As described by Makarenko (2010), the Canadian nation is an increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse country. The policy that has made this possible is the country’s official multiculturalism, which was introduced in 1970s. Although the multiculturalism policy has been in existence for more than 40 years in Canada, it stills remains highly controversial and a constantly debated issue. Many scholars have already looked at the introduction of this policy and documented it in different forms. For instance, Hurst (2007) regards multiculturalism policy in Canada as a cultural mosaic. Hurst (2007) asserts that cultural mosaic was the metaphor that came into play in 1971, when Canada’s Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau, came up with the unique policy.
While the Canadian Constitution requires every individual to be regarded as equal before and after the law, and should not be discriminated upon, and that every man and woman has the freedom of religion, conscience, belief, thought, opinion and expression, the policy is being hindered by several things. Despite that, other scholars have maintained that multiculturalism policy in Canada is still fundamental to the Canadian citizens as equals (Makarenko, 2010). Multiculturalism is used to ensure all citizens in Canada are allowed to keep their identity, are proud of their ancestors as well as have a sense of belonging (Makarenko, 2010).
Furthermore, the Canadian experience with this policy has shown that the policy has the ability to influence multiculturalism in the country, which means that the policy brings about racial and ethnic harmony as well as understanding across different cultures. What has come to be termed as mutual respect has helped many people to understand as well as develop a common attitude. The idea of coming up with this policy, therefore, was to enable Canadians to recognize their rights as well as help fight different issues that emerge due to different cultural integrations.
However, the implementation of this policy has not been easy. Multiculturalism is not an easy concept to implement and is something that Canada as a nation has come to understand. Considering these issues, this paper provides an overview of multiculturalism introduction in Canada at a federal level. The paper includes an overview of modern diversity in the Canadian population, the history of the country’s policy towards different ethnic groups as well as an assessment of the structure and values of the modern multicultural policy in Canada. The paper also includes a brief summary of essential debates on Canadian multiculturalism.
Canada’s Cultural Diversity
For many decades, the Canadian nation has been known for its defining characteristics, which have been without any questions its acceptance for immigrants. Having said that, it is essential to note that the ethnic makeup of Canada has been altered significantly over the decades, considering the changes in immigration patterns. Three main ethnic groups constituted Canada during its colonial period. Before the Europeans came into the country, and made what is currently known as Canada, the area was populated by aboriginals (Sivell, 2011). This group of people was far from homogeneous and, instead, it was constituted by an array of different groups of people who had their own social, political and economical practices.
However, colonization and settlement in the country created two European ethnic groups that jointed the Canadian aboriginal people. These are the French and the British; the British people took settlements along the coastline on the eastern part of the country and formed what is currently known as Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. On the other hand, the French made their settlements in areas that are currently known as Nova Scotia and Quebec (Sivell, 2011). Although the British and French were both Europeans, their cultural practices were different. Their language difference is not the only difference that stood out, but they also had different religious practices considering that most French were Catholics, while the British were largely Protestants (Sivell, 2011). Also, their political and legal traditions differed greatly.
After some time, the British managed to conquer former French colonies and absorbed them into the Americans northern territories (Sivell, 2011). Despite that, the French culture has managed to survive in Canada’s modern history. While many people will look at Canada in the form of the two ethnic groups, which are French and British, the three ethnic groups, whereby the Aboriginal group makes up the third group have presented the three main ethnic groups, which were used to create the nation. This view of Canada is extremely essential, and not only because of its influence to the country’s political and social institutions, but because it stands between conflicts to the country’s new conceptions, one of them being the country multicultural concept (Sivell, 2011).
While the Aboriginals will always be viewed as the founding nation, the British and the French are recognized as special cultures while the multicultural view in the country is recognized as cultures that have come together to form a multicultural perspective of the country with a wide variety of cultures that have equal significance (Joshee, 2007). While following the aboriginal culture, the British and the French people from other countries started populating Canada and by 1867, a large German population from German had managed to arrive to Canada (Joshee, 2007).
