A flurry of controversy has recently emerged over a University of New Brunswick (UNB) sociology professor’s research. In an essay sent to several Vancouver city councillors of Asian descent, professor Ricardo Duchesne claimed that rapid Asian immigration has damaged the once “beautiful British city” of Vancouver.
Duchesne was reacting to the city council’s recently proposed reconciliation efforts regarding Vancouver’s discriminatory treatment of Chinese immigrants between 1886 and 1947. He bemoans that such redress threatens to “tak[e] Canada away from the Europeans,” and guilt-trips Canadians into admitting “their history is a sordid tale of genocide.”
Unsurprisingly, his other academic work revolves around preserving Canada’s European ancestry, and curtailing the immigration of non-Western people. For instance, Duschene complains, “Sweden had practically no rape. Suddenly, they open their borders, they have one of the highest rape statistics in the world.”
Clearly, he is attempting to whitewash history and promote xenophobia. Lest we forget that Canada is a settler state, and we are living on stolen land. Sir John A. Macdonald also had an explicit policy of starving First Nations to death, in order to foster Western expansion of European colonizers. What’s more, the residential school system viciously advocated the destruction of First Nations traditions, languages, and customs. There is absolutely no denying Canada’s history is plagued with genocide.
It is also hypocritical that Duchesne disparages non-Western immigrants, since Canada has been built upon their backs. In the early 1880s for instance, the Canadian government exploited around 15,000 Chinese workers to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was a crucial catalyst in Canada’s national development. Additionally, the Canadian Japanese Association has documented the numerous contributions of Japanese immigrants to the fishing and lumber industry in B.C. Currently, research shows that immigrants help boost Canada’s innovation and economic growth. This is not to mention that Duchesne himself is an immigrant from Puerto Rico.
It is thus baffling that Duchesne’s views are so antithetical to Canadian national identity, which is founded upon fostering multiculturalism. Given the ahistorical and incendiary nature of his writing, why bother engaging with him at all?
Debate so far has been focused mostly on Duchesne’s right to academic freedom. While his writing perpetuates a bigoted and narrow-minded understanding of Canadian history and immigration, it is supposedly not inflammatory or violent enough to be considered hate speech. Given that Duchesne is already tenured at UNB, there is little the university can do to sanction him.
What is more important however, is how Duchesne’s opinions exemplify broader problems of cultural essentialism. Underlying his writings is the basic assumption that “Western” tradition is uniquely and inherently superior, while non-Western people are ultimately inassimilable to these intellectual and cultural customs.
This bias, albeit expressed in a more subtle way, is not uncommon in academia and the media. Some stereotypical narratives include: Islam encourages terrorism, and is irreconcilable with democracy; Confucian traditions in Asia promote excessive deference, leading to authoritarianism; Africa’s tribalism dooms the continent to perennial ethnic conflict.
To generalize one culture, ethnicity or “civilization” as necessarily better than, and thus incompatible with others, is a rash and dangerous sentiment. It provides ample grounds for prejudice, discrimination, and violence. Indeed, anti-immigrant and anti-Islam sentiment has been on the rise in Europe due to such assumptions. Just last Monday for instance, almost 25,000 people attended an anti-Muslim rally in Dresden.
As students, we have a responsibility to constantly question the narratives that are presented to us by our professors and pop culture. Of course, specific practices or traditions of different cultures will come into conflict. Yet, it is crucial not to make overly deterministic assumptions and moral rankings about people based on fluid social categories like culture or ethnicity.
Victoria Wicks is an associate comment editor at The Varsity. She is a second-year student at Trinity College studying political science and philosophy. Her column appears bi-weekly.
