Personally I see no problem with a multiculturalism that emphasizes the central role of British, French and (I would add) Indigenous cultures and expects new immigrants to do so as well.StCapps wrote:DrYouth wrote:Multiculturalism supporters in Canada are basically cultural relativists pretending that all cultures have made equal contributions to Canadian culture, when such a claim is preposterous on it's face, ahistorical liberal bullshit is what multiculturalism is to Canadians in the know. You can celebrate other cultures without downplaying the central role of the British and French on Canadian culture and without actively undermining the ability on new immigrants to assimilate by emphasizing differences from the local culture while downplaying the similarities other cultures have with the local culture.
You are correct though that this is downplayed in the current "multiculturalism" meme as it stands. Nothing that can't be corrected with a little tweaking. New cultures can be added to the long list of other non-central cultures that are part of the quilt of multiculturalism... including German, Ukranian, Irish, Italian, Greek, Carribean, Asian and an ever expanding list. We have always encouraged immigrants to find others of their own heritage with whom to keep their cultural practices and narratives alive (as long as they don't contradict dominant cultural values), while encouraging them to engage actively with the central cultures. (I would agree that an emphasis needs to be added to that last part which has been downplayed.)
