Multiculturalism and Salim Mansur

When racists usually begin a rant against a group they love to hate, they usually begin with "I have many friends who are [blank], so it's clear I am not a racist, but [insert racist rant here]."

Better still, if you can find a spokesperson against the group who also happens to be from that group. "After all, he or she is a member of [insert race group], so they can't be racist against their own race, can they?". The States therefore has Michelle Malkin, who despite being of Oriental origin said it was right to intern innocent Japanese during the WW2, and we in Canada have Salim Mansur.

Apparently he is a professor in Western Ontario. I feel sorry for his students who must listen to rants that make no logic. For evidence, I refer to his latest column in the Toronto Sun, titled "Multiculturalism has undermined unity".

I read his article for any evidence to the fact that he refers in the title. First, he himself is an immigrant to Canada in the 1970s, so he is a beneficiary of Canada's multicultural immigration policy. Having gotten entry to an exclusive club, he now wants to shut down that door to newer entrants who play by the same rule. In my book, that's called being selfish.

Mansur writes of Wilfred Laurier (one renowned Canadian) that "Laurier belonged to an age not too long ago when a people could readily, as Scott did a century earlier, unashamedly express love for the country that was their home." Apparently we now live in times where people do not do that, due to multiculturalism.

I was on Parliament Hill on Canada Day. I saw people of many languages and places, all dressed proudly in red and white, unashamedly proud of being Canadian. We love what Canada is and what Canada symbolizes. I saw hijabis in white hijabs and red dresses, I saw French Canadians exchanging high fives with Latino Canadians, and I saw a huge crowd of diverse people that celebrated with gusto the fantastic fireworks over the river Ottawa.

"However charitably we consider the good intentions that launched multiculturalism as a policy for Canada in its second century, the consequences — especially when examined since the events of Sept. 11, 2001 — have increasingly undermined the ideal of Canadian unity."

How? And how does Sept. 11 figure into a discussion about Canada? What specific consequences of multiculturalism has divided that unity?

"Multiculturalism demonstrably promotes politics based on ethnic loyalties in a multiethnic country — countries built by immigrants arriving from different parts of the world are by definition multiethnic and not multicultural — and, thereby, sharpens ethnic quarrels it was supposed to dissolve."

First of all, what does this mean? Second, when have people of different ethnicity quarreled in a similar fashion in Canada? Serbians protested when Canada bombed Serbia, Arabs protested when Israel did something to Gaza, Tamils protested actions in Sri Lanka, and then everyone went home and continued their lives. Should people not protest? All protests were mostly peaceful. Moreover, no Serb, Arab, Tamil, etc. remain consumed by the quarrels in their country of origin. Rather, as Canadians, they all share common concerns such as mortgage, taxes and why the Maple Leafs suck as a hockey team. As a rebuttal of this psuedo-argument, you can take Toronto. A great city built by immigrants from all corners of the world that remains at peace. Despite some bitter obstacles placed in their path by the Canadian system, immigrants come out shining in Canada and have always helped make it better.

In his whole article, not one time does Mansur say WHY multiculturalism is bad. He just says it is. He never says how it undermines unity. Only that it has.

Frankly, what undermines unity in Canada is pure hate mongering drivel sprouted by the likes of Salim Mansur.