Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney is quite busy these days. When he’s not barring British anti-war MPs from entering Canada, axing funding to Canadian-Arab groups, deporting war-resisters or even tweeting on Twitter, he’s busy shaping our multiculturalism in a very diverse way: English or French speaking only! Our minister’s latest fight is to deny citizenship to immigrants who can’t speak English or French well enough. He believes new Canadians " have a duty to integrate." and adds "We don’t need the state to promote diversity. It is a natural part of our civil society." With that his government has ceased funding programs such as heritage language classes, and Kenney commented:
"I think it’s really neat that a fifth-generation Ukrainian Canadian can speak Ukrainian– but pay for it yourself," – Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney
Do the Conservatives believe Canada should be more of a U.S.-style melting pot rather than a multicultural society or should it just be a private affair? Perhaps immigrants and their cultures are being the scapegoat during our recession? Does this strategy even work? Add this to the list of crazy Conservatives moves this week.
