Canadian Multiculturalism

Main Dates:

1969-Official Languages Act. Recognizes Bilingualism

1971-Canada’s Multiculturalism Policy introduced

1982-Charter of Rights and Freedoms amended to Constitution. Section 27 concerns multiculturalism calling on the courts to interpret the charter “in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canada”

1986-Employment Equity Act. Employers cannot discriminate based on race, religion, or gender.

1988-Multiculturalism Act

1996-Canadian Race Relations Foundation established to “combat racism and all forms of racial discrimination”

1997-renewed Multiculturalism Program announced

What is Multiculturalism?

“Canada has become a post-national, multicultural society. It contains the glove within its borders, and Canadians have learned that their two international languages and their diversity are a comparative advantage and a source of continuing creativity and innovation. Canadians are, by virtue of history and necessity, open to the world.”[1]   

            -Right Honourable Jean Chretien, Prime Minister of Canada, June2000

            In the last census in 1996, 43% of Canadians reported at least one origin other than British, French, Canadian or Aboriginal.[2] The number of racial minority persons has doubled to 11% in 10 years and now account for up to 30% of the population in most major Canadian cities. [3] Everywhere in Canada, visible minorities are the fastest growing sub-group in Canadian society. We really do have the world within our borders.  Multiculturalism in Canada is seen as a mosaic of world cultures rather than the melting pot of our southern neighbours.  In contrast to the policy of affirmative action in the United States, the Canadian multiculturalism policy has generally not promoted reverse discrimination regarding access to post-secondary education or public service positions.

In 1971, Canada was the first country in the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy. The Multiculturalism Policy was introduced as a way to affirm the “value and dignity of all Canadian citizens regardless of their racial or ethnic origins, their language, or their religious affiliation.”[4]  The idea behind the act was to ensure that all citizens could keep their identities, can take pride in their ancestry and have a sense of belonging.  There is no pressure to assimilate and give up their culture, which makes people feel more at ease in choosing Canadian citizenship. It is my experience that it is almost impossible to define what it is to be Canadian.

Bilingualism

“It is a strength not a weakness that we are permanently incomplete experiment built on a triangular foundation-aboriginal, francophone and anglophone.”[5]

                                    -Hon. Adrienne Clarkson, October 1999

In my opinion the whole drive for multiculturalism began with the Official Languages Act of 1969. This Act officially recognized French as the other official language of Canada. Until the 1960s the dominance of the two groups, English and French, were never challenged because the number of French native speakers was rising as well as the number of British immigrants coming to Canada. However, in the late 1960s and early 1970s large waves of people began to pour into Canada. Large numbers of Lebanese and other Middle Easterners; Italians; Portuguese; Asians and Latinos flooded the major cities such as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.  As these minorities became more settled they began to form vocal activist groups and grew increasingly agitated by the French-Canadian drive for special rights. Their argument was that in no other province but Quebec are French people the majority.  Why should cultural distinctiveness be limited to the French? The people in the West of Canada argue that they are culturally distinct and the people in the Maritimes argue that they are culturally distinct, soon Ontario is going to be the only province left in Canada.  In 1978, a Charter made French the only official language of Quebec and two referendums were held in 1980 and 1995 calling for separation. Ironically it is only in New Brunswick with their large Acadian population, that all provincial government services are generally available in French.  The government has claimed that Canada will remain a ‘multicultural country within a bilingual framework’ but that does not seem to make sense anymore. The bilingual framework does not seem to hold true.

First Nations

“The assistance and spiritual values of the Aboriginal peoples who welcomed the newcomers to this continent too often have been forgotten. The contributions made by all Aboriginal peoples to Canada’s development, and the contributions that they continue to make to our society today, have not been properly acknowledged. The Government of Canada today, on behalf of all Canadians, acknowledges those contributions.”[6]

-Hon. Jane Stewart, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development 1998

            Another major question in Canadian multiculturalism is that of the Aboriginal, or First Nations, peoples.  After 1870, the Inuit lands became part of the Northwest Territories, a federal territory. A hundred years later, in the 1970s the Inuit began pressing for their own homeland. The first recognition of land rights for First Nations peoples was in 1973.  While some tribes have signed treaties with the British Crown and thus have enjoyed minor privileges like free access to education this actually lead to another virtual attempt at assimilation of First Nations peoples.  Federal schools were set up and run by Catholic missionaries. These schools ripped young Aboriginal children from their families and told them that all that they had known was wrong. They were punished for speaking their own language and they were repeatedly abused for practicing their various ceremonies. In the 1990s the Canadian government admitted that what had been done to the First Nations peoples in the 1970s was wrong and it formally apologized for its mistakes.  In 2000, there were approximately 7,000 lawsuits against Canadian churches relating to horrors experienced by native pupils in residential schools.[7]  It was in 1960 that all Aboriginal peoples were granted the right to vote, and in 1969 under then minister of Indian Affairs and now Prime Minister Jean Chretien that the policy changed towards Aboriginal peoples. He said that First Nations peoples should have the right to manage their own affairs to the same extent that their fellow Canadians manage theirs. Ever since Aboriginal land claims and claims for self-government have been the centre of a much-heated debate. 

