to boost her brand by playing to racist and xenophobic fears of some Conservative party supporters. Modern conservative groups keep questioning immigrants’ values because they know their liberal political opponents, who are prone to the same prejudiced scapegoating, will struggle to condemn them.

Many have criticized Leitch’s proposal by saying it is impractical, since no one person or group can define or determine Canadian values. That’s a nice idea, but in practice we know the values our politicians attempt to sell us are a reflection of our colonial, white, British, monarchical heritage. There are such things as Canadian values, and they explain how our politicians have been peddling a fear of foreigners for the last 150 years.

Suspicion of all immigrants who are not white, or are not members of the former British Empire, is a Canadian value. Canada’s founding prime minister, John A. Macdonald, argued that Chinese immigrants to Canada were unfit to vote because they exhibited “no British instincts or British feelings or aspirations.” Macdonald didn’t need to cloak the authority of the state in the language of wanting a “conversation” about immigrants, as Leitch does today. In his time, there was no conversation to be had.

Assurances that we no longer live in the 19th century are beside the point. Every politician from Macdonald to Leitch has been able to bank on significant support by distinguishing between British or Canadian values and those of everyone else. Yes, even many newer immigrants echo these suspicions of outsiders’ customs or beliefs. They may hail from countries that our government is wary of. The pressure on these newcomers to conform — to validate the wisdom of the system that chose them, to scrutinize those who come after them — must be overwhelming.

Of course, all of this is only possible because of another fundamental Canadian value: erasure. Our modern mythology suggests that indigenous people were never here, or that if they were, their values and customs gave way to a superior British way of life. Our history books and our educational resources for prospective new Canadians have little to say about the values and traditions of indigenous people. British colonialism made outsiders of people who had been here for thousands of years, and cast their values aside.

That’s how a white man in a red coat who carries a weapon and patrols stolen land has come to symbolize the enforcement of Canadian values. We are taught to honour the force Mounties used to Anglicize this land, to view the guy in red as a symbol of honour and patriotism, no matter what despicable crimes he carries out. The values of dominance and separation enforced by the modern RCMP, and the Canadian Border Services Agency, are not universal or self-evident — they are steeped in centuries of racism, colonialism, and white supremacy.

Leitch may not win her leadership contest, but the fact her naked appeal to prejudice can still spur “debate” in this country says it all. Polls suggest a majority of Canadians agree with Leitch’s call to screen immigrants for good values. Few of us really care about the content of the questionnaire. What we care about is our very Canadian right to demand that immigrants be questioned, scrutinized, and weighed against the comfort and well-being of those already established here.

Conservatives are more likely to support the traditional dominant values openly. It was Leitch who announced a 2015 Conservative campaign proposal to create a “barbaric cultural practices hotline.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has cast himself as being far more progressive on immigration and cultural issues, had little to say about the Macarthyist snitch line — Trudeau and his party had quietly voted in favour of a Conservative law called the “Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act” only four months before the election.

Maybe one day, we will be able to have genuine conversations about human values that transcend not only borders, but so many other ideological barriers we still use to divide one another. For the moment, the state and its actors keep pretending there is something especially benevolent about being Canadian, and the culture wars continue.

Source: Suspicion of immigrants is a Canadian value: Cole | Toronto Star

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Why MPs should visit mosques – and other places of worship too – Anita Vandenbeld

2016/09/17 Leave a comment

MP Anita Vendenbeld, one of the Liberal MPs accompanying the PM, responds to critics (see earlier ‘Feminist’ Trudeau under attack for attending gender-segregated event at Ottawa mosque):

On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau observed Eid al-Adha at a mosque in Ottawa, accompanied by a number of Ottawa area MPs. I was one of them. I did not enter through a side door – none of us did – despite claims made in coverage by the Citizen and some others. In the past, I have visited this mosque for community events, addressed the worshippers at Friday prayers, and attended funerals and celebrations. On many of these occasions, genders were not separated. In fact, I have only seen that to be the case during prayers.

I chose to wear the headscarf out of politeness. It was my choice. In the past, I have personally witnessed female guests attend that mosque without a headscarf, and without being criticized for it. When I enter anyone’s place of worship, and they ask me to wear or not to wear something, I will choose to respect the traditions and standards their community holds, as I believe most Canadians would. I have also attended religious ceremonies at a Sikh gurdwara and a Jewish synagogue where they have segregated by gender, and I will continue to do so. I will never stop going to places where people gather, and I will never stop listening to the women and men in those places.

