Encouraging Words, But Actions Speak Louder

Mark Steyn thinks it's nice that speeches by three EU leaders (Cameron, Sarkozy, Merkel) have "shifted the multiculti word off the pink-bunny side of the ledger." He wonders, though, if they have what it takes to actually do something (anything) to ratchet it (the multiculti) back. In Canada, too, we're been hearing certain rumblings of discontent with the cult, as least as it pertains to immigration. But even with ostensible conservatives at the helm lo these past five years, multiculti as the nation's organizing principle remains as firmly enshrined and sacrosanct as ever. Here in Canada we don't say, "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, etc." We say, "Give us your most violent, your horrible, your wretched, etc. and, if there's a death penalty in their home country and they're in line for it, we'll let them stay here indefinitely."

Because that's what it means to be "multicultural"--a doctine which, as Steyn is wont to point out, is a decidedly unicultural phenomenon.

Update: Barbara Kay applauds a tangible government action--an initiative she believes will mark "a turning point" in our multiulti adventure:

The Edmonton Indo-Canadian Women's Association has received $241,000 for a 24-month project designed to empower immigrant girls and women, "Elimination of Harmful Cultural Practices: A Community-Centred Approach for Education and Action." The project is a tangible outcome of meetings and conferences sparked by a July, 2010 Frontier Centre report on the troubling persistence of honour-motivated abuse into the second and third generation of South Asian communities.

Part of the money will fund a shelter, WIN House, reserved for refugee and immigrant women fleeing abuse, within which the program, "Changing Together," will operate. A priority is information outreach -- to inform immigrant women before they come to Canada, on their arrival, at settlement offices, banks, doctors' offices and other frequent points of contact (including Facebook and Twitter) --about women's rights here, reassuring immigrants that such practices as forced marriages and dowry fraud are not tolerated in Canada.

In her remarks at the press conference, Ms. Ambrose affirmed her personal commitment to this cause. She linked the Edmonton initiative to the new 2009 citizenship guide, specifically its warning that "Canada's openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, 'honour killings' ... or other gender-based violence." In a telephone interview, Ms. Ambrose told me of encounters with young girls who approached her privately to tell their stories, and how they strengthened her personal resolve to help them...

 Laudable, indeed. Realize, though, that it's occurring within this context, which amounts to treating the symptoms without tackling the illness causing them.

Hoppity the multiculti bunny says, "Everyone's culture/religion/background is equally teriff!"