“The great themes of Canadian history are as follows: Keeping the Americans out, keeping the French in, and trying to get the Natives to somehow disappear.” - Will Ferguson
Throughout Canadian history we’ve discriminated against non-anglo-saxon groups of people on many occasions. Although we are now known as a country that accepts all cultures and races, we haven’t always been deserving of that status. During World War I, World War II, and post-war times we treated other ethnic groups unfairly and because of this Canada does not deserve its multicultural reputation. Canada’s army limited who could fight, be treated with respect, and be acknowledged in the army during World War I, depending on their ethnic background. To begin, all Canadian …show more content…
Issues with the French in Quebec, Chilean refugees, and with First Nations land claims were all problems in Canada’s society after the wars. First, the French in Quebec were worried about the survival of the French language, culture, and the separate identity of Quebec. After the wars were over, French Canadien nationalism was spreading and getting more attention. A “Quiet Revolution” was born in the 1960s, but some felt the revolution was too ‘quiet.’ In 1963 the Front de Liberation du Quebec, or the FLQ, was created to get Quebec independence, even if it meant using terrorism. Their slogan was “Independence or death,” and they bombed many English buildings and White dominated neighbourhoods in Quebec. To try and control this terrorism the government enacted the War Measures Act once again. Many French people were upset including this editor for Le Devoir who wrote, “It is the first time in the history of Confederation that a government dares to invoke such an extreme law for the purposes of internal peace. The gravity of this Act calls on us to raise some fundamental questions … [the Act] far