On Mar. 18, 2009, Hon. Jason Kenney, Min. of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, spoke at Huron College at UWO.

He spoke on a variety of subjects, but largely focused on what he perceived to be the role of his Ministry.

It was his opinion that immigrants to Canada are pretty well off – they have their own institutions and organizations, and don’t really need much governmental support.  Never mind that he talked at great length to dismiss the legitimacy of organizations that have criticized his policies, and failed to identify which organizations spoke for the most discriminated elements in society.

What immigrants do need is language skills.  Min. Kenney rebuffed studies that have shown that recent immigrants to Canada are faring far worse than previous generations by saying it’s because they don’t have proficiency in English or French.

The fact that Canada’s immigration patterns in recent decades have shifted to substantially more racial minorities obviously does not play into the equation. Somehow the immigrants from eastern Europe and the Ukraine, which populated significant parts of central Canada where Kenney was raised, did not have the same problems, even though they did not learn English in their first generation either.

But to make it worse, these immigrants don’t even do what they need to be doing.  Only 20% of them take language classes offered by the government.

So you see, if you’re an immigrant to Canada and you’re having a tough time, it’s really your fault, not the government’s.  Min. Kenney seemed oblivious to the acute xenophobia towards these immigrants, and denied that there have been calls to bar certain groups from entry to Canada.  He thought the British and Australian immigration models (and responses) was something we should emulate.

Min. Kenney, are you not monitoring levels of intolerance in Canada?  Or are you only concerned about helping your political constituency alone?

Kenney was unable to explain how he learned so much about immigrants and visible minorities who face discrimination while growing up in Saskatchewan.  He conceded his social group consisted of all white-males as a youth, but attributed that to his involvement with the Liberal Party at the time.  All of the minorities were obviously hiding out in the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

Updates

Min. Kenney repeated the call for immigrants to speak English or French before immigrating to Canada at a conference in Calgary, clearing up any ambiguity that may have previously existed.

These policies are nothing more than a covert for of racism, seeking to perpetuate historic racist legislation in Canada that sought to bar ethnic minorities from entering Canada, and overturn progress made in recent years to remedy these policies.

More recent statements seem to indicate he is backpedalling in face of sharp criticism by the public.  Despite blaming the media, Min. Kenney’s statements are recorded by the media and attendees at his talks this week.