The writer in the literature has explicitly discussed and evaluated the aspect of multiculturalism in Toronto city of Canada with intent of examining how it is influencing the lives of Canadians, immigrants as well as foreigners.
He start by first describing his encounter with the Canadian culture, where he describes it as quick-wittedness and intelligence yet so free of the bustle and noise that exists in bigger cities such as the new York.
Great note has also been taken on the existence of a hierarchical type of governance that is not easily traceable by strangers to the city. Therefore one has to take time in this country and have a keen and detailed look into the customs as well as practices conducted by its inhabitants, if he or she is to learn or observe anything of interest since a low profile is maintained.
In the evaluation of multiculturalism in the city of Toronto, the literature has inclined to Bissoondath’s argument on the aspect of multiculturalism based on the wisdom reflected by his sentiments on the issue of multiculturalism.
The government sponsored multiculturalism has been criticized as being agents of promotion of ethnic communities to exotic museums which consequently have profound impact on the cohesion among these communities.
With the disintegration of cohesion among these communities, division instead of unity prevails and poisons the fabric of society limiting its potential to a very large extent.
This disintegration has further led to weird phenomena among individuals where the visible minority in society is tolerated and not really appreciated by others. This as seen in the literature has had adverse consequences to the so much needed peace, since the minorities who are tolerated rather than appreciated have consequently grown rebellious due to fear of oppression or domination.
In a bid to claim their deserved respect in the society they end up fighting back the forces that seek to dominate them. Hence peace and stability of a particular country is put on stake.
The high number of immigrants in the city of Toronto also further reflects the impact or rather influence of negative multiculturalism on the lives of individuals. For instance the mentioned migrants are subjected to striking a balance between two extremes which in the literature have been referred to as the old and new worlds as well as east and west.
The seclusion of immigrants as well as their discriminations as a result of negative multiculturalism has continued to frustrate their lives in the city of Toronto, making it quite difficult for them to meet even their most basic of needs .as a result some have opted to take the route of crime to make end meet which is a threat to the security of not only the city of Toronto but also the country at large.
This kind of seclusion breeds a wrong and bad habit among inhabitants of Toronto, as it inhibits integration of its occupants with strangers which may aid in benefiting from the sharing of ideas among different cultures. Hence foreigners are not left to remain as strangers but rather integrated into the new societies for purposes of exchange in knowledge.
The following is a comparison summary of the Official multiculturalism and positive multiculturalism:
Official multiculturalism
- Define people in terms of their ethnic groups
- Redress of past injustice by creation of future
- Encourage foreigners to remain foreign
- Promotion of tolerance
- Views ethnicity as a public policy
Positive multiculturalism
- Is more objective in definition of people
- Solve past injustice as well as future injustices
- Attempts to intergrate foreigners into the new society
- Promotion of acceptance
- No confusion of policies with ethnicity