However, large numbers of people started moving to Canada in the late 1800s as well as early 1900s. The immigration wave included large British contingents, Scandinavians, the United States and Eastern Europe. Although major ethnic groups reflected the United States and Europe, there are other groups of non European descent who found their ways into the country (Joshee, 2007). For instance, British Columbia and thousands of Chinese people migrated to Canada to work on constructions and rail road. Ontario and Nova Scotia saw an influx of people from Afro-American origin that were escaping slavery from the United States.
However, the twentieth century has seen Canada experience a radical shift in the country’s original immigration patterns. At first, people from Britain constituted the primary source of Canadian immigrants. However, by the end of the century, different groups and especially from Asia had moved in great numbers into the country. In fact, Asia is the country that represented the largest number of people that immigrated to Canada. Other groups that migrated to the country include Africans, Middle East people, Central Americans and South Americans. Currently, Americans make a larger group of immigrants. This has caused a radical shift, which was required to change the immigration policy in Canada (Joshee, 2007). Earlier, the country’s policy was focused on ensuring that the country has brought in whites and other skilled people from different parts of the world into the country. However, starting from the 1960s, the Canadian immigration policy was lessened in order to give opportunities to other immigrants (Joshee, 2007).
The Ethno-cultural Diversity in Contemporary Canada
The changing immigration patterns in Canada have resulted to the country’s high diverse culture. Although the country’s large ethnic groups are predominantly from European descent with English and French being the majority, the population from Canada has increasingly been constituted by ethnic groups from other regions. Currently, the Chinese and Indians have started to migrate in numbers in the country. However, it is essential to note that this diversity is not occurring uniformly in the whole country. Population from some cities like Ontario, Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia has a greater diversity compared to other regions (Hyman, 2011).
In addition to that, the Canadian large metropolitan region, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal being some of them, are more diverse in rural places than in urban areas. Other areas have more diverse cultures in urban areas than in rural areas. This diversity, which has occurred in the country of origin, in turn led to several changes in the Canadian population. Particularly, this increase in diversity was visible among the minority cultural groups in the country. Additionally, this cultural diversity is visible in major metropolitan areas like Toronto and Vancouver, which have the majority of populations in the country.
Canadian Visible Minority Cultures in Metropolitan Regions
Multicultural policy in Canada has not only altered the racial makeup of the country but has also resulted to new cultural practices in the country. This policy has also embedded new traditions within the Canadian populations including greater diversity in key institutions such as language, religion, family and other societal issues like gender, civility, sexuality and authority (Hyman, 2011). Despite that, many scholars still provide that the cultural diversity of Canada is not uniform and is grounded in the practices and values of European immigrants and their Christian values. The society that has been brought up by the multicultural policy is mostly a pluralistic one with population practices that are focused on ethnic and religious traditions (Hyman, 2011).
Equality and Ethno-Cultural Minorities in Canada
The unfortunate fact about the Canadian multicultural policy is that the cultural diversity of the country is ethnically and culturally discriminated. The discrimination in this cultural diversity is not something that started recently, but is embedded in the country’s history and is viewed in many forms. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that the discrimination in the country’s culture is embedded in its legal system with a lot of legal discriminations (Mahtani, 2002). Most of these legal discrimination examples were used to incorporate non-Christians, non-Caucasians or non-British groups into the country.
In addition to that, the country’s multicultural policy constitutes of social discrimination. Social discrimination in the country is inclusive of practices and attitudes within the general society, which humiliates as well as degrades minority groups in the country (Mahtani, 2002). Other than that, social discriminations for some times have been acting as a barrier to equality within the ethnic groups that are found in the country. Racism is one of the common social discrimination that is eating up the Canadian society. Racism involves negative stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination among the minority cultures in the country.
In Canada, racial discrimination has often led to people in mainstream society to become fearful and suspicious of the minority cultures and have caused most of these minority groups to be more defensive as well as withdraw to form their own groups (Dewing, 2009). In addition to that, racial discrimination intensified inequality among the cultural groups in the country. The minority groups in Canada are finding it difficult to participate in political, social and economic activities since they are overshadowed by other groups.
Ethnic Minorities and Canadian Multicultural Policy
It is essential to note that Canada came up with an early policy, which was directed towards the country’s ethnic minorities. The policy was supposed to be understood in two distinct lines. One of the lines protected the national French Canadian policy while the other line of the policy was provincial to the Aboriginal people as well as other new immigrants (Dewing, 2009). At the time this policy was being implemented, British authorities had started imposing policies that were discriminatory in order to bring in the French ethnic group to the British fold.