Nunavut

In part in recognition of its mistakes, two plebiscites in 1982 and 1992, gave approval to a plan to create an Inuit territory and to define its boundaries. Finally in 1999, nearly 30 years after the press for a homeland started, the jurisdiction of Nunavut was proclaimed.  This was the first change in Canada’s internal boundaries since the admission of Newfoundland 50 years ago.  Nunavut, which means “our land” in the Inuktitut language, is the first Inuit ruled territory in the world. There is a limited self-government. Some subjects are handled exclusively in Nunavut, while others are handled in cooperation with the federal government in Ottawa.  All decisions concerning the territory are reached by consensus. A single-level judicial system, based on community policing and intended to call on traditional methods such as the “healing circle,” is in place.  The Inuit people receive absolute ownership and control of 18 per cent of Nunavut. Although for now 90 per cent of its operating budget comes from Ottawa, the hope is that in the future Nunavut will be self-sufficient.  There are many social problems in this territory.  A rapidly rising population, a per capita income half the national average, high unemployment, a low level of education, substandard housing, and a heavy reliance on social assistance are problem that Nunavut must overcome to prosper.  It will be an interesting thing to watch, the growth of Nunavut as it is the first time in history that the First Nations peoples have been given part of their homeland back. 

Other territorial concessions are in the works as the government looks for ways to give the First Nations peoples their land back without disrupting the lives of their neighbours. There is a plan in works that would give the Mohawk people of Quebec self-government as early as September 2001. 

Immigration Policy

                Immigration policy in Canada has significantly improved in the last decades from one that blatantly supported racism to being explicitly non-discrminatory.  Public funds have been made available to several community organisations to facilitate the integration of immigrants and refugees. However many Canadians argue, and I agree, that the application of the policy is a „bureaucratic codification system that has little to do with democratic principles and a lot to do with finding a way into or out of hte country through a labyrinth of exacting passageways and an unfathomable maze of red tape.“[8]  Like in many other countries, immigration in Canada depends on a point system but by personal experience these points mean little if you do not have the $500,000 cdn to invest in Canada.  Recently when my own relatives inquired about immigration from Lebanon they were told it was virtually impossible unless they had $500,000 cdn and the people that were sponsering them had $500,000 cdn as well.  Another problem with immigration is that although immigration policies within Canada have improved the immigration officers outside of Canada who are awarded the power to determine immigration are still subject to discrimination and bribery.

Problems

“It is my deepest hope that Canada will match its new legal maturity with that degree of political maturity which will allow us to make a total commitment to the Canadian ideal. I speak of a Canada where men and women of Aboriginal ancestry, of French and British heritage, of the diverse cultures of the world, demonstrate the will to share this land in peace, in justice and with mutual respect.”[9]

-Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, April 17, 1982

            While it is true that Canada has made significant advances in race relations since the induction of the Multicultural Policy of 1971, there are still a number of problems. At the root of it is the fact that Canada has become so multicultural that there is an absolute lack of Canadian identity. We are a country of 30 million strangers. The different ethnic communities are so segregated that there is little to no interaction between them sometimes. For example, the city of Toronto is divided up into different neighbourhoods; Portuguese, Italian, Chinese just to name a few. The residents in this neighbourhood have no real need to learn English because their mother tongue (even if they were born in Canada) is spoken by everyone. Their identity is fiercely protected and everything from their school system to their shopping plazas are in their mother tongue. This is not to say that protecting one’s identity is not important, I myself went to Armenian school on the weekend, however it does lead to a type of fragmentation within society.

            I also think a main problem with Canadian multiculturalism is that we have all these wonderful programs put in place but they’re all at the governmental level. I sometimes feel that these programs never really reach the grass roots level of the average Canadian citizen. Although it’s true that with the renewed multicultural program the government is trying to reach the people, it’s sometimes hard to put into practice something that works perfectly on paper.  For example, it’s great to say that the courts should interpret the Charter “in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canada” but what does that really mean?

            I think we also cannot forget our multicultural blunders. For example in the 1940s there were many regressive laws that stripped some Canadians (mainly of these mistakes. We will admit that they happened but we won’t do anything about it.  In other words, we will admit that we nearly destroyed the Aboriginal Japanese descent) of their citizenship rights.  I think often times we like to bypass races but we refuse to recognize their land claims.

            Although in 1999 83% of Canadians agreed that the multicultural make-up is one of the best things about Canada, it’s clear that the majority of these people agree only when multiculturalism does not infringe upon them. According to one survey, over half of all Canadians think that multiculturalism policies have given some groups more than their fair share.[10] Some still see ethno-cultural change as a threat. In a survey of 800 Chinese Canadians conducted in 1994, 40% had personally experienced discrimination; 60% were not able to utilize their talents in Canada, and 80% disagreed that they felt accepted by other Canadians.[11] Despite commitments to a more inclusive society embedded in the Charter, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, and other such legislation, members of ethnic and visible minorities continue to experience barriers to participation in the workplace.  A large number of highly qualified immigrant professionals continue to experience difficulties with credentials recognition and accreditation. A disproportionate percentage of visible minority Canadians suffer from poverty, low wages, and under-employment. Minorities continue to be under represented in most institutions and professions and in the media where they are often negatively portrayed. For example, how many times have you seen the portrayal of an Aboriginals person as a violent “savage?”   

            I am proud to be Canadian. I think we have the best example of multiculturalism working positively in the world. This is not to say however that Canada has no problems with racism or prejudice. These problems are there, they are just hidden under the surface.  I think there are serious problems with the immigration policy in that the racism might not occur within Canada’s borders but within Canadian embassies around the world for example.  I think overall the multicultural program is good it just needs to be entrenched in the all levels of society not just at the governmental level.  It needs to be taught in schools so that children at young ages learn about tolerance and acceptance.  We have become to segregated as a population-we need to find a way to become united as Canadians.