What is a Canadian?

Most demographers agree that, if current trends continue, "white people" will be a minority in North America by mid-century. Certain news media outlets (which shall remain un-named) think that this will be a disaster of the first magnitude, although they are somewhat unclear as to exactly why.

I think that the current blend of races and cultures has made us strong and will continue to do so. The ethnic background of Canadians is irrelevant; the resulting values (democracy, freedom, responsibility, hard work, innovation...) are what make us Canadian. Skin colour, religion and what you do on Dec 25th aren't nearly as important as obeying the law, voting, working and paying taxes.


I see a sunny future for Canada, but we should focus at least as much effort on our aboriginals as we do on new non-European immigrants.


We can continue a robust rate of immigration, as long as we allow enough time for new Canadians to adopt these values (and lose any negative Old Country values they might have, such as sexism or extremism) , whether or not they retain their culture.

It is also worth noting that one of the fastest growing demographics is our aboriginal brothers and sisters. From their perspective, WE are the immigrants, and I hope they are comfortable with our presence. But we still have work to do to integrate them into the value system I described: there are serious problems among the aboriginal population with crime, violence, sexism, corruption and so on.