Canada is a country that was built by immigration. Every year, thousands of hopeful immigrants come to Canada in order to have a better life. And for some, a better life can be achieved. However, for many others, this is simply not the case. In recent years, the number of visible minority immigrants has increased. And while this country’s ethnic diversity has benefitted from this influx, the economic landscape has shifted in a way to disfavor them. This economic disparity can be found through the income inequality that many immigrants face due to their educational background, low social and cultural capital, and occupational choices. It is these factors that have led to an overqualified work force, higher unemployment rates, and a widening …show more content…
When speaking about cultural capital and immigrants, one symbolic element may be language. Canada has two official languages in which employers conduct their business in. If an immigrant has limited knowledge of French or English, finding a job may be next to impossible. However, even for the immigrants who do speak French or English, the path to finding a job may not be any easier. As immigrants come from another country, they may have brought with them their own cultural capital in the form of an accent. “Job applicants with noticeable racial markers in their speech were often eliminated” (Banerjee, 2009, p. 471). Even when speaking Canada’s official languages fluently, some immigrants were not offered a job based on their individual accents. However, there are some accents which employers deem “acceptable”, many of which are European. But for those who have less desirable accents, such as those hailing from East and South Asia, their accents can hinder their job application. In some cases, completely disqualify them from the job. And as Canada’s immigrant population largely comes from “less desirable” areas, this may continue to negatively affect the growing unemployment rate. Even when immigrants are able to find a job, they face an uphill battle to earn the same wage as their native-born
Canada’s immigration policy has got fairer from the middle of the century on to the end of the century. At the start of the century, Canada’s immigration policy, Canada’s immigration policy wasn’t fair but as the century comes to an end, Canada’s immigration policy became entirely different. There were a lot of racism in the first half of the century but most of this racism in the immigration policy disappeared from 1967 and on. As the years go by, Canada’s immigration policy gets a lot reasonable.
The Family class makes up approximately 28% of people immigrating to Canada. This is a class of people who are wanting to immigrant to Canada in order to be with a relative or spouse who is a Canadian citizen or recent immigrant (also known as a Sponsor). There is no point system required to be accepted as an immigrant, but they must prove that their Sponsor is able to meet the minimum necessary income for them until the applicant can find an employment. Accepting these types of immigrants not only allows Canada to stay on good terms with its immigrants but, also keeps the money that the original immigrant would have been making, and sending back to their family in their home country, to stay and be spent in Canada. The Canadian government has many laws and policies for immigrants and immigration. For example, in 2002 the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act was instituted. It has four main objectives: to pursue social, cultural and economical benefits for all Canadians, to reunite families in Canada, to promote successful integration of immigrants and to respect the bilingual and multicultural character of Canada. Another example of a policy impacted by immigration was the Sign Decision in 1985. This was the ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada that the Immigration Act (1976) was a violation of our Section 7 rights in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In this case, Santam Sign was not permitted to appeal the government's refusal to his immigration proposal in court. As a result the Supreme Court ruled that this did not allow Sign the right to liberty, life and security- our basic Section 7 rights. People applying for refugee status in Canada now how the right to a quick and fair hearing with them in attending and any life necessities they may need while in Canada during this process. So as you can see, politics has
When the Italians came to Canada, they had many Obstacles moving into a different area. In 1901, many articles were revealed about Italians labors being unfair at work. Labors were misled through this system at labor camps or find themselves unemployed and were not considered labors in many Canada’s major cities. In 1902, the government of Italy sent a tour to report on Italian’s workers in Canada. This report talked about the harsh problems labors to suffer in Canada so, the Italian government suggested that Italian migration to Canada should be suspended. After WW1, the Canadian government took a legal action to immigration. A new law passed to decrease th...
Teelucksingh, C., & Edward-Galabuzi, G. (2005). C. Teelucksingh & G. Edward-Galabuzi (Eds.), Working Precariously: The impact of race and immigrants status on employment opportunities and outcomes in CanadaToronto: The Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
The Immigration Act of 1978 had a ground-breaking effect on the society and economy of Canada. This act impacted the size and the composition of the population. The yearly population increased from 22,809,000 in 1974 to 29,303,000 in 1995.This reinforced the pre-existing trend for the rural population to relocate to the cities, where the industrial bloom brought abundant employment opportunities. Witnessed by past censuses, the new immigrants to Canada began with wages equivalent to about 80% of the wage of native citizens. However, within a 10 to 20 year period, the average wages of the newly arrived immigrant reached or went beyond the average wa...
