Introduction
Canada is known internationally as a peacekeeping nation that does not take part in larger imperialist agendas and is a haven for refugees and immigrants. This has caused the country to adopt multicultural state policies meant to provide a safe and progressive environment for its diverse society. However, the country has a history of indigenous colonization, slavery, white settlement policies, and racialized immigration policies meant to settle people of color. Despite the multicultural policies being in place, Canada’s history has influenced racism in the nation with the Canadian minorities being marginalized socially, politically, culturally and economically.
This essay will analyze the reasons for adoption of multicultural policies, the dominance of the Anglo-Saxon white community that constitutes the majority of the population of the country. The essay will also describe how racism is reflected in the Canadian Society and how people of color in the country are coping with the racist attitudes.
Reasons for Adopting Multicultural Policies in Canada
Canada shifted from policies that favoring white immigrants to policies favoring the immigration of racial communities. This was to address the declining birth rates in the nation and enhance economic growth in the country. The settlement history comprised of Aboriginals before the French and British arrived in the early 1600s. During this time, Canada’s population was primarily composed of 60% British and 30% French. Currently, people with Canadian, British and French ethnic origins are only 46% of the population. The 2011 National Household Survey carried out in Canada revealed that there were more than 200 different ethnicities in the country.
Canada’s natural population would not be able to sustain economic growth because of a decline in the productive age group of its population that constitutes the labor force. Immigrants and refugees fill this gap by providing the necessary labor force required. This group of the population is also the one that creates new households and pays the greatest part of the taxation revenue. However, multiculturalism failed to take into consideration the social aspect that made them fail.
Reflection of Racism in the Canadian Society
Racism in Canada has affected various sectors of the society including the law, health, economy, and media. This was evident in the prohibition of drugs that was mostly targeted at immigrant communities. The role of immigrants in Canada has been that of reliable and disciplined workers dependent on market relations. As such, any drugs that were associated with immigrants were mostly criminalized. The main reason behind this measure is that drugs might be used by immigrants as financial and festive alternatives thereby upsetting the market relations. This was seen in 1908 when opium was banned as a direct measure to Chinese immigrants who provided the cheap labor necessary for the growth of Industrial capitalism in Canada during the period.
Another reason for criminalizing of drugs was that the immigrant culture of drug use would spread to working-class whites (Gordon, 2006). This was the basis for banning of cannabis and cocaine that was popular among the Caribbean immigrants. Most Somali immigrant whose language and customs were alien to Canadians moved to Canada after 1986 settled in Toronto. This, in addition to that fact most Somalis are Muslims, made the police view the community as a danger of the Canadian order. As a result, khat that is an indigenous plant to East Africa was declared illegal in Canada. The Somalis are the ones who mostly use the plant and describe it as a mild narcotic. The drug was banned because it created a sense of euphoria, elevated moods, and caused hallucinations. However, the danger of euphoria was unclear, and hallucinations alone are not a basis of criminalizing drugs.
Pfeifer & Ogloff (2003) carried out a research to investigate the public perception of Canadians based on criminals’ ethnicities. The ethnic backgrounds of both the defendants and victims were varied in sexual assault cases and the transcripts given to the participants of the study who were English Canadians. The participants were then asked to decide the guilt of the defendant using personal beliefs. The research showed that the participants favored English Canadian defendants and found French and Native Canadians more guilty. This shows the existence of racism in the Canadian society and also in the justice system. This raises concerns regarding the validity of the Canadian justice system.
Racial discrimination is also seen in the Canadian economy through its employment patterns and payment to immigrants. Immigrants in Canada are particularly subjected to temporary employment that is usually contract, seasonal, and casual employment. This practice is widespread in Canadian public employment service with as a way of easing labor market entry for immigrants. Temporary employment offers less payment, has limited access to social benefits, no statutory entitlements, and has no job security due to low control over the labor process. This has made most immigrants to lag behind economically despite having higher average education levels than the whole Canadian work force (Fuller and Vosko, 2008). An example is the Somalis living in Toronto with a quarter of them being unemployed and the ones with work have the lowest paying and less skilled jobs. This has caused most Somalis in the city to suffer from poverty with about 63% of them living below the official poverty line (Gordon, 2006).
