ALLEGED ALLEGIANCE
Peter Chattaway <petert-LOVM4QxV+tDq6eQxt3vRmLDks+cytr/[email protected]>
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http://www.steynonline.com/content/view/3715/26 Steyn on Canada and the Commonwealth Friday, 11 February 2011 Following recent observations by David Cameron and Angela Merkel, leave it to The Globe & Mail to offer the most stupid contribution to the very belated debate on "multiculturalism". In a column on "the multiculturalism debate no one wants", John Ibbitson writes: Debating multiculturalism gives a voice to the angry, the frustrated and yes, the bigoted. It makes newer Canadians feel less welcome. It has the best walking on egg shells and the worst throwing eggs. It gives rise to demands for a more robust definition of citizenship, which in essence is a demand for a loyalty oath. But citizenship *is* a loyalty oath - literally. For immigrant Canadians, it goes: I swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen. The rights and responsibilities of citizenship derive from that allegiance - from the "loyalty oath". No doubt, as a sophisticated cosmopolitan Globalist, Mr Ibbitson regards the above as just a bit of meaningless boilerplate. No doubt so too do many of those who stand up and take the oath each year. And many federally-funded multiculti lobby groups demonstrate open contempt for citizenship and allegiance. The Globe & Mail takes it as read that "citizenship" should be meaningless - a mere bagatelle one can define as one wishes. If you're born a Canadian citizen, that's just the lottery of life. But, if you come seeking it from the other side of the world as a discretionary gift of the Canadian state, a "loyalty oath" would seem to be the minimum Canada is entitled to ask. The fact that John Ibbitson sees it as an unreasonable demand is a good illustration of what Cameron and Merkel are up against. -- dadl-ot mailing list http://mail.thehood.us/mailman/listinfo/dadl-ot_thehood.us http://news.gmane.org/gmane.music.dadl.ot