Multiculturalism can be defined in many ways and does not have one strong prevailing definition across all nations. A definition that proved to be effective and encompassing describes multiculturalism as a powerful force within society that recognizes the intricacy of a variety of cultures and how a diverse group of individuals operates within one society (Pedersen, 6). It can also be understood in many different levels- as fact, ideology, policy, practice, and critical discourse, all of which encompass fostering social equality, cultural diversity and national interests (Pirani, 2018). Put simply, multiculturalism is the existence of numerous distinct cultures and groups (religions, belief systems, languages etc.) peacefully cohabitating in one nation. One of the world’s best known multicultural societies is Canada, which is considered by much of the world to be an extremely diverse nation and proud of its multiculturalism. Throughout recent history Prime Ministers of Canada have been united in their ideas of Canada representing ideals of diversity and multiculturalism. This paper will discuss a brief history of Canada and policies that led to it becoming a country of diversity and multiculturalism, its silent history and current presence of racism, and finally barriers to Canada’s multicultural title and how it can strive to become more inclusive.
In the 1500s, European colonizers were exploring North America and looking to claim the land as their own. Despite Indigenous Peoples living on the land for thousands of years, it was claimed by Britain and France as their territory and in 1763 France lost a battle and renounced its land claim (Library and Archives Canada, 2009). In the 1860s political, economic and military problems faced Great Britain and the fear of the power of the United States was increasing, Britain encouraged many of their colonies to join together to become stronger in case of an attack from the United States, Britain wouldn’t have to pay to defend all of their colonies. This led to the Province of Canada working towards Confederation, after three Conferences from 1864 to 1866, Canada officially declared itself a country on July 1st 1867 (Library and Archives Canada, 2009). Today, Canada has increased in size to become what is now one of the largest countries in the world with one of the most diverse populations.
Despite the idea that Canada has always been seen as a very diverse open country, only two years after Confederation, Canada began implementing laws and policies outlining immigration beginning with the Immigration Act of 1869, which ensured that immigrants coming to Canada were safe and protected from exploitation on their journey (Van Dyk, 2018). It was the intention of Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald to create an open immigration policy for Canada so to expand settlement in Canada, so the country could expand. During this time, British Columbia saw an increase in railway companies bringing Sikh and Chinese labourers to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway, but white Canadians were increasingly uncomfortable with non-Anglo-Saxon individuals immigrating to Canada (Walker, 190). Prime minister Macdonald’s open immigration style did not last for long, in 1885 the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration policy came into effect to regulate the influx of Chinese immigrants as labourers into Canada (Van Dyk, 2018). Although the Canadian government claimed that the purpose was to restrict the inflow of Chinese immigrants, not to exclude them altogether, their actions seemed to reflect a desire for white immigrants (Walker, 90-91). Regrettably this led to much misconception and racism towards Chinese immigrants across Canada with absurd claims being made by much of Canada, including politicians, that Chinese were immoral, disease ridden people, which led to the imposition of a head tax on Chinese immigrants (Van Dyk, 2018). This reflects very poorly on Canada as “multicultural” nation as during the same time Canada was allowing Italian immigrants to enter with the introduction of the Royal Commission on Italian Immigration (Van Dyk, 2018). In 1906, Canada imposed the Immigration Act of 1906 which mimicked the policy of 1869 only expanding the list of ethnicities prohibited to enter the country including the mentally ill, disabled, and impoverished (Van Dyk, 2018). This policy also gave the cabinet power to prevent any group of ethnicities or backgrounds from entering Canada and to deport any immigrants as they saw fit (Van Dyk, 2018). It is quite clear that until the 1960s when the Immigration Regulations and White Paper on Immigration policies took place, Canada was hardly a shining example of diversity and multiculturalism, and Canada has certainly not always had the open-door policy to immigrants that the country has boasted for the last few decades.
As noted above, it is understood that multiculturalism on Canada has been in the works since the 1970s and has progressed to expand that title over the last 40 years. The Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988, seen as the core of Canada’s multiculturalism, states that it aims to “preserve and enhance the multicultural heritage of Canadians” (Chiasson, 1-2). Disputably, the most important aspects of multiculturalism are the protection of cultural identities, preservation of language, and cross-culture exchanges to improve diverse culture understanding (Chiasson, 2). Despite a comparatively bright future and recent history of multiculturalism and diversity, Canada has a dark and silent history of racism. Racism is described as “a process which attributes skin colour, language, birthplace and cultural practices as socially significant markers of distinction” (Walker, 67). Black people were some of the first non-indigenous settlers of Canada thanks to slavery taking place as early as the seventeenth century in the United States (Kihika, 36). During the height of racism against black communities in the United States, Canada was seen as a as safer alternative to the United States and many black slaved had moved to Canada from the United States seeking refuge. In spite of this, Canada was not without fault regarding racism, especially against Aboriginal Peoples, Chinese and Black people. It was not uncommon in Canada for three different schools to open in a district during the height of racism, two of which were for Protestant and Roman Catholic students, and one which was exclusively for African Canadian Children who despite performing on par with other white students were still widely believed to not be able to attain same level of intelligence as their white peers (Walker, 76). These school systems were imposed by white Canadian school board trustees and loosely held into place by the 1850 School Act which allowed for racial segregation, despite much push for integration from black leaders and communities (Walker, 76-77). It is believed that the roots of racism are embedded in Canada and have created lasting unfavourable conditions for African Canadians as unemployment rates, job opportunities and income are still marginalized against their white counterparts, despite African-Canadians being more inclined to have university diplomas (Kihika, 38-41).
