Canadian Values – The Limits to Multi-Culturalism

Multi-culturalism is an official policy of the Canadian Government. From an early age, children are taught that Canada is a multi-cultural country and it is contrasted to the U.S., where the policy is of a “melting-pot”.

Multi-culturalism is based on the assumption that all cultures are equal and should be treated equally. All cultures share the same basis values, so can live together peacefully. However, the rise of radical Islam puts this assumption to the test. Even the most ardent multi-culturalist, Angela Merkel, has said “multi-culturalism does not work”.

Recently, it was proposed that immigrants to Canada should espouse “Canadian Values”, either as a course on entry or as part of the immigration process. The idea fell through when nobody could define “Canadian Values”.

However, it is much easier to list what does not fit with “Canadian Values”.

Here is a short list of practices which are practiced by some cultures but are not acceptable in Canada:

• Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
• Honor killings
• De-humanising women by making them wear burkas, niqabs or other garments which leave the face covered.
• Polygamy
• rape (specifically permitted by the Koran in defined circumstances)
• killing apostates (a religious duty, and so in the criminal codes of most Islamic countries)
• killing blasphemers (ditto)
• jihad
• slavery, an institution approved by the Koran
• the subordinate role of women, e.g. in inheritance and in court
• the reward of virgins for martyrs (nobody asks the virgins how they feel about this I assume).

Most of these are practised in Moslem countries (and some Moslem communities in Western countries) but not all e.g. in Indonesia, which is the most populous country with a majority of Moslems, does not follow most of these practices.

Islamic cultures are not the only ones who espouse “un-Canadian” values. Historically, every culture had some form of slavery. Druids and Aztecs practised human sacrifice. Torturing prisoners was the norm. Punishments were intended to inflict the maximum pain possible. However, the influence of Western culture has eliminated all of these, with the one notable exception.

Canadian policy towards immigrants and refugees should discriminate against those who practise or support any of these items. This may mean medical examinations (for FGM), DNA tests for polygamy (“wife’s cousin” is a frequent euphemism for “second wife”).