Canadians Are Rejecting the ‘Cultural Mosaic’ in Favour of the ‘Melting Pot’

People head to work during the morning commute in downtown Toronto on Aug. 22, 2024. The Canadian Press/Paige Taylor White

Commentary

The conception of Canada as a “cultural mosaic” where immigrants are encouraged to keep the cultural identities of their countries of origin has been dominant since the early 1970s, when Pierre Trudeau’s government brought in official multiculturalism. Now, data is showing that Canadians are becoming wary of the mosaic, and are beginning to embrace the more assimilationist “melting pot.”

A recent poll conducted by Leger for the Association of Canadian Studies found that 51 percent of Canadians say immigrants “should give up their customs and traditions and adopt those of the majority.”

This statement found similar levels of support across demographic groups. While 53 percent of white Canadians “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed, so did 46 percent of non-white Canadians. A majority of 52 percent of native-born Canadians agreed, but so did 49 percent of those born outside the country. This means that many immigrants endorse the idea of assimilation, and presumably are attempting to implement it in their own lives by adapting to Canadian customs.

Even more noteworthy than the broad support for assimilation in Canada is the striking finding that Canadians may now have a stronger attachment to the melting pot model than Americans—despite that model having famously originated in the United States.

The poll finds that, whereas 51 percent of Canadians support the idea that newcomers should “give up their customs and traditions and adopt those of the majority,” only 29 percent of Americans say the same. The poll notes the irony of this inversion: “So much for Canada describing itself as the mosaic and the US as the Melting Pot.”

This is not a one-off finding. A November 2023 Leger poll found that 55 percent of Canadians say the “best way for Canada to deal with new immigrants” is by “encouraging newcomers to embrace broad mainstream values and traditions and leave behind elements of their cultural identity that may be incompatible with that.” Just 26 percent favoured “encouraging newcomers to maintain and promote their own cultural and religious identities.”

This same poll contained the notable finding that the frequently repeated slogan “diversity is our strength” has lost the support of much of the Canadian public. Just 24 percent agreed with the slogan, whereas 56 percent endorsed the view that diversity can be a mixed bag: “Some elements of diversity can provide strength, but some elements of diversity can cause problems/conflict in Canada.” Another 21 percent opted for the blunt statement that “diversity is often causing problems/conflict in Canada.”

In other words, an overwhelming majority of 77 percent rejected the “diversity is our strength” slogan—and this skepticism extended across racial lines. While 55 percent of white Canadians said diversity can both provide strength and cause problems, 56 percent of non-white Canadians expressed the same view.

What these polls show is an emerging backlash against the cultural mosaic model in favour of assimilation. The data indicates that this shift in public opinion has significant support across racial lines and among both native-born and foreign-born Canadians. This is not racism, it is simply a rejection of an integration model that many view as no longer working.

For decades, the cultural mosaic remained a compelling national vision because it imagined a country in which many separate cultures could coexist in harmony without the need for any one of them to be predominant.

The cheerful optimism of this vision is undeniable. In announcing the implementation of official multiculturalism in 1971, Pierre Trudeau predicted that this new model of a country without any “official culture” would “break down discriminatory attitudes and cultural jealousies.” In 2015, Justin Trudeau went a step further, envisioning Canada as the “first post-national state” in which “there is no core identity, no mainstream.”

The philosophy of the cultural mosaic, and its two principal outgrowths—multiculturalism and post-nationalism—were no doubt introduced with the hope that harmony and peaceful cultural interchange would be the result. But throughout history, attempts to alter or rewrite human nature have eventually collided with reality—and this is no exception.

Without one stabilizing common culture or identity, Canadian society is coming apart. From clashes between Sikhs and Hindus in Ontario to a violent brawl between rival political factions of Eritreans in Calgary, Canadians are watching the importation of Old World conflicts to a country that once felt safe from such conflicts because of its geographic isolation.

The growing unease with the cultural mosaic reflects a widespread acknowledgement that without a national identity, the centre cannot hold and society splinters into a collection of enclaves.

As the polling data shows, the Canadian public’s newfound support for assimilation cuts right across racial and country-of-origin lines. The rejection of the cultural mosaic does not entail a rejection of newcomers themselves, but rather a demand that Canada’s political elite correct course and move towards a new integration model.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.