Setting the stage for talks on immigration

Immigration is once again making headlines in the UK with Gordon Brown calling last week for new British citizenship tests and David Cameron launching an attack this week against what he calls ‘state multiculturalism’. Cameron is urging the Conservative party instead to support a model of integration as he believes multiculturalism is leading to ethnic segregation.

The UK is not alone in engaging in national debates about immigration and citizenship. The majority of Western liberal democracies are facing similar challenges today, each trying to figure out the best strategy to manage ethnic diversity within their borders, often aiming to strike the right balance between national cohesion and identity on the one hand, and the celebration of cultural diversity, on the other.

As a Canadian, I am quite familiar with the subject of multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is seen as part of Canadian values and of our national identity. That is not to say however that there are no critics or opponents to multiculturalism in Canada - there certainly are. However, as the first country in the world to adopt a policy of multiculturalism in 1971, Canada has evolved with and backed this policy over the past 36 years. The policy of multiculturalism became institutionalized when it was incorporated into the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 and then entrenched in law with the Canadian Multiculturalism Act in 1988.

Examining Canada’s policy of multiculturalism over these years is revealing as it shows how the policy has transformed and modified itself over time. Beginning with a primary focus on celebrating differences in the 70s, to managing differences in the 80s, and to an emphasis on inclusive citizenship in the 2000s, the policy has reinvented and adapted itself to the shifting changes in the national landscape. Just recently, in a United Nations conference, Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, firmly stood by Canada’s policy and described Canada’s cultural diversity as “its greatest strength”.

What will be the fate of multiculturalism in the UK? Will the backlash against multiculturalism that has been growing since 2005 result in its demise?

What I see as being truly fundamental in order to engage in a constructive and fruitful national debate over immigration and citizenship is for the proper groundwork - extensive research, perhaps in the form of a commission - and framework to be laid. Members of Parliament need to provide more information and greater clarity around the meanings and implications of the multiculturalism and integration models. The pubic has the right to understand the terms of the debate so that they can express their views and opinions on these issues.