The proposed new rules are being debated:
The government has not ruled out requiring potential Australian citizens to prove they understand values like respect, equality and a 'fair go' even if they have lived in the country for 30 years.
Proposed radical strengthening of immigration laws would require would-be Aussies to know Australia's history, culture and values as well as English before being granted citizenship.
Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration Andrew Robb yesterday released a citizenship discussion paper that calls for submissions on the merits of introducing a formal citizenship test.
The paper says the government would consider whether people who had lived in Australia legally for 20 to 30 years and had sufficient ties to the community could be exempt from the test.
"Or would it still be advantageous to such individuals and the community to require them to pass a formal citizenship test?" the paper asks.
In other words, Australians are concerned that people are not assimilated just because time has passed. Too often communities form in which one could live a lifetime and never realize it wasn't the old country. That might seem quaint when it comes to ethnic foods and dress, but it also means ethnic hatreds can survive too.
Ironically, it can often means things are worse than in the old country. While customs and attitudes grow and evolve back home, in a close community in a foreign country, those customs and attitudes are fixed, even intensified. That's because those isolated communities see themselves in constant danger of being assimilated, so they hold on tightly to everything they brought with them from home, good and bad. To let go, even of just one piece, is the thin end of the assimilation wedge.
Multiculturalists would do well to consider that. Seems like the Australians are considering this very carefully. Canada ought to be having the same debate, but somehow I think collectively we're not willing to think along these lines.
It's too bad, because citizenship is probably the most valuable thing Canada has to offer. It should never be given away cheaply.
