The stir-fry
“Canada is not a melting pot, it is a stir-fry. In this country we do not assimilate, we integrate. We Canadians are as diverse as the globe in which we live.”
These are the words of Hedy Fry, Canada’s secretary of state overseeing multiculturalism, speaking in Regina recently.
Ambassador John Bell told us at the same conference that two million of Canada’s 30 million people are of Asian background. I recall riding a Toronto streetcar to the Royal Winter Fair, accompanied by 50 chattering youngsters, all with Italian forebears. Quite aside from the founding English and French immigrants, in Canada we have huge populations of people who came from the Ukraine, Germany, Scandinavia, Portugal and Greece. In all our cities you will find associations maintaining ethnic languages and customs.
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Those brought up adhering to the American model consider this harmful, believing no country can survive if there isn’t unity of language and culture.
During the Second World War one of my classmates of Ukrainian extraction proved of considerable value to our military as a translator. Today, any number of British Columbians whose families taught them Chinese and Japanese are representing this country’s businesses in facilitating Asia-Pacific trade. Our Francophones are invaluable in building ties in Haiti and what was French West Africa.
Canadians are welcome around the world because our national mix has taught us to be tolerant of differences and so we’re not regarded as a threat.
When we see the effects of ethnic cleansing in Serbia and Bosnia, we should be grateful for being part of Hedy’s stir-fry.
