Is multiculturalism a part of Canada’s national identity? Has the public’s attitude towards Canadian multiculturalism changed over time? Consider how immigration and multiculturalism laws have evolved and how debates on immigration and multiculturalism have prompted change.
From Tolerance to Understanding
By: Sihao(Frank) Liu
Canada is a nation most known for our strength in hockey and our love of multiculturalism. It is without a doubt that multiculturalism has and will likely always remain an integral part of Canada’s national identity. In a recent survey, Canadians ranked multiculturalism as the second most important part of our identity, placed only after the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. After our many years of success however, we have begun to grow idle. Every year, our Canadian Multiculturalism Day goes by without even a Google Doodle. By casually accepting our progress and thinking that there is nothing left to be done, we are limiting further progress. While we have already achieved a great deal, true cultural understanding is a necessary and logical next step.
In 1988, Brian Mulroney declared the Canadian Multiculturalism Act. This act sought to not only recognize equal rights for all cultural groups but also strongly encourage cultural understanding and unity. Canada’s policies after this act have become the world’s standard for welcoming new immigrants and encouraging cultural diversity. While we have already managed to distinguish ourselves from the American “melting pot” of cultures, we still have to distinguish between the achieved cultural tolerance and our final goal of true cultural understanding. Even this tolerance has become worrying with the new laws passed in Quebec, since if we strive only to tolerate an...
... middle of paper ...
...ore accurately described as the West and the World. It’s not only “world” history, as the disparity is even more visible in English class. My studies have mainly been limited to only British and American works, leaving students with no exposure to other great works from across the globe. From African to Asian, to even Canadian works themselves, having students read writings of a variety of cultures including our very own will undoubtedly increase appreciation and understanding.
Canada has done a great job in fostering understanding between cultural differences, but more needs to be done in actually fostering understanding of cultures themselves. Though full cultural understanding is a far slower process, it will undoubtedly strengthen our national identity. If we understand another culture, then there will not only be toleration, but also acceptance and integration.
Although Quebec is in Canada, a majority of Quebecers do not identify with the national identity of Canada. Both societies create a sense of identity as well as nationalism (Hiller, 295). Hiller mentions two approaches to assessing Canadian identity; the unitary approach and the segmentalist approach (Hiller, 277). The unitary approach suggests that society consists of people who regardless of their ethnic back ground, identify as belonging to the national society, while the segmentalist approach concentrates on groups and communities that share racial, linguistic, occupational, or cultural similarities (Hiller, 28). While most Anglophones are more unitary or pan-Canadian, Quebec heavily identifies with the segmentalist approach. This dissimilarity of identity perspective may be problematic for the country, at the same time however, it can also be viewed as a struggle where contradictory parties find a way to compromise and reshape Canadian society together (Hiller, 277). Canada’s former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau made it his objective to unite Quebec with the rest of Canada. In 1969 Trudeau’s government implemented Bill C-120, otherwise known as the Official Language act, which made French an...
... presence of religious diversity amongst the multiculturalist scene, multiculturalism and its relationships to ethnocultureal minorities, Quebec’s reasonable accommodation as well as the overlap of Aboriginal and multiculturalism issues, require research and development. This speak volumes about Banting and Kymlicka, as it places their work on a larger spectrum that will one day be surrounded by other impressive works that may compliment or challenge their findings. Canadian multiculturalism is completely different than what takes place in different countries. It goes without saying that not every picture can be painted with the same type of brush because the world is not full of the same picture that has a white washed idealized understanding. With that being said, the problems in other countries are not inherent to the multiculturalism picture in other countries.
36 Fleras, Augie, and Jean Leonard Elliott. Engaging Diversity: Multiculturalism in Canada. Toronto: Nelson, 2002: 171.
Multiculturalism in Canada is actually a beautiful element. Through different texts such as “I am not racist” and “I’m a Banana and proud of it” multiculturalism may not be a beautiful thing after all. The stereotyping, that is describing people shape, colour and language they speak. In Canada, stereotyping and racism occurs even if we think it’s not as we are multicultural country.
Multiculturalism policy was first adopted in Canada in 1971, which reaffirms the dignity and value of all its citizens regardless of ethnic origins, race, religious affiliations, or language. Part of this policy, Canada confirms the rights of all the aboriginals along with the recognition of two official languages. Indeed, multiculturalism has great importance since its main purpose is to give equal treatment to all the citizens (Daniel, 2010). It ensures that all individual citizens could still maintain their identities, and have pride with their ancestry. Through this initiative, the Canadian government was able to give their citizens a feeling of self-confidence, making them more open to their diverse cultures. The multiculturalism policy
Canada is a nation that has been created through the unity of several nations and different cultures and is being recognized around the world through its appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism, unity, freedom and independence. In fact, although Canada is Internationally popular socially, economically, environmentally, politically, and geographically, people outside this country still have misunderstandings towards this nation. Therefore, despite the inaccuracy of Canada’s identity due to some people’s bias and lack of specific knowledge among social and environmental issues, the general global perception of Canada is fair and accurate as discussed by leaders and common people.