Equally dissatisfying has been Canada’s treatment of their Indigenous peoples throughout history and into present day. Since the Europeans arrival to Canada, the relationship between Indigenous and colonizers has been filled with false promises and empty hearted treaties to the Indigenous peoples who cultivated and nurtured the land for thousands of years before. When the Europeans arrived in North America, Indigenous people agreed to help guide them and share the land. History dictates that agreements made between the two groups were quickly forgotten when the search began for valuable natural resources. Canada’s Indigenous people have been repeatedly undermined in agreements that the Europeans and government have had no intention of abiding to and were only interested in their own personal gain. The height of such disrespect and blatant racism was highlighted with the emergence of the Residential Schools System in the nineteenth and twentieth century, which was an example of attempted cultural genocide (Partridge, 33). The main purpose of the Residential School system was to remove Indigenous children from their families and to send them to a government and church run boarding school where they would be stripped of their native tongue and traditions and would have their spirits broken until they assimilated into Canadian culture. In order to assimilate children, they were beaten, tortured, and abused as punishment for practicing traditions or speaking their native language (Partridge, 49). Loss of language from time at these schools meant that children who survived and were able to relocate their families were not able to communicate with them and this loss of culture created a distance between families (Partridge, 50). The effects of these schools, which didn’t close until the late 1900s, have been devastating and intergenerational- spanning from elevated suicide rates to substance abuse issues and loss of Indigenous cultures and languages of children who were sent to these schools mostly (Partridge, 50). Furthermore, due to an increase in substance abuse, alcohol dependency, and lower education rates, Indigenous adults in Canada make up one in four admissions to both provincial and territorial prisons and correctional institutions (Statistics Canada, 2017).
To add insult to injury, many Indigenous people are now living on reserves that the government granted to them decades back as a way to keep them away from mainstream society, however living conditions on the reserves are unimaginably poor, causing poor health and shorter lifespans, yet despite their pleas for assistance from the government, no significant changes have taken place (Joseph, 2012). The government clearly feels very little towards the sacredness of the reserves as the government has tried in recent years to use the reserve land for housing developments and trans-national pipelines such as the Keystone Pipeline which would pass right through indigenous land, both disregarding the agreement between Indigenous peoples and the government that it is their land, and blatantly ignoring the sacredness that land holds to Aboriginals. The reserves also feature lack of access to reasonable housing with many nations including much of the Kattawapiskak people living in makeshift tents and sheds in subarctic temperatures and lack of access to safe drinkable water and electricity (Oobosawin, 2012). Unemployment rates are also as high as 14% compared to non-aboriginals at 7.5%, and employment rates on reserves for first nations are as low as 35.4%, while employment rates on reserves of non-aboriginals is 61.2% (National Aboriginal Economic Development Board, 2015).
Barriers to Canada’s multicultural title and how to improve on such are important factors in present day. Internally there is the concern of a long-standing issue with Quebec and the divide between them and the rest of Canada which threatens the very foundation of Canada’s multicultural title. Quebec’s elected provincial governments reject federal multiculturalism and believe that it is tool to undermine Quebec’s nationalist goals and doesn’t allow Quebec the opportunity to present as the sole identity to its citizens (Chiasson, 5). There is also the timeless argument about French customs and language preservation in Quebec being overshadowed by the rest of Canada’s dominantly English-speaking population. Additionally, Islamophobia within Canada, as well as previously discussed ignorance towards Aboriginal peoples presents a large issue for Canada that the nation must overcome. Islamophobia, in particular is a huge issue facing Canada in the past few years, referring to the fear and hostility towards Islam and Muslims (Wilkins-Laflamme, 89). Since the events of September 11th 2001 against the United States, there has been a huge fear of and racism towards Middle Eastern religions amongst western countries as they have been labelled extremists. This has been largely unspoken or and not taken action on in Canada until the Quebec City mosque shooting took place in 2017 (Wilkins-Laflamme, 87). Following this, government quickly passed Bill 62, which does not allow for full facial covering in public, which directly targets religious Muslim garments that some women may choose to wear (Wilkins-Laflamme, 87). This is a very recent issue and the governments is searching for a solution that balances both individuals rights without compromising the safety and well-being of the general public and citizens.
Although Canada is the only western country to place on the top 20 most diverse countries in the world, it still has a long way to go and much work to be done and there are a number of countries in the world who would make admirable role models for Canada to look up to in improving their approaches to multiculturalism (Morin, 2013). Countries who are setting a good example of language preservation and approaching racism, cultural concerns that Canada could follow are African countries, many of who top the diversity and multicultural index such as Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo which are among the world’s most culturally diverse countries (Morin, 2013). Canada has continued to make strides against the present day racism and is boasting a continued effort towards cultural diversity through efforts and policies such as becoming the first country to accept the UNESCO plan in 2005, becoming a full member of the Task Force for international Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research in 2009, and launching an internal evaluation on Canada’s Multiculturalism Program, and committing the federal government to playing a larger role (Dewing, 6-8). Additionally, Canada sets an excellent example as one of the most diverse and accepting countries of the LGBTQ community, which is crucial for individuals to feel safe and respected within their communities. Although it is hard to believe while living in Canada, many countries are still very unaccepting of the LGBTQ community and gay marriage is still widely illegalized in the world.
No country is perfect and no one country has diversity and multiculturalism down to a science, as even the most diverse country may have citizens with hateful minds and hearts who openly express those ideas. Although presently there is no one-size-fits-all solution to racism and embracing multiculturalism across the globe, continued efforts to embrace differences within individual countries will contribute long term to a more loving, accepting world free from war and hate. Although Canada is not without fault, what is imperative, is that Canada and countries around the world commit to bettering themselves and each other for a brighter tomorrow.