In the late 1800s and 1900s, the Canadian authorizes started pursuing immigrants from northern and eastern Europe as well as Asian who settle on the western side of the country (Queens University, 2011). However, when these groups arrived in the country, they were received with ignorance, which was largely shown by provincial governments as well as the country’s federal government. Despite being ignored by the federal government, these cultural groups were being expected to integrate with the Canadian society (Queens University, 2011). On the other hand, privileges were given to these groups. For instance, groups like Hutterites and Mennonites were promised to be exempted from military services, which were based on the country’s religious grounds.
Other policies that were provided to minority groups were considered to be highly discriminatory among the minority groups. For instance, the Canadian immigration act that was implemented earlier on favor immigrants with a European origin and other United States people. During the World War II, many Japanese Canadians were incarcerated in several camps and were later deported to their countries. Their ill treatment was based on the assumption that, Asian was a threat to the Canadian national security (Department of Justice, 2011).
In the 1900s, many immigrants in the country faced a number of barriers, which included legal barriers to the immigrants’ equal participation in social institutions and political activities (Department of Justice, 2011). Some of these discriminations include denial of voting rights as well as employment rights in the country. For instance, immigrants that found themselves in British Columbia in 1900s were prohibited from working in the country in order to preserve their jobs for Caucasians in the region (Department of Justice, 2011). In an attempt to create a Canadian society that is more homogeneous, assimilative policies were conjured.
Considering the early history of Canada, it is essential to note that the country tried very much to create a society that is civilize. The only problem, however, is that for the country to create a civilized society it required the natives to adopt the European practices. This is one of the reasons why several scholars have argued against multiculturalism policy in Canada. A good example of how natives were forced to adopt European practices is the inclusion of residential school systems in the country education system. With this system, the aboriginal people were required to allow their children to be educated in government schools (Department of Justice, 2011).
Formal Implementation of Multicultural Policy
Although the whole point of including foreigners in the country was to make the country to have a diverse culture, multicultural policy was not introduced until 1970s. This policy was introduced in order for the country to recognize a diverse culture in a society that many scholars have come to term as pluralist society. The French and the British society were the largest groups in the country but they were not the only cultural groups in the country (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2011). Despite that, the nature and structure of both European and French cultures instilled fear in other minority cultures that existed in the country.
Therefore, for the country to make sure that all the cultures were treated equally, it was forced to introduce a multicultural policy, which was required to instill equality in the nation. However, research indicates that, while multiculturalism in the country was introduced to include all cultures including aboriginals, its emphasis was mostly on other cultures, which were mostly immigrant cultures (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2011). The later parts of the 20th century saw the aboriginals pursue a different trajectory and one with a particular significance (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2011). Therefore, while the multicultural policy is mostly regarded as a policy, which was enforced to ensure there is some form of equality in the country, it was formed using French and European practices.
However, for the government to implement as well as support the country’s multicultural policy, it was required to implement programs, which included the provincial of new monies for several cultural activities, advocacy groups and projects (Hurst, 2007). Additionally, the government introduced positions at the cabinet table, which were taken care of by the minister who was in charge of the multicultural policy implementation. The multicultural policy itself was passé in 1988, and gave the multicultural policy a stronger legal basis, which was done through the consolidation of governmental policies with other practices. Research indicates that, while multicultural policy is primarily developed from a European immigration perspective, the policy has brought a lot of changes to the country.
Conclusion
The introduction of multiculturalism in Canada was to implement various changes in the country with most of these changes being pursued on a province level. Currently, many provinces in Canada have introduced legislations as well as managed to establish agencies and programs that support the objectives of multicultural policy. Despite that, some critics have come up with complaints that the multicultural policy is falling behind. Research shows that a number of Canadians are eager to maintain their former identities if the state allowed. The policy has also been argued to be sophisticated and difficult to implement. Others have provided that the policy is depicted as an unfortunate policy with more of its practices based on European practices. The fact that the Canadian society is regarded as a pluralism one makes things even worse. However, the most essential concept is that multicultural policy has brought development in Canada.
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