I have spent much of my professional career overseas working in countries whose societal norms were rapidly changing. In those countries, I would wear what was socially acceptable while also fighting to give a voice to the agents of change. Many of the women who attend the Ottawa Mosque are proud feminists, friends of mine and strong voices in our community. As an MP, my job is to be there to listen to and support them. Any representative who would choose not to be present and to not listen to members of their community would be failing in their duties as an elected representative.

I am proud to have been the first non-Muslim woman to address that same mosque in 2011, speaking from the front – which is essentially the pulpit. I spoke about inclusion, diversity and equality, and I have returned to speak many times since. I have received nothing but respect from mosque leaders, many of whom I consider allies in and champions of progressive change.

After my first speech at this mosque as an elected representative, I was approached by a woman who had recently immigrated to Canada. She told me that seeing an elected leader come to the mosque made her feel, for the first time, that Canada was truly her home. I have heard much of the same and more following the prime minister’s visit.

 I encourage everyone, when visiting a mosque, to speak with some of the women present. You will learn what passionate advocates these women are for their community and appreciate their range of thoughtful and progressive perspectives.

Under the previous government and Minister Kenney,  there was comparative under-attention to  Canadian Muslim groups, and of these, Ismailis were relatively more significant (chart below summarizes visits, speeches and statements, 2007-11).Chart 3- Ministerial Outreach by CommunitySource: Why MPs should visit mosques – and other places of worship too | Ottawa Citizen

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Vancouver police launch big recruitment drive to reflect city’s diversity

2016/09/17 Leave a comment

Article would benefit from including the current diversity numbers (which Vancouver currently does not publish these):

Vancouver is launching the largest police recruiting drive in almost a decade, and the key word for this new class of officers will be diversity, officials said.

Deputy Chief Steve Rai said the police force wants hire 85 new officers by next spring, the largest recruiting figure since the pre-Olympics effort in 2008 and more than twice the size of a normal recruiting class.

Add in 20 recruits sworn in on Thursday, and that’s an addition of more than 100 officers to a police service of 1,400 — a big injection of new blood.

While the VPD has no quotas for members from specific communities, Rai said it is crucial that the police department reflects the multicultural community that it serves. With that in mind, VDP has been stepping up its outreach to cultural communities, hoping it will lead to a multicultural mix of recruits.

“You look at what happens when your police force don’t reflect the community, and you only have to look south of the border,” he said. “You see people feeling it’s ‘us-against-them,’ and there’s a lack of trust.

 “It’s about acquiring, building and maintaining public trust … We are all in this together, so it starts with citizens seeing their police forces reflecting of them and the community. It has to reflect the fact it’s not ‘us-against-them,’ but ‘we.’”

According to the 2011 census, Vancouver has 18 languages identified as “most spoken at home” by more than 1,000 residents each. Besides English, the most spoken language at home for 98,855 Vancouverites were Chinese languages. Punjabi (10,500), Tagalog (9,345), Vietnamese (7,475), Korean (5,445) and Spanish (5,245) all topped 5,000 speakers.

Rai admits that there remains a stigma in some communities about policing, stemming from experiences and perceptions of police in other countries. He said the VPD is trying to break down the walls by attending as many community events as possible, and that as the second-generation acclimatizes to Canadian culture, the acceptance level has correspondingly risen.

“I know a lot of parents who aren’t supportive of their kids to go into policing because of the stigma that exists in their countries of origin,” Rai said. “But as time passes, barriers come down. You build that trust by talking to people and being sincere.

“We understand we have to flexible with changing society norms, and we want to make sure we hire the best,” he added. “We will mentor you to be successful, no matter what your background is. I’m a 25-year member, and there’s not one day that I’ve ever regretted my decision to become a police officer. The profession sells itself.”

Source: Vancouver police launch big recruitment drive to reflect city’s diversity | Vancouver Sun

Meanwhile:

The Vancouver Police Department says street checks are not on the rise, two weeks after the police complaint commissioner expressed concern about the department’s use of the practice.

The Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, a provincial body that oversees complaints involving municipal police, in a report late last month cited “an increasing trend in complaint allegations involving the police practice of conducting street checks.” The report, however, did not provide a total.

Street checks, or carding, can refer to stopping individuals to gather information without a reasonable suspicion of an offence. The issue has drawn significant attention in Ontario, where the provincial government announced regulations restricting carding in March after complaints were raised about privacy violations and police were accused of disproportionately targeting minorities.

Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer said he has not seen any numbers to validate the police complaint commissioner’s claim.

“I’ve got no data to suggest that that is the case. I’d be happy to see data if someone is providing it,” he told reporters outside a police board meeting Thursday.