“Multiculturalism” entered public speech in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Canada that focused on unique cultural diversity, nationalities, and ethnicity across the nation. Multiculturalism and Immigration are important factors in the development of Canada to attain a strong multicultural example of economic stability, social and political growth which leads to the emergence of Canada’s identity and culture.
Canada was determined to create a strong nation state during the first few decades of the twentieth century. Immigrants from various countries moved to Canada in hopes of prospering in a country that promised them so much. But not every immigrant was treated fairly. This is why intersectionality is necessary to consider because of existing complexities that exist within different groups of people. It is essential to examine the intersections of class, race/ethnicity, and gender, in order to understand why particular migrant groups experienced certain social and economic inequalities in the first three decades of the twentieth century.
Anisef, Paul Sweet, Robert Frempong, George. “Labour Market Outcomes of Immigrant and Racial Minority University Graduates in Canada, CERIS - The Ontario Metropolis Centre 2003
Immigration is of great economic and social benefit to Canada. It’s an important role in developing our economy, and it shapes the nation into a multicultural nation. Immigration is a significant role in building our economy, providing growth in the labor force, making a strong economy, and becoming a multicultural nation.
More immigration lead to racism and fear among both English Canadians who believed immigrants were taking away their jobs and French Canadians who feared that immigrants may potentially dominate their culture. These misconceptions and fears lead the Canadian government to declare new regulations that restricted the immigration of Asian and eastern, and southern European descents as well as Jewish immigrants. Canada gave more preference to descendants of both Britain and Western Europe. Policies were then developed to grant access to the best immigrants (as it was called) who were mainly whites that possessed a wealth of skills and benefits but to exclude the non whites who we...
In conclusion, Canada has come a long way in promoting the integration of immigrants socially. The country is making progress integrating immigrants economically, and much needs to be done before the same can be said politically. What is certain, is that the immigrant’s path of integration may be a slow process, and the Canadian government has been slow to propel it… but the future looks bright, and Canada is on the right track.
Racial discrimination in the workplace has been a persistent theme in Canada’s history as well as present-day times. The occurrence of actions and attitudes that impose a sense of one being less equal than another on the basis of one’s race in Canada’s workplace inhibits both our nation’s ability to move forward as well as strengthen unification within our country. The belief in a more egalitarian society, where one’s race and ethnic background have little to no impact on employees (or potential employees) standings within the job market, would seemingly be reinforced by the majority of Canadians, who consistently show support for Canada’s multicultural identity. Couple that with the noticeable strides Canada has made in the past several decades through legislation, in order to eliminate discriminatory practices and actions within the workplace, and one would likely assume that racial discrimination within the workplace is largely a concern of the past. However, current research supports the argument that the level of which racial discrimination occurs today is increasing, and as such it persists to be a key problem in the current workplace of the nation. In the workplace, racial discrimination is often seen with regard to uneven access to jobs, unfair selection and promotion criteria (as well as access to the means in order to meet this criteria), and workplace harassment. This paper compares similar findings of two articles; the first, Racial inequality in employment in Canada, as was published in the Canadian Public Administration (CPA), and the second, What Are Immigrants’ Experiences of Discrimination in the Workplace?, published by the Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative (TIEDI).
Walker, B*. (2008). history of immigration and racism in Canada: Essential readings. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press.
Throughout the last three decades, increasing numbers of Asians have migrated to Canada from all over the Asian continent. Currently, 44% of the Vancouver area population is of Asian descent (Statistics Canada, 2001). Immigrants commonly occupy skilled job positions that the host nation is unable to fill with its own citizens, and thus they offer many advantages to their receiving country. In a nation with a declining birthrate, such as Canada, their contribution can play a major role on multiple levels. The immigrants themselves often enjoy a greater earning potential than they did in their native country, which can be advantageous for those who wish to send money back home to support their families.
Stoffman, Daniel. Who gets in: What's wrong with Canada's immigration program, and how to fix it. Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 2002.