The results of the first round of the French presidential elections came as no surprise—the two favourite candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Holland, will face each other in round two on May 6, 2012. The shocking part is that the Front National, the nationalist party, ended up third place with a record 17.9% of the vote.
The Front National went from being a marginal party in the 70s to being the third-largest political force today. Considering the party’s history and its platform, that’s rather scary. For instance, some party officials have occasionally promoted historical revisionism, specifically related to the Second World War, and the party’s opposition to immigration and immigrants has never been stronger.
Frankly, if such a party existed in Canada, I’d be really annoyed. Fortunately, here, the influence of such fringe parties is very limited, so limited that I never hear anything about the Heritage Front or the Nationalist Party of Canada.
Canada is a very multicultural country: in fact, multiculturalism was adopted as the official policy of the Canadian government and the 2006 Census reported more than 200 different ethnic origins in the country. Few politicians even question the need for immigration, and the debate is usually around immigration quotas.
Oh, we do have a bunch of nuts here too. There are mostly linked to their U.S. counterparts, from religious fanatics who want to reopen the abortion debate in Canada to those who would love to see creationism taught at school.
But I don’t see Canadians are racist—that should be pretty good news for most immigrants.
Admittedly, I may not be the right person to judge whether Canadians dislike immigrants. After all, French is my first language and I’m not a visible minority. I blend in easily and I’m much less likely to be discriminated against than other immigrants from Africa or Asia.
That said, Canadians can be conservative. I lean to the left, often the far left, and conservatism drives me crazy. For instance, I stay away from the Sun, a conservative rag that typically rants against Liberals, high taxes, socialism, lazy unemployed people, unruly children and “punks” and promotes the “not in my backyard” mentality. I wouldn’t even use this “newspaper” to clean my windows. But I must admit I rarely read or hear blatantly racist comments.
Can Canadians even afford to be racist? Canada needs immigrants—to meet demographic challenges and to fill the gaps in the labour market—and the country is well aware of that. Canadians don’t really question multiculturalism. At times, the religion or cultural practices of some groups are under the spotlight but such “diversity dilemmas” are to be expected and they remain relatively low-key compared to other countries (try to talk about Islam with French people…!).
I believe that what some immigrants brand as “racism” is simply the rite of passage most newcomers have to go through, no matter where they are from. The frustration of not finding a job because of having foreign credentials or the feeling of not being appreciated enough by locals can be overwhelming for some immigrants, but it’s rarely racism per se… more like an adaptation period. A Canadian who just moved from Manitoba can face problems finding a job in Ontario or in Quebec simply because he doesn’t have the network and references he used to have in his home province, not to mention that each province has its own vibes.
Immigrants to Canada will sometime hear stupid comments about the immigration system, but most can be chalked up to ignorance. For instance, I remember chatting with a woman on the bus who assured me Canada was being invaded by sick immigrants who just wanted to take advantage of the country’s great health system. Once I explained to her that immigrants who had health problems were usually not allowed to immigrate in the first place and that there was a waiting period to be eligible to get healthcare in Canada, she looked away. Much easier that way. But hey, maybe she learned something that day.
Have you ever been discriminated against in Canada? Elsewhere in the world? Would you be worried if Canada has a major national far-right party, like in France
” I never hear anything about the Heritage Front or the Nationalist Party of Canada.”
But you’ve heard of Wildrose lately. And that’s a sign to take into account.
But they lost. And I really laughed at them, they were so sure of winning!
Interesting perspective – one of the reasons I love reading your blog.
There is definitely racism in Canada – perhaps just not as blatant as elsewhere. And so much of racism is based on sheer ignorance.
I don’t read The Sun or The National Post – both are too right-wing for my liking. And the existence of any right-wing political party alarms me. Look what ALMOST happened in Alberta!
I know, I know… Canada isn’t immune to far-right ideals, but I think we are still doing fine.
You should hear the comments made during the debates in France, it’s outlandish!
There are some people I refuse to see here because they make blatant ethnocentric comments. It’s no fun being angry with someone all the time!
