Is Diversity Really our Strength?

According to a new Leger poll, most Canadians have serious doubts.

The problem with trite, simplistic slogans is that if repeated enough, many people will begin to believe them. Another problem with trite, simplistic slogans is that if this is all you have, people will eventually begin to notice.

So it is with the diversity is our strength mantra Canadians have been mercilessly subjected to for the last eight years.

Leger did a poll this last November that found that over half of Canadians feel that though some elements of diversity can provide strength, other elements can cause problems or conflict in Canada. Sounds legit.

Another meaningless phrase we’ve been hearing a lot of lately that this poll addressed is the notion of “anti-racism” and “decolonization”. When given a choice to voice an opinion regarding whether certain minority groups should be given additional rights and privileges in accordance with notions of decolonization, anti-racism and equity, Canadians spoke loud and clear with twice as many saying that these issues divide us rather than unite us as a society. The 27% that answered I don’t know, likely did so because they genuinely don’t even know what these terms mean. That’s fair because so far, I haven’t heard an intelligent definition of either of them, yet we can still see what they’ve amounted to. Maybe if people were better informed, there would be an even bigger difference in those two camps.

It makes sense that there would be some differences between racial groups. For this question, those who identified as Caucasian were slightly more likely to agree that these concepts cause division (53% compared to the average of 50%) while those identifying as BIPOC were a little more split (40% said it’s divisive while 35% said certain minority groups should be given additional rights and privileges - 25% didn’t know). Still, when 40% of BIPOC (and it may be a safe assumption that many of these are immigrants) say that treating people differently based on race and “decolonization” is harmful and divisive, you know that there are serious issues with the way things are being done here.

Just for the record, I think BIPOC is a ridiculously stupid word and it’s insulting (or should be) to imply that people who are black, indigenous, or a colour other than white all think the same and deserve to be lumped into one broad category, as if the world really consists only of “white people” and “everyone else”. The only reason I use it here is because it was used in this poll. Just thought I’d get that out of the way.

Another interesting finding is that when asked what they associate as a core Canadian value (Strongly associate, Somewhat associate, or Do not associate), the top two for Strongly Associate were Democracy (55%) and Free Speech (54%). Tolerance for different religions was at the bottom of the list. Caucasians were a couple points higher than average on these first two, but BIPOC were still around 47%. In the case of tolerance for different religions, it was pretty much equal, although BIPOC was slightly lower. Not surprisingly, Multiculturalism was the clear winner among BIPOC individuals at 54%.

When Strongly associate and Somewhat associate were added together for each of the values listed, the clear winner was Freedom of Speech. This should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention over the last few years.

When it comes to immigration, Canadians have fairly clear expectations. Very few of us are against immigration, but most of us want to see it done correctly. And this apparently means that immigrants should attempt to acclimate to Canadian culture. When asked if governments and institutions should play a greater role in integrating newcomers to Canada, the answers were very much the same.

So much for Justin Trudeau’s assertion that Canada has no core identity. Our core identities are the main reason people come here, though Mr. Trudeau seems to think he is the reason.

Most of the answers on this poll were very split by age with those over 55 being more likely to agree with the consensus and those under 35 being less likely to agree. Interestingly, college educated individuals also tended to be more in tune with the overall consensus of this poll, while those with only high school or less and those with a university degree tended to be less likely to agree. That finding may be worth looking into in greater detail...

So, while Justin Trudeau bumbles around the world telling anyone who will listen (an ever-dwindling number as it turns out) that diversity is our strength, any student of history would likely be aware that in fact, the exact opposite is true. Come to think of it, anyone who has ever played on any kind of a sports team, or in any music ensemble, or worked side by side with more than one person at a time, or even been part of any kind of family - so, pretty much anyone would know that real strength is in unity and a much more reasonable and common sensical way of using these words would be the slogan: United we stand, divided we fall.

When Justin Trudeau said, “diversity is our strength”, all this time we were supposed to assume he was talking about us, as in Canadians. In reality, it seems that what he really meant was “diversity is my strength”. This is seemingly the biggest reason he won the last two elections, because it certainly wasn’t the popular vote.

One last thing about this poll: evidently 75% of Canadians believe that an individual who has non-permanent status while in Canada and publicly expresses hatred toward a minority group or expresses support for any organization listed by the Canadian government as a terrorist group should not be allowed to remain in Canada.

Seventy-five percent. If you’re over 55, it’s almost 90%. Seems like Canadians are starting to tire of these meaningless phrases and slogans. By the way, 69% of those identifying as BIPOC also feel this way, so you better think twice about whipping out the R-word.

The results of this poll are unsurprising, to say the least. In fact, it’s such a display of common sense that one would wonder why these questions would even need to be asked at all. If you are surprised by this poll, then maybe you need to rethink your daily news diet.

I should also mention that I actually think diversity is a good thing, but when I say diversity, I mean actual diversity, not manufactured diversity. What we currently have in Canada is diversity for the sake of diversity. And it's the most shallow form of diversity because it's unnatural. Real diversity (as in the kind that would actually benefit us) would involve diverse viewpoints, not just colour and gender, but it would still have to be tempered with unity because that's what enables a diverse people to actually work together and that’s our real strength.

Mr. Trudeau may really believe that diversity is strength, and that the budget will balance itself, but even after so many years of repeating it, neither of those things have yet come to pass and more and more Canadians are beginning to notice.

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