How does Canada’s government work? How do its regions work? Who are our great prime ministers? This past Friday, our General Editor J.L. Granatstein spoke with Marc Montgomery on RCI’s The Link about these and other elements of The Canadian Experience series . The conversation not only included a general overview of what the series is and how it began, but Mr. Granatstein also noted the difference between our 20+ language Canadian Experience and other Canadian history series, particularly some made for television.
“There is one crucial difference”, said Mr. Granatstein. “It’s [being made available] in more than 50 printed newspapers [in Multimedia Nova's partner network] in the language of the people who read it.” Mr. Granatstein also acknowledged the “gutsy decision” by Multimedia Nova CEO Lori Abittan [in offering the 52, 800-word columns for no cost to the participating newspapers..."she did it because she believes this is important."]; and, that although the language translations have enabled access by some who perhaps don’t have the language fluency, some of the publishers have deemed it important to publish the Canadian Experience columns in English.
Mr. Granatstein’s passion shone through and acknowledged the appeal of the series’ content to Canada’s native born and newcomers (“I really want to reach the newcomers, the diversity across the country…the idea that they will develop some Canadian civic literacy, have a sense of what the names are, how the system functions…”). To hear the entire interview, you can click here (audio .mp3 file).
Our thanks to the technical folks at The Link for making this audio file available.
The Canadian Experience
105 Wingold Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
M6B 1P8
Letters to the Editor
January 19, 2011
Laurie Lavoie
Quebec,Qc
RE: Multiculturalism and its Problems
Dear Mr.Granatstein
After reading your article on Canada’s immigration issues, I would like to tell you how interesting and full of information it was and how I was surprised to the fact that most of the things you wrote represents exactly how I see Multiculturalism. I totally agree that Canadians must feel as the government is putting more attention on newcomers, and are according more importance to them, in fact, it seems that as soon as immigrants arrive in Canada, the expect us to change the laws for them. As a result, our country is reputated, as you mentioned, for its’ tolerance, which makes immigrants benefit from us. It seems to me that we need to obey immigrants, or we’ll be called racists; but the truth is, don’t you think they should be happy we welcome them in our country instead of complaining about everything? We should have set solid rules from the beginning in order to keep a chunk of our pure Canadian culture instead of letting immigrants think Canada is free-for-all. Your article on the problems with multiculturalism also pinpoints the fact that it is impossible to doubt that we are a multicultural country, where I disagree. The fact that some Canadians are racist, and fear that immigrants will take away their culture, lifestyles and traditions, is an aspect that keeps me from believing we are fully multicultural, yet forced to be in an extremely tolerant to immigration country. Some people might see multiculturalism as a good way to share and learn about cultures around the world, and some might not even realize how Canada is invaded with foreign people. However, as it shows in your article, many laws were changed to please immigrants, and if it continues to be that way, soon enough everything will be based according to their beliefs.
Sincerely
Laurie Lavoie , St. Patrick’s High School, Quebec, Qc
“Canada is invaded with foreign people?” Oh my, your teachers, Laurie, are doing a very poor job, I suspect. Do yourself a giant favour. Skip class and head to a public library and ask a librarian to suggest a few titles appropriate to your age. Then, do your friends an even bigger favour: share the books with them and discuss. If the school system isn’t educating you on Canada’s history and current policies and isn’t challenging you to question mainstream media (left and right), you need to take responsibility for your own education.