A Vancouver Police Department spokesman said it conducted about 6,200 street checks last year – compared with 6,900 two years ago, and 7,300 three years ago.

…Chief Palmer said he meets with his department’s professional standards section every week but has not seen an increase in complaints involving street checks.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner said it has observed an increase in such complaints, but is still working to pull the exact number from its files.

 Vancouver Police Department denies that carding is on the rise 

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Lisée ouvert à bannir le voile intégral

2016/09/17 Leave a comment

Playing identity politics and digging deeper, just as Leitch in the federal Conservative leadership race:

Jean-François Lisée s’est dit ouvert à interdire la burka et le niqab de l’espace public, jeudi. Il a du coup accentué la ligne de fracture qui l’oppose à ses adversaires de la course à la direction du Parti québécois sur la question identitaire.

L’aspirant-chef du PQ a réitéré son désir de mener une campagne incitative pour encourager les employés de l’État à ne pas porter des signes religieux. Mais il est allé plus loin en se disant ouvert à bannir le port du voile intégral en public.

« Si je suis premier ministre, mon premier devoir, c’est d’assurer la sécurité des Québécois et nous savons avec certitude que des gens recrutent chez nous et ils veulent tuer des Québécois », a-t-il déclaré.

« C’est une vraie question, a-t-il ajouté. On devrait se la poser avant que l’irréparable se produise plutôt qu’après. »

M. Lisée fait valoir que 10 pays européens ont légiféré contre le port du voile intégral. Selon lui, cette tenue vestimentaire pose un problème de sécurité, puisque les personnes qui le portent ne peuvent être reconnues par des témoins ou par des caméras de surveillance.

M. Lisée ne promet pas formellement d’emboîter le pas à ces pays. S’il devient premier ministre, il statuera sur la question avoir mené des consultations et recueilli des avis d’experts.

Source: Lisée ouvert à bannir le voile intégral | MARTIN CROTEAU | Politique québécoise

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‘Feminist’ Trudeau under attack for attending gender-segregated event at Ottawa mosque

2016/09/15 1 Comment

Awkward. Valid to raise questions about appropriateness.

While in general, always better to engage and be present, PMO needs to think more about the guidelines when accepting such invitations or choosing locations. Respect should be mutual, while I can understand women MPs covering their hair as a sign of respect, the mosque should have allowed the women MPs to enter by the front door, not the side door, equally as a sign of respect.

And that would allow the PM to support those within Muslim communities who wish for more egalitarian mosques:

Canada’s self-styled feminist prime minister was praised Tuesday by one of the world’s most powerful women for his commitment to gender equality even as he was taking it on the chin from other women for appearing at a gender-segregated event the previous day.

International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde told reporters at a Parliament Hill news conference she was “appreciative” of Trudeau’s commitment to a government that was “gender-equal.” Trudeau had just told Lagarde the next Canadian representative to the IMF would be a woman, a first for the country.

Yet, Trudeau’s appearance Monday morning at a gender-segregated mosque in Ottawa brought criticism from some of the same women who had admired his work toward gender equality.

 “Right now we have these political leaders — ironically, politically liberal leaders — who are just putting blinders on their eyes about their values,” Asra Nomani said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C. Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal reporter who describes herself as a liberal, is the author of Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam.

“That’s the big differential for liberals, they fancy themselves as honouring the women’s body and yet the segregation by its very definition hyper-sexualizes women’s bodies. That’s the great irony.”

 Trudeau was at the mosque Monday to mark Eid al-Adha, considered the holiest of feast days for the world’s Muslims. Three female MPs accompanied Trudeau during his brief remarks, though they had to arrive by a side door and stand with their heads covered. They did not address the mosque.

Worshippers at the mosque are separated by gender. Men were on the main floor where Trudeau spoke. Women and girls were in a balcony or in other parts of the mosque. Nomani said that recent surveys indicate about two of every three mosques separate men from women, but that is up from a decade ago when only about half did.

“I will meet with Canadians regardless of where they are in Canada,” Trudeau told reporters Monday afternoon. “I will speak to inclusive growth, help for the middle class. I will talk about gender equality. I will talk about the rights of the LGBT community. We will continue to promote the values which bring us together.”