“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.
Renewing Immigration: Towards a Convergence and Consolidation of Canada’s Immigration Policies and Systems, Published by The Conference Board of Canada, p, 15 2008 assed at http://www.conferenceboard.ca/documents.aspx?DID=2758
In the 1970s, Pierre Elliott Trudeau decided to use multiculturalism as a “way of dealing with discontent over the report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism1.”. According to some groups, this report dealt primarily with French and English linguistic issues and did not pay enough attention to issues referring to other groups within the Canadian population. In a more general extent, “multiculturalism policies in Canada have attempted to assist cultural group in overcoming barriers so as to allow them to integrate more fully in society.2”. However, the notion of multiculturalism itself was criticized by the Spicer Commission on National Unity. This commission was put forward by the Mulroney government, as a response to the popular perception that the country's unity was vuln...
Every year, over 250,000 people make Canada their new home. Attracted by its education system, economy and universal healthcare system, there are few other places in the world like it. All Canadians are guaranteed equality before the law and equality of opportunity, regardless of where they are from. However, some might argue that Canadian policy has not been put into practice as well as it should be. Is the concept of true equality a far-fetched idea? It seems that Canada has taken great measures to promote the integration of immigrants socially, but can the same be said for their integration economically? Politically? To judge whether or not Canada has been successful at promoting the integration of immigrants in these realms, a deeper understanding of Canadian policy must be considered.
The country of Canada is known for its celebration of diverse population and multiculturalism. For years foreigners have been immigrating to Canada to find better opportunities for themselves and their families. Citizenship offers protection of human rights and freedoms including mobility and equality among others, under the Charter. (Canadian Charter, 1982, s 6(2)(b)) The status of Canadian citizenship first started with the official Citizen Act in 1947, which distinguished Canada from other parts of the British Commonwealth. “Before 1947, residents of Britain, Australia, and New Zealand could without limitation immigrate to Canada whenever they chose … Canadians had the same rights to move to those countries and exercise political rights” (Dickerson, Flanagan & O'Neill, 2009). As the country has become more developed, the state of immigration has changed with it. The process of obtaining legal citizenship today is varied according to the applicants’ circumstances. The current state of immigration into Canada is shaped by these paths to citizenship.
Do you know that despite Canada being called multicultural and accepting, Canada’s history reveals many secrets that contradicts this statement? Such an example are Canadian aboriginals, who have faced many struggles by Canadian society; losing their rights, freedoms and almost, their culture. However, Native people still made many contributions to Canadian society. Despite the efforts being made to recognize aboriginals in the present day; the attitudes of European Canadians, acts of discrimination from the government, and the effects caused by the past still seen today have proven that Canadians should not be proud of Canada’s history with respect to human rights since 1914.
Canada is an ethnically diverse country. The notion of "multiculturalism" began circulating in Canada in 1971 and is a word that is now commonly used to define this country, unlike the word "melting-pot" which is used to describe Americans' loss of ethnic identity. The broadcasting system in Canada is pressured by the government to acknowledge the culturally diverse society by broadcasting a fair representation of the population in terms of ethnicity. This is achieved through the many acts that have been passed through parliament: the multiculturalism policy of 1971, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982, the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy of 1985, and most recent, the Broadcasting Act of 1991. These legislative and policy frameworks have provided guidelines for the management of Canadia...
“ Canada 's national obsession seems to be its own identity.” For many years Canada has feared the increasing influence of its North American neighbors on its culture - the United States . It has become a matter of growing concern for the people of power and influence in Canada to maintain their separate cultural identity and to promote their own cultural norms. Gaetan Tremblay presents his views on this topic and does this from the perspective of a person living and working in Quebec.
Growing up with a diverse community makes you realize that Canada is growing and slowly becoming a Multicultural society. Multiculturalism as stated in the textbook, is defined as allowing and accepting different cultures and providing them encouragement and support to keep their culture and diverse traditions (Mintz et al. 2015, 34). In 1971, Canada became the first country in the world to adapt the official policy of multiculturalism. (Government of Canada. “Canadian Multiculturalism: An Inclusive Citizenship” 2012). Canada grants all residents of Canadian citizens regardless of their “racial or ethnic origins, their language, or their religious affiliation”. (Government of Canada. “Canadian Multiculturalism: An Inclusive Citizenship”