Multiculturalism: all good – right?

We are living in a world of increased migration. The cost of travel has shrunk enormously in the last 60 years or so. The barriers to entry into many countries to study, to live and to work have lowered dramatically. The rise of a borderless entity in Europe is but the most obvious manifestation of a globalized world, one where goods, services and people can move with little impediment. Much of this change has happened under the radar with little political debate in many countries.

Now of course, migration is coming increasingly under the radar. What does large scale immigration mean for the nation state? What does it do to the economic fortunes of those in the host country? And, especially in Europe, what is the consequence of large scale migration from Africa and the Middle East? How does the modern nation state assimilate different religions and cultures? What are the security implications for large scale migration of Muslims?

One of the benefits touted of large scale migration is a demographic one. In order to maintain or increase a population that is failing to reproduce naturally, the only solution is migration. In the Canadian Globe and Mail Editorial of a couple of weeks ago, this was the major reason put forward to support Canadian multiculturalism. As the writer argues, the latest census report is a strong supporter of the last three decades of multiculturalism bipartisan support in Canada. For the first time in the country’s history, Canada’s seniors outnumber children as the baby boomers enter the retirement age and Canada’s fertility rate stays below the replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman (it sits at 1.6). Despite this below replacement fertility rate, Canada’s population grew by 5 per cent between 2011 and 2016 and is expected to hit 50 million people by 2060. Over the last three decades around a quarter of a million migrants and refugees have been accepted into Canada each year (Prime Minster Trudeau increased this amount to 300,000 when elected). Today, one in five Canadians were not born in Canada.

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