Source: ‘Feminist’ Trudeau under attack for attending gender-segregated event at Ottawa mosque | National Post

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Multiculturaliste, moi? | Francine Pelletier

2016/09/15 Leave a comment

Francine Pelletier, in a welcome departure from most Quebec commentary on multiculturalism, places its origins correctly in its historic and social context, dating back to the Bi and Bi Report on the “other groups” and the 1971 policy, well in advance of the 1982 repatriation of the constitution:

Je ne doute pas un instant que Trudeau père ait joué méchamment du coude lors de la Nuit des longs couteaux. Trudeau savait ce qu’il voulait et n’hésitait pas à forcer pour l’obtenir. A-t-il favorisé cette clause spécifiquement pour embêter le Québec ou plutôt, selon une autre version des faits, pour augmenter ses appuis ailleurs au pays ? Ou encore, tout simplement parce qu’il croyait que le multiculturalisme était la voie la plus prometteuse pour le Canada ? On pourrait en discuter longtemps. Le problème c’est que la perception du multiculturalisme au Québec est entièrement collée à ce petit moment ténu de notre histoire, sans tenir compte de ce qui s’est passé avant ou après.

Le multiculturalisme est né, non pas avec Trudeau, mais avec la Commission royale d’enquête sur le bilinguisme et le biculturalisme au milieu des années 1960. Lors de ses audiences, la commission Laurendeau-Dunton doit reconnaître qu’il y a d’autres forces en présence que les seuls « éléments britanniques ou français ». Elle en fera une recommandation : « la reconnaissance de la contribution des divers groupes ethniques à la société canadienne ». En 1971, Trudeau, suivant les indications des commissaires, en fera une politique officielle. Dans son discours à la Chambre des communes, il déclare que le gouvernement accepte « la prétention des autres communautés culturelles qu’elles aussi sont des éléments essentiels au Canada ».

Sans Trudeau ni la déclaration officielle, sans René Lévesque ni le bras de fer constitutionnel, le Canada serait sans doute devenu « multiculturaliste » quand même. En prenant un peu plus de temps, c’est tout. En 1980, les immigrants de première et deuxième génération comptent pour plus de la moitié de la population canadienne, tout un changement en l’espace de deux générations. C’est d’ailleurs Brian Mulroney qui fera une loi sur le multiculturalisme (1988) afin de « promouvoir la participation entière et équitable des individus et des collectivités de toutes origines à l’évolution de la nation ».

Voilà pour la grande histoire. À aucun moment n’est-il question de « congédier la souveraineté populaire », comme le répète Mathieu Bock-Côté, d’abolir le « tronc commun » ou « d’inverser le devoir d’intégration ». Ce sont là des lubies entretenues par des nationalistes conservateurs.

Mieux : on a beau se targuer de faire de « l’interculturalisme » au Québec, rien n’indique, en fait, que notre façon d’aborder l’immigration est différente de celle du ROC. « Les chercheurs s’entendent pour dire que ce modèle a davantage été une déclaration d’intention qu’une véritable politique publique », dit Jocelyn Maclure dans Retrouver la raison. Depuis que le PQ a répudié, au début des années 1980, sa politique de « convergence culturelle » — perçue comme trop assimilatrice et portant le flanc à des accusations de nationalisme ethnique —, il n’y a pas de différences réelles entre la façon de concevoir l’immigration au Québec ou au Canada. Toutes les deux reposent sur un principe de réciprocité : « L’immigrant est invité à s’intégrer aux principales institutions et à apprendre la langue ou les langues officielles, à participer à la vie politique et à respecter les normes communes. »

Sous l’influence desdits conservateurs, de nombreux politiciens tentent aujourd’hui de revenir en arrière, c’est clair. Après la charte des valeurs, le « test des valeurs »proposé par François Legault et la « concordance culturelle » proposée par l’autre aspirant-chef, Jean-François Lisée, indiquent de nouvelles velléités assimilatrices vis-à-vis des immigrants.

Des études montrent, pourtant, que c’est en respectant les différentes cultures, plutôt qu’en les neutralisant, que les immigrants sont plus susceptibles de s’intégrer à la société d’accueil.

Veut-on vraiment cracher dans la soupe du multiculturalisme ?

Le multiculturalisme est né, non pas avec Trudeau, mais avec la Commission royale d’enquête sur le bilinguisme et le biculturalisme au milieu des années 1960. Lors de ses audiences, la commission Laurendeau-Dunton doit reconnaître qu’il y a d’autres forces en présence que les seuls « éléments britanniques ou français ». Elle en fera une recommandation : « la reconnaissance de la contribution des divers groupes ethniques à la société canadienne ». En 1971, Trudeau, suivant les indications des commissaires, en fera une politique officielle. Dans son discours à la Chambre des communes, il déclare que le gouvernement accepte « la prétention des autres communautés culturelles qu’elles aussi sont des éléments essentiels au Canada ».

Source: Multiculturaliste, moi? | Le Devoir

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