Kenney's Canada

Some more thoughts on Kenney's recent decision that have come out of thinking through the issue while writing an article for Schema (I am just about done, I promise):

Beyond all the marginalizing ramifications over the move to ban the niqab at citizenship ceremonies, what interests me most is Jason Kenney's logic. 

Kenney wants to ensure people are committed to Canada, which apparently seeing people mouth the oath itself will prove.  Is he also going to recommend lie detector tests as folks leave the room to see if they really meant it?

A friend recently confessed to me he did not repeat the oath at the ceremony. “I didn’t want to promise to be the Queen’s bitch,” he joked.

 
For Kenney, seeing people perform the oath is vital because it creates two classes of ceremonies and citizens: “If Canada is to be true to our history and to our highest ideals, we cannot tolerate two classes of citizens." 

Canada's history is littered with examples of scales of citizenship.  I am not too interested in preserving the Canadian history of quotas on immigration from particular countries, head taxes and of course, stealing all the land we all live on.   

Many Canadian-born people feel the same way. So maybe Canada shouldn't be defined as a country trying to preserve its history, but one that is able to honour the outcome of it by ensuring its culture is as dynamic as its people.