Mr. Speaker, I ask members to put themselves in the position of a boatload of German Jewish refugees in June 1939. They were turned away from our shores and ended up going back to Europe where many died, ending up in the crematoria. At about the same time Chinese people were prevented from coming to Canada. We acknowledge that our country has not had a particularly welcoming attitude to people of other colours, races and backgrounds.
If we are ever to be sure to never repeat the errors of the past, it is particularly important when discussing and when considering multiculturalism to remember the Canada we have today is one of which the vast majority of people are very proud. We have a deserved reputation around the world for being inviting and accommodating.
As we use this as an opportunity to consider what multiculturalism actually means to our country and its future, based on the notion of a multicultural country, it behoves us to bear in mind that it is the values we share in common as Canadians that are the foundation of our country of the future. And as a rule, all of us should live our lives as if we were members of a minority or were refugees from some other part of the world.
Even today there are blemishes on our record. For instance, we now have a head tax on immigration, and while that may not be very much to some people, for some it is a great deal of money. The ability of a person to come to Canada based on their ability to buy their way in, even if it is only a bit, is something we should really look at and reconsider.
In Alberta we had, some time ago, a program of inclusion, to make the notion of multiculturalism one of inclusion of all people to celebrate it. The key that we had there was one heart, many colours. I have yet to hear any description of what multiculturalism
is about, better than that, that Canada is a country of people from all over the world with one heart of many colours.