Letter to the Editor

A multicultural society is a community of communities

Monday, March 15, 2004

Dear Sir,

I write in response to the Tuesday, 9 March article on the Cayman National Cultural Foundation (CNCF).

This subject has become more evident to me, over the past four years in Canada, at the University of Waterloo where I have been studying in the field of Urban Planning. 

As planners, we manage the growing diversity in our cities by trying to balance a strike between the needs of the newcomers and those of the host population. 

Immigration is a source of economic growth and residential demographic change, although its effect is felt differently in different parts of the World. Immigration also poses challenges to all types of planners.

Recently, the School of Planning had a guest speaker who posed a question to the 4th Year Planning Students. The speaker Mr. A Qadeer said: "Put yourself in the shoes of a senior planner and imagine how you and your department have responded to the needs of ethnic minorities, immigrants, and other culturally distinct groups. 

"Furthermore, ask yourself what approaches you could have followed to be more responsive to their needs." 

To address my concerns on the above subject, I would like to state that this topic is long over due for discussion in the Cayman Islands. 

The rediscovery of ethnicity and cultural identities created an awareness of the need to cope with the management of ethnic and cultural diversity through democratic policies which promote ethnic and cultural minority groups' participation in, and access to the resources of society, while maintaining the unity of the country. 

The position that probably sparked the development of what we might today term multicultural awareness and perspective was that of tolerance (different behaviours and lifestyle of people).

It is a version of society in which different cultural groups and communities co-exist as equal, entitled to their ways of life in their private realms but bound to common institutions in the public sphere. 

This attitude of tolerance is not what we would call a multicultural one today, but that is because it has undergone several generations of evolution to reach the goal and perspective to which most multiculturalists currently strive. 

Nonetheless, it is the idea that people already in the Cayman Islands should give new immigrants a chance to get used to their new country, which would allow them to develop a more welcoming attitude. 

Unfortunately, not all people living in the Cayman Islands would hold such views.

In general, the Government as a whole, and planners of the Cayman Islands have to balance the interest of the long-term residents with the needs of the newcomers. 

We, as the Government of the Cayman Islands, need to address three critical issues:

Planning by the person, or by function and use;

Reconstruction of planning principle and common institutions; and

Reforming the planning process.

To accommodate the cultural difference, the planning review process should be redesigned. Implementing a code of ethics for public discussion and human rights in planning policy may help ensure a fair hearing for all interested, powerful as well as not-so-powerful. 

The Government needs to redefine urban planning to include social planning to recognise the importance of working collaboratively and of finding multidisciplinary approaches to the problems. 

Also, the Government needs to rethink its ideas about leadership, because our past leaders have been focusing on one side of the problem known as the "transactional" which ensures that organisational goals are met. 

The kind of model we need in our leadership is "Transformational," which involves passion, creativity, vision, and the ability to create what does not yet exist.

Thank you for taking the time to read my comments. 

Dwayne S Ebanks
4th Year Undergraduate

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