I hear you! Most of my friends have various takes on politics, some care and some don’t, some vote left wing and some right wing. But it’s very very hard to discuss with those who vote for Le Pen and share his/her ideals.
Coming from a country with an institutionalized discrimination policy (read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_New_Economic_Policy, I can only say been ‘there, done that’! Haha.
I think I can understand why French people are paranoid of immigrants, esp North Africans and Arabs. French culture is rich, the language touted as the world’s most beautiful – the great sense of pride is there. With the influx of immigrants, especially the ‘stubborn’ ones who resisted assimilation, practise weird religion and customs, and yet growing in huge numbers each year, the French would somehow feel threatened by the growing presence of these people, and fearing that one day the minority would come to rule their nation and impose a new set of laws, thus de-Frenchizing good old France.
It is the same here in Malaysia. We have these occasional calls by the nationalist factions for the dominant group to stand up and defend their culture, religion, and land from being ‘robbed’ and ‘played’ by the minorities. We were even asked to return to our ancestral lands by some idiots during a Parliament debate!
The world should come to recognize the fact that we are all now living in a globalized, pluralistic era. Racism, xenophobia, nationalism, and fanaticism should have no place in this time and age.
But what most French don’t realize, is that France isn’t that multicultural, and what French consider “immigrants” are in fact second- or third-generation immigrants! It’s normal to protect a culture, but there is no need to be paranoid and narrow-minded.
So far, I’ve been lucky to blend in quite easily in the countries I’ve lived in. However, I do consider both Switzerland and the UK to be quite racist. Some swiss (I hate generalizations) even get to extremes that would be illegal in other European countries – I mean, did you see the advertising of a white sheep kicking a black sheep out of the country? or the one in which a few ravens fight for Switzerland as if it was a piece of meat? And this comes from neutral Switzerland. Then again, these attacks have never affected me – but they still shock me!
I’ve heard pretty bad things about Switzerland on that aspect, and I know exactly the poster you are referring to. Sad, considering it’s not exactly a multicultural country in the first place.
Canadians are just too well behaved to be racists in your face, but I can’t say racism isn’t there.
I can’t exactly say that I’ve suffered from it, however how many time have I witnessed prejudice in someone’s face when they hear my “strange” accent? How many times did I have to explain (apologize?) that I might have a bit of a French accent, but I’m not from Quebec (though I’ve lived there awhile)?
I’m sorry you had to face that, and I completely understand… it’s not nice. It rarely happened to me, maybe because I live in a big city? Not to say people are racist in the country, but it can be more conservative.
Maybe Québec is an exception (I certainly hope so) but I’ve read an eloquent article about racism there, I can’t find it, but here’s this one:
and a critic of the poll : http://www.ledevoir.com/politique/quebec/180832/le-quebec-sous-surveillance
Having many immigrants doesn’t mean racism can’t happen, at the contrary I think!
I’m sure a lot of people won’t agree with me but I do think Quebec is a bit of an exception, and it has a harder time to deal with multiculturalism than the rest of the country.
What about Alberta? (supposed to be the “redneck” country: yes I’m exagerating a little bit), is it as opened as Ontario and BC?)
For Canada, yeah, it’s a conservative province. That said, I think it changed quite a bit with the influx of migrants the last few years, during the economic boom.
Racism is still, unfortunately, kicking around in Canada however most of it nowadays seems to be directed towards Muslims. There are a large percentage of Muslims in Ottawa, so I don’t really understand this ignorant attitude but some people just want to stay ignorant I guess.
Like you say, racism is ignorance… sad, but at least there is room for educating people 😉
“Canada is a very multicultural country”.
If you knew anything about France, you would know that France is more multicultural than Canada, in fact, the “white” population in France stands at about the same as the USA(Around 65%), which is less than Canada.
Considering I am also French and that I grew up there, I think I know about the country, thank you very much. BTW, “white” isn’t a stat nor a race nor a culture, and do you have sources?