Something disturbing is afoot in the land of my children and grandchildren- the country we proudly call our home and native land - Canada. I have previously warned that Canada is increasingly tending toward living in ghettos; they are ghettos of different values aided and abetted by different languages; often they are economic ghettos demarcated by race, language and ethnicity.
There is nothing wrong with people being drawn to or living in different areas based on kinships of language, ethnicity, religion or any other distinguishing features. It has been happening from times immemorial. Many of us fall into ghettos or are forced into them by circumstances. We are often numbed to the ghettoising reality by the comfort we derive from the familiar. It is that attraction for the centripetal force of the familiar along with centrifugal forces of the 'strangeness' of the larger society that may eventually create the future Canadian Molenbeeks -the Belgian ghetto that figured prominently in the Paris attacks.
The accepted centrality of our ability to share and understand each other as the basis of healthy communities and countries is what made me sit up and take notice of the Vancouver Sun (December23, 2015) story of the "Mandarin meeting" of the strata council team in a Richmond neighbourhood having "no intention of using English during the meeting on Dec 8. That is the most efficient way for the team this year." Thirty percent of the strata residents/owners speak no Mandarin. This comes on the heels of the ongoing concern some Richmond residents have expressed about the unnecessarily isolationist Chinese only signs of various commercial establishments in Richmond.
In addition to creating a certain degree of disharmony these kinds of seemingly minor issues portend the larger question and fear of ghettoization; fear of self contained and self demarcated silos of values, languages, ethnicities. Look at the cities around the country and you see such silos, islands unto themselves or, if you prefer, ghettos taking shape. They may be in their 'harmless' infancy; but infants they won't remain forever. Belgian Molenbeek was an infant once too....
I exaggerate, you say. No. I write to wake up the slumbering politicians and public leaders. I have a vested interest - the well being of my children and grandchildren and their children's children - in ensuring we do not go the way of France or Belgium in the horrendous physical ghettos of values, religion or ethnicities. I worry when in our political and public discourse we tend to ignore our own past of Air India terror, Toronto18, CP Rail Terrorist plot, Zihalf Bibeau, Martin Rouleau and many others including over 150 Canadian nationals currently in the ranks of ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabab and others. Those Canadians fighting for ISIS, Boko Haram and Al Shabab butchers went from Canada - from Canada's ghettos of values.
These ghettos and problems do not begin with race riots or AK47 wielding terrorists. They begin with neighbours not talking to or not being able to talk to each other in a common language; they begin when we do not share our joys and sorrows with others around us who may 'look' different or 'speak' differently. Language being the carrier of values and hence culture is the basis of that sharing and oneness of the community and the country. The commonality of values can't be nurtured or sustained without common and shared languages.
A country of shared values can't be nurtured or sustained without ensuring we all do our part in not isolating ourselves into our comfortable cocoons; be they based on our being black, brown or white; be they based on differences in language, faith or wealth. The idea of a fair, just, egalitarian and inclusive Canada will not long survive ghettos.
