Excerpt: And so, in living this great experiment of Toronto, of Canada with the vibrancy of immigration that backs it, we have real responsibilities and we were reminded of some of those responsibilities last week by His Highness the Aga Khan at an event in Massey Hall. It was a great opportunity for our whole community to honour the great humanitarians and champions of pluralism in the world today, not to mention one of only six people in history ever named an honorary Canadian citizen. How many people were there for the Aga Khan, or saw it on TV? A good number of you.
When the Aga Khan was looking for a country for the headquarters of his Global Centre for Pluralism, he realized quite quickly that Canada was the best fit thanks to our great successes as an inclusive nation. And he has paid us many compliments over the years. One of them is the acknowledgement, which I think we all sense as Canadians, that to be a successful democracy, you need much more than democracy. Not just votes and representative bodies and elected representatives and politicians. You need all of these supporting components, all of these tiny platoons of mobilized citizens who are working for the good of the broader society.
He talked about three critical underpinnings to a successful civic society in really paying tribute to Canada as one of the most successful civic societies in the world today. Commitment to pluralism, to meritocracy, to literally rewarding the best, excellence, talent in all fields, and to a cosmopolitan ethic. And how proud should we be to be living our commitment to those values so fully in this city of Toronto.
One of the key elements to the success, prosperity and social harmony of our country is that we are united Canadian citizens; not necessarily by our common origins, but rather by a pledge of mutual responsibility and a shared commitment to values and traditions rooted in our history.
Ismailimail 