immigration

Conservative leadership hopeful Kellie Leitch attracted attention last week with a proposal to screen would-be newcomers to Canada for "anti-Canadian values."

On any given day, Canadians might wake up to a range of news stories related to Muslims in Canada. Most recently, it might be a story about Muslims and non-Muslims working together to welcome some of the 25,000 Syrian refugees who have arrived here in recent months.

"Because it's 2015," was Justin Trudeau's memorable response to a reporter's question about why he had made it a priority to have gender parity in his cabinet. The composition of the 42nd Parliament suggests that Canadians agree with their new Prime Minister that as one of the world's most diverse countries approaches its 150th birthday, the identities of its political representatives should match the identities of its population.

Two-thirds of Canadians (65%) support the Liberal government’s promise to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada, according to a recent Nanos survey. About a third (34%) oppose the move either strongly or somewhat.

As this year’s federal election approaches, the Conservative government is increasingly crystallizing its offer to voters around a single promise: security. The economy has been removed from the party’s display window, replaced by the global fight against ISIS and its sympathizers, some abroad, some next door.

The last few years have not been good ones for immigrants and multicultural diversity – worldwide or in Canada. At the global level, the flow of migrants is now higher than at any time in human history.

Muslims represent the fastest growing religious minority in Canada today, but their emerging presence has been contentious, fuelled in part by security concerns (in the long wake of 9/11) and some religious practices (e.g., Sharia law).

When U.S. President Barack Obama won 71 per cent of the Hispanic vote in 2012, it dealt the final blow to an idea that had been popular during George W. Bush’s years: that Hispanic Americans’ conservative values on social issues (rooted in their predominantly Catholic religiosity), made them “natural” Republicans.

In many countries, conservative political parties are seen as hostile to immigrants. Right-of-centre parties in the United States and Europe tend to be more nationalistic than their left-leaning counterparts, and this pride in country can sometimes manifest itself in xenophobia.

Canada’s successful approach to citizenship is being threatened by current trends in immigration policy.