Does Integration Equal Disintegration?

You know, I had a speaker come in my sociology class today - very well respected in Canada for his research - and he was talking about immigration in Canada and how it's evolved to how it is today, and how it might impact our country in the future. This article just had me thinking about it now, especially at this part:

"The sense of SELF expands away from YOU! This happens because we cannot defend ourselves from (manufactured by fear) threats without the assistance of others and we only trust others who look like us."

Basically, this is what I began thinking:

In regards to Canada, people may or may not know is that one of our biggest issues nationally is our identity: what makes a Canadian? Sometimes, we joke about how we're sure we're not the USA, or one competition in a newspaper - I forget where, specifically - had a statement that said "As Canadian as _____", and the winner to the response was "as possible, given certain circumstances."

Anyways, I had a thought come to mind during the class: the way I saw it, other than the Aboriginals and the native wildlife, there has never been anything about Canada that is distinctly Canadian. Nearly everything about us - from the people to the government - comes from other countries in the world, directly or indirectly, from our British Parliamentary system, French influence, North-European immigrants who became our farmers, etc. And unlike the USA, because of our Multiculturalism policy, Canada became more of a cultural mosaic, and has had a harder time nailing down a specific national identity, although we do like to say we're a global peace-maker / peace-keeper. In a way, Canada has, and always will be as far as I can tell, a land of immigration, a global community condensed inside one nation.

Even then, Canada's still a relatively new nation: It's been around since 1867, yet Haiti has been independent since 1804 - over 200 years - and who knows how long Britain and France have been around for? So maybe Canada just needs more time to develop a national identity.

Anyways, my rant about the Canadian identity is done. There's my two cents. Just felt like I wanted to say something about it, considering I never got to say it in class when the guest-speaker was there.

Diversity is the element that keeps life interesting and cultural pride alive, strengthening human bonding. We are social animals and especially social to our others who appear and look, speak, think and act like we do ourselves. Some soups are good with lots of ingredients, but a soup made of everything is not so good.