Informing Minority Communities

Abstract

The Canadian is a complex adaptive social and economic system. It consists of ten Provinces and the North West Territories. It depends on immigration to sustain economic growth. It is a bilingual multicultural country committed to an experiment in nation building based on a policy of multiculturalism entrenched in the Constitution Act 1982, the Multicultural Bill and a number of its Supreme Court Rulings. Its governance is described as a free enterprise capitalist democracy with a West Minister style parliamentary system. It is ranked by Life Style 9 among the 10 best countries to live in with a life satisfaction rating of 82 percent and an overall score of 77%. But not withstanding this, the reports of several commissions, task forces, and the message from several public demonstrations and movements express dissatisfaction with the rate and level of integration of visible and immigrant minorities into the social, political and economic fabric of the society. This raises many questions about the success of the experiment of Multiculturalism in terms of the recognition of the contributions of its diverse immigrant groups, and complaints of failed expectations from immigrant and minority groups. In this dynamic market oriented democracy, how can an “informing” process ( communication and exchange of ideas within and across cultures) assist or hinder the effective integration of minorities and engage them in the creation of a more socially cohesive, economic and environmentally sustainable society ? This paper defines Canada as a fitness landscape. That is to say, it has certain environmental and social properties (attributes) that interact to favour and or hinder the cultural and kinship groups that are a part of that landscape attain socially acceptable levels of wellbeing. The paper postulates that knowledge creation and dissemination, communication and exchange are essential to the integration and advancement of all groups in the landscape. It looks at ways in which the information and communication technologies can be used as part of the strategy of some disadvantaged groups to move to positions of greater advantage (higher fitness levels) on the Canadian fitness landscape. It proposes to develop and test an online learning and communication network with continuous feedback and updating properties. It is our opinion that communication network centers will help to increase the capacity of minority communities for solving problems of social and economic exclusion; and promote sustainable development. The focus of the study is on the English speaking Black Community of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.