No, I meant that meant the idea that minority hatreds are common. I don't think that they are (save possibly at the U of York (allegedly)).

The Brits I knew were more prejudiced against the cradles. The Geordies, Scousers, Glaswegians, Welsh, Irish (both flavours), shandy drinkers etc got along fine, even with the smattering of Germans and Hispanics in the circle.

Not too many people of colour, though, I will admit. There are not many in Oakville.

I remember back in the 70s when the Serbian While Eagles would play footie against the Croats. They would have a huge police presence at those particular games and there was almost always trouble. Pipe bombs weren't unheard of and a fair amount of nasty stuff went on.
I have never understood why people would bring all this here with them when one of the reasons they often give for coming here is to get away from the strife !

Now it's more evident in who gets the buildings contracts.

Sadly, it seems that at least in some instances it's the second generation who resurrect old animosities and re-engage in battles their parents emigrated to avoid. Look at what's happened in the Somali community (in Ontario and Alberta) over the last few years. Not only have there been an alarming number of murders of young Somali men, but more than a handful have been found to have re-immigrated to Somalia specifically to join in ethnic/tribal fighting. The same pattern is emerging in Sudanese youth. So much for moving to Canada "for the kids..."

Don't know much about Oakville other than its a town off the QEW highway half way to Niagara Falls

Would you know if there is a large or diverse ethnic population mix in Oakville, particularly in the area that you live in - or are there pockets of ethnics in and around the areas of Oakville, if so what types of folks live in Oakville?

After I posted - I did a Wiki from 2011 ... does this still hold true?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakvill...o#Demographics

Oakville used to be a major harbour and so a landing place for many escaped slaves using the Underground Railroad. You would never know this from visiting the place.

Any Known Blood by Lawrence Hill is a wonderful book about this.

On the off chance that you're not joking here; no, there is not.

In 10 or 15 yrs it might be a different story.

simple question, I hope:

does anyone know why multiculturalism is a relative non issue in this country?.

yet in England , France, Germany, perhaps even Italy, it seems to not be working that well

It doesn't actually work that well here either. People just tend not to mention it as vocally.

Oakville is not known for its ethnic diversity, no. I'd hazard a guess that it's one of the most "ethnically homogeneous" (read "white European") municipalities in the GTA. There are small populations of South Asian (mainly Indian and Sri Lankan) and East Asian (Korean and Chinese), and a slack handful of Afro-Carribean families. Very few of these are first-generation immigrants; of that small group, fewer still are in the "old" parts (i.e. south of the QEW) of town.

Having said that, there is an increasing ethnic diversity over the last few years. My kids' schoolfriends are a more diverse group today than they were even half a dozen years ago. It is still noticeably apparent, though, in children's extracurricular activities (especially those with a whiff of middle-class parenting about them, such as choral or orchestral music, horse-riding, sailing...) that the overwhelming majority of participants are culturally and ethnically similar.

In my street, of around 20 houses, in terms of visible minorities we have a Trinidadian family (he's a retired family doctor, she a schoolteacher) and a Goan couple (both work in banking). All the rest are white, about half are Canadian for generations, and the remainder are incomers from UK, Sweden, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, the US...

it would be interesting to hear from others here, whether they agree or not with your comment

I disagree and wonder in what way it is suggested that it doesn't work.

It depends how you define "working".