The 2013 Ismaili Centre Lecture

JOHN STACKHOUSE
How we have changed as a people. Of course, we have episodes of intolerance – indeed, far too many – but on the whole we are a model of harmony for much of the world.
This is not a subjective view, either.
By one measure, the Migrant Integration Policy Index, which was developed by the British Council to assess policy performance and openness to immigration in Europe and North America, Canada performs best among all Western countries. By a long shot. We are excellent in labour market mobility, education, family reunion, access to citizenship, anti-discrimination and long-term residence.
The only measure by which we lag is, curiously, political participation.
If the Canada of 2013 is more tolerant and worldly – in short pluralistic – than we were in 1973, it is due in part to the leadership, by example, of the Ismaili community.
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