Racism in Canada is also seen in the health sector particularly in therapy where white therapists may inadvertently assert whiteness in the therapy process because of the dominance of the culture in the country. According to Lee & Bhuyan (2013) therapists use discursive strategies to get patients to assimilate to their way of assessing issues and recommending treatment. Patients also comply or disagree with their therapists’ assessment by putting themselves within or resisting the discussion of whiteness.
Using and maintaining whiteness functions as the measure of clinical encounters makes the therapists miss the chance to meaningfully engage with patients (Lee & Bhuyan, 2013). This is because in failing to see their Western perspective, they obscure their capacity to remain patient-centered. Also, the patients in trying to show good subject within whiteness distract them from the initial exploration stemming from their native cultures. All these results in wrong treatment recommendations and suggest the need for therapists to identify socio-cultural factors affecting their patients. This will positively transform the therapists’ cross-cultural competence in dealing with ethnic minority patients.
The media and journalists in Canada also show racist attitudes in reporting events and depicting the history of the country. Canada is always scripted as a white nation with the Europeans being described as the once who built the nation. All occurrences of genocide, conquest, slavery, and labor exploitation of aboriginals and colored people are erased from the history (Gordon, 2006).
The Globe and Mail, one of the national dailies in Canada has presenting Muslims and Muslim nations in a bad light after September 11. The papers portray Muslim women as passive victims who need to be rescued, but can also be deceitful and cold-hearted. Muslim women in the Canadian context are also depicted as submissive and paralyzed by fear who will distant themselves from their native countries in trying to find a sense of belonging (Jiwani, 2005). Afghani men are portrayed opportunistic, ruthless, and devious. These representations are meant to induce fear and condemnation from the Canadian audiences. This caused Canada to pass a series of legislations post September 11 that allowed surveillance, profiling, and detention of immigrants, citizens, and asylum seekers of Muslim and Arab descent (Gordon, 2006).
How Minorities are coping with Racist Attitudes in Canada
The widespread racism encountered by minorities in Canada in various institutions including schools has caused them to develop various coping mechanisms. One way of coping with racist attitudes is developing of positive ethnic identity in adolescents through participation in cultural activities. This consequently boosts their self-confidence and prepares them to be strong in the presence of racist acts (Carranza, 2007). Mothers have the greatest responsibility of ensuring that their children stayed in connected to their roots. Carranza (2007) research shows that the strategies used by immigrant mothers were embedded in the socio-political and historical context of their native culture and settlement country. From the study, it was seen that mothers instilled a sense of culture in their children from their everyday activities.
The other way of minorities in Canada to address their situation in society is by refusing to be placed outside the nation. The minorities produce nuanced models of cultural citizenship, demonstrating that national identities are developed and transformed through representation. Mahtani (2002) says that sometimes the multicultural policies does very little to discourage racial stereotypes to racism in society. One of the reasons why multicultural policies are ineffective is because they fail to acknowledge that racism is not a legal issue but a socially constructed phenomenon. The minorities effectively create their own meanings of identity by working through their personal multicultural groups to the national body politic.
Conclusion
Minority groups have now devised means to cope with racist attitudes. These ways include developing a positive ethnic identity in adolescents and creating nuanced groups of cultural citizenship, demonstrating that national identities are developed and transformed through representation. To deal with racism issues, white dominance in Canada needs to be addressed by acknowledging the existence of multicultural society. Economic barriers should also be eliminated to create equal opportunities for everyone in the country.
References
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Fuller, S., & Vosko, L. F. (2008). Temporary employment and social inequality in Canada: Exploring intersections of gender, race and migration. Social Indicators Research, 88(1), 31–50. Gordon, T. (2006). Neoliberalism, racism, and the war on drugs in Canada. Social Justice, 33(1), 59-78.
Jiwani, Y. (2005). The great white north encounters September 11: Race, gender, and nation in Canada's National Daily, The Globe and Mail. Social Justice, 32(4), 50-68.
Lee, E., & Bhuyan, R. (2013). Negotiating within whiteness in cross-cultural clinical encounters. Social Service Review, 87(1), 98-130.
Mahtani, M. (2002). Interrogating the hyphen-nation: Canadian multicultural policy and 'mixed race' identities. Social Identities, 8(1), 67-90.
Pfeifer, J. E., & Ogloff, J. R. P. (2003). Mock juror ratings of guilt in Canada: Modern racism and ethnic heritage. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 31(3), 301-312.
