Is Multiculturalism Possible?

Swimming is automatic for fish, comes naturally to dogs, ducks and polar bears, can be learned by humans, and is impossible for pigeons. It is clear that multiculturalism doesn't come naturally to humans, as swimming does to dogs and ducks. The real question is whether we can learn it, as we do swimming, or is it impossible for most of us.

I happen to be thinking about whether multiculturalism is possible for most humans because of this article in Macleans, Canada's news magazine. If any country has prided itself on multiculturalism, that country is Canada. It turns out, however, that Canada isn't doing very well at multiculturalism:

Across Canada, 72 per cent said they have a “generally favourable opinion” of Christianity. At the other end of the spectrum, Islam scored the lowest favourability rating, just 28 per cent. Sikhism didn’t fare much better at 30 per cent, and Hinduism was rated favourably by 41 per cent. Both Buddhism, at 57 per cent, and Judaism, 53 per cent, were rated favourably by more than half the population.

If Canada can't do better than that, multiculturalism may be an impossibility for most people. Note: Canadian anti-Sikh bias comes from the 1985 bombing of an Air India plane full of Canadians by Sikh nationalists.