British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did something extraordinary and unexpected last week: he
that his country’s immigration system is broken.
Starmer ended generations of progressive orthodoxy by admitting that the dynamics of human migration, multiculturalism and integration have changed.
Going forward, his Labour government will
for English-language proficiency, require most newcomers to live in the country for 10 years before applying for citizenship and reduce the number of foreign workers allowed into the country.
Most important was his remarkable admission that without change, Britain was at risk of turning into “an island of strangers.”
Predictably, the London cosmopolitan commentariat
for allegedly giving in to pressure from the far-right, as did a column in the
.
Yet the reality is that Starmer is simply representing the British people. Surveys in both
and
consistently find that the majority of people think immigration rates are too high.
Tortured attempts to
to Enoch Powell, a famously hard-line British critic of immigration in the 1960s, fail to recognize that we live in a different world.
There are obvious merits to immigration, and in Canada, everybody has family or friends who were born abroad, or who are the children of newcomers.
Yet something changed in the 2010s. The rise of social media platforms accelerated at breakneck speed while western governments began drastically ramping up
.
Through these flows of people and information, the world has become more interconnected than ever before. Simultaneously, the post-Cold War consensus broke down and global, ethnic and religious tensions have polarized public opinion the world over.
Successful immigration strategies require integration, but that is becoming increasingly difficult. The sheer number of new residents in places like the United Kingdom and Canada have created insular communities where Old World passions, feuds and politics remain top of mind.
Most western countries have long ceased to demand that newcomers do anything more than enter the workforce and obey the law, assuming that social and cultural harmony would remain intact.
Meanwhile, more emphasis has been placed on multiculturalism, while the idea of assimilating into the dominant culture of the country is treated as unimportant, or even undesirable.
Opening a laptop or iPhone has made keeping stronger ties to foreign countries far more convenient. Whether it be news networks like Al-Jazeera or platforms like TikTok, people spend more time on their devices than ever, making it very easy for new immigrants to keep at least one foot in their homelands.
This is a major challenge to the process of integration, and has led to the importation of old hatreds into new lands. The war in Gaza laid bare this new reality. Terrorists have been inspired to
and
Jewish schools in places like Canada and Australia.
These barbaric attacks have no place in Canada, but the perpetrators and their cheerleaders do not seem to realize this.
The recent clash between India and Pakistan over Kashmir is another overseas conflict that risks being imported into western societies. Both countries have massive diasporas, and if the conflict escalates, it
on the streets of cities like London.
Political campaigns have already been transformed by this phenomenon. During the 2024 British election, many candidates effectively ran
for the
, rather than as champions of their local communities.
And in last year’s byelection in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, the NDP candidate narrowly lost after running on
and decorating his campaign posters with Palestinian, rather than Canadian, flags.
There is historical precedent for this phenomenon. Large numbers of Irish Catholics migrated to British industrial cities like Liverpool in the 19th century, resulting in major population growth, but also
with Protestants that lasted for generations.
In Canada, waves of immigration from Ireland to Ontario imported these same
. In 1868, Irish-Canadian politician Thomas D’Arcy McGee
after he took a stand for his adopted country and unambiguously condemned the republican cause in Parliament. Conflicts between the two factions
on the streets of Toronto well into the 20th century.
Such violence is still possible in Canada and elsewhere. Last fall the FBI tipped off the RCMP about a Pakistani man who had allegedly planned a
. Just last week, British police foiled
that involved five Iranian nationals who were suspected of targeting the Israeli Embassy.
We live in a multicultural part of the world, but our fragmenting social harmony is dangerous and cannot continue unabated. Governments have a duty to adapt to our time and the changes it has brought, which includes migration and societal cohesion.
Quebec is the only Canadian jurisdiction that’s attempting to seriously address this challenge. In January, the provincial government tabled
, an act respecting national integration, which is intended to foster respect for the province’s secular and democratic values and teach newcomers French.
Although decried by progressives as intolerant, Bill 84 is a sensible and moderate piece of legislation intended to help address serious issues. The rest of Canada should take note.
Keir Starmer’s words were bold, but it is high time that our leaders stop ignoring the growing threat to our societies, lest we, too, become half a continent of strangers.
National Post
