Xenophobia In Canada

Canada is known as the land of new beginnings, where people go to start a better life for themselves and their families. With much to offer to newcomers, including the promises of safety, security and healthcare, the vast selection of jobs and education, and an overall high quality of living, many immigrants have chosen and will continue to choose Canada as their new home country. As a Nation we take pride in accepting and embracing multiculturalism - often being referred to as a country of cultural mosaic in contrast to the idea of the American ‘melting pot’. This twenty-first century view of Canada overlooks our shallow and ill-advised past, much the same way as it disregards the subtle discrimination that still exists for some today. Although

Based on the desire to maintain Canada’s image as a population of people with white skin, the law ensured it was a more than difficult task for racialized immigrants to get into Canada. During this time in history, the “White Canada” policy was in full force. Elizabeth Comack and Lisa Marie Jakubowski (2014) outline the evolution of “White Canada” policies while explaining how it was possible for xenophobic views to become enshrined in Canadian law. The Mirriam-Webster Dictionary (2015) describes xenophobia as “a fear or hatred of strangers or foreigners”. This hatred fuelled the discriminatory laws that engulfed Canada for the better part of a century. The “White Canada” policies began with the differentiation between ‘preferred’ and ‘non-preferred’ immigrants, and continued with an anti-oriental period and constant amendments to the Canadian Immigration Act (Comack and Jakubowski,

Preferred immigrants consisted of those who came from the Britain, the US, and Western European countries, while the undesirable were made up of people of colour and Asian decent (Comack and Jakubowski, 2014). By determining who was a desired potential citizen and who was not, Canadian immigration officials were legally able to turn down hopeful newcomers with no trouble. Denying immigrants entry based solely on skin colour was an idea which seemed to work out for a while, but in time needed to change. The issue with the preference system was that there were not enough white immigrants coming to Canada at the time to sustain the growing economy, leaving no choice but for immigration to begin accepting the others for cheap sources of labour (Comack and Jakubowski, 2014). During the eighteen-eighties, a large number of Chinese immigrants were granted entrance to Canada on the condition that they preformed the labour jobs that Canadians did not want and accept low pay wages with no complaint (Comack and Jakubowski, 2014). The addition of the Chinese immigrants had a positive impact on the Canadian economy, as work was getting done for cheaper than ever, but at the same time it created a hostility among Canadian