Guest Editorial Culture and Psychiatry, or “The Tale of the Hole and the Cheese”

Few would dispute the proposition that culture makes a dif-ference, whether in relation to detecting mental disorders, searching for their causes, or providing care for patients and their families. However, building a bridge from proposition to culturally competent actions requires conceptualizing inter-sections between culture and health that are not always imme-diately apparent and grounding research, practice, system planning, and advocacy in principles that do not translate eas-ily into operational terms. This special issue addresses 3 con-ceptual bridges to help link proposition to practice: carrying out research, providing psychotherapy, and expanding the provision of mental health services. This special Journal issue is particularly appropriate because, through a confluence of history, circumstance, and proclivity, Canada has played a preeminent role in developing the field of cultural psychiatry. Since Confederation, somewhere between 15 % and 20 % of Canadians have been foreign born. Beginning in the 1970s, immigration shifted away from such so-called “traditional” source countries as the UK, the US, and Northern Europe; in-stead, people began coming to this country in increasing num-bers from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa (1). The theme of Canada as a “nation of immigrants ” now res-onates with a new harmonic, the harmonic of diversity. Sociodemographic change, largely a result of the fact that 80 % or more of all immigrants now come from nontraditional source countries, has directed renewed examination of this country’s commitment to equity. A commitment to equitable and excellent health care unites Canadians as few other con-temporary issues do. However, despite the eradication of fi-nancial obstacles that make access to health care difficult in many other countries and despite documents like Section 1