A Dutch Problem To Which Canadians Should Pay More Attention

Radio Netherlands published a piece asking “Is there such a thing as a Dutch identity?” Reportedly, comments made by the Argentine-born Princess Máxima around not having found “a Dutch identity” have given rise to much current debate on the subject.

The Netherlands has increasingly experienced internal difficulties with a polarization of immigrant communities on one hand and native Hollanders on the other. Turning away from the traditional Dutch perspective of promoting multiculturalism and tolerance, the liberal Netherlands surprisingly implemented stricter immigration measures in 2006. The new policies were widely seen to come as a result of the political reaction to the 2004 murder of the controversially outspoken film-director Theo van Gogh.

The Dutch Problem is not unique. Since the events of 9/11 and the subsequent reactions led by the U.S., many countries with considerable populations of immigrants originating from traditionally Islamic areas have experienced increasing tensions. Indeed, 2005 proved to be a remarkably difficult year for such relations with riots occurring in France, Denmark and Australia.

What is perhaps significant about the Dutch Problem, however, is that such tensions have developed despite a social background of determined tolerance. The question remains how such polarization was at all possible under those conditions and what the implications of such an approach are for other countries that opted for similar national perspectives, such as Canada. Unfortunately, little interest has been sparked in terms of pursuing answers to such questions.

It is likely that the push for tolerance was one without fundamental understanding. In other words, the concept of multiculturalism was adopted without first educating the masses on the cultures of the incoming migrants or of the history and ways of the Dutch to the new immigrants. Furthermore, the Dutch identity might very well not have been as rooted or as obvious as that of the French or Danish. Faced with an incoming culture strongly rooted in an Islamic identity might have caused many people lacking such clearly defined identifiers to feel insecure.

With time, it became apparent that the populations of newcomers and Dutch were not intermingling as had been expected and given the prevailing misguided sense of tolerance, few mainstream politicians dared broach the topic for fear of appearing intolerant. Critics with right-wing leanings, such as van Gogh, were the only voices on the topic pushing many Dutch people into the fold of nationalism as a result of little other options to address the growing societal divide.

Such an unfortunate polarization of populations was unnecessary. Nationalism is but one alternative for a group of people feeling insecure, likewise, remaining confined to one’s ethnic community in a new country is not always the first choice of many immigrants. The reactionary Dutch approach to suddenly make immigration policies stricter was not the best solution. Indeed, such a measure can only be seen as a pendulum shift, swinging from left of the political spectrum to the right. Long-term approaches like this will undoubtedly have a negative impact on the wider society only breeding further resentment among both groups.

Canada does face a similar predicament. Canadians have traditionally embraced multiculturalism and, like the Dutch, liberalism and tolerance are seen as pillars of Canadian identity. Unfortunately, these admirable qualities have blinded many decision makers from questioning what the long-term impact of determined tolerance (the sort which prevents objective analysis of a preferred system) will be on the fabric of Canadian society. Indeed, as the Dutch are now painfully aware, tolerance does not always foster inclusiveness, but sometimes quite the opposite, divisiveness. Hopefully, Canadians will learn from the Dutch experience and develop innovative approaches to building a diverse national identity that includes and encourages participation of both newcomers and existing populations.

This entry was posted on October 10 2007 at 00:37 and is filed under Identity, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.