...fresh ways of looking at God’s global mission
Multiculturalism & Church: A Canadian 21st Century Reality? by Dr. Charles Cook As a kid growing up in Colombia (South America) I did not know much about Canada. All I knew was that the prime minister of my birth country was “cool” because he, Pierre Trudeau, spoke the same two languages I did — English and Spanish. In time I moved back to Canada and became increasingly interested in my birth country and its development. I discovered that as a “youngish” country, Canada seemed to have just squeaked in under the wire of nationalism (nation building) and perhaps because of it, has attempted to advance a new model of nationhood developed on a multiplicity of voices and framework of inclusion. Canada has, by and large, been a welcoming nation. Ray Aldred (Cree), regularly reminds us that the first peoples in the region welcomed the European settlers on to their land. Indigenous worldview embraced the idea of welcoming and sharing the land with the stranger. And while there are some chapters to our story that took many unfortunate turns, the first peoples stand as a reminder that the Creator’s land, called Canada, has always been a welcoming region of our world. Over our relatively short history, Canada witnessed numerous waves of migration that have collectively created an increasingly diverse mosaic of people. Low birth rates and an aging population have and will no doubt continue to shape our immigration policy, leading to increased ethnic diversity. Recent census figures underscore this trend with
immigration to Canada in 2016 reaching its highest level in almost a century guaranteeing that increased cultural diversity will continue to be a part of our changing Canadian reality. Today over 21.9 per cent of Canadians report being foreign-born, the highest level per capita of any G8 country (Greiner 2017). In an effort to foster a national identity in this evolving nation and provide a degree of dignity to all Canadians, Canada officially became a multicultural society in 1971. The idea behind its adoption was that multiculturalism would create a society where all felt welcomed and no segment of society would be seen as particularly special. From a practical standpoint, multiculturalism was also seen as a way of addressing our unique Canadian struggle of knowing what to do with our two predominate founding cultures and our ongoing commitment toward the First Nations and Metis people. continued on next page...
Perspectives is published twice a year for the Jaffray Centre for Global Initiatives at Ambrose University January 2018 IN THIS ISSUE Fruitful Practices James Watson Cultural Fluency Awareness New Intercultural Development Initiative MK Experience Josh Golding Friends of Jaffray Kaura-Lea Dueck and Amy O. Servant Leadership Karl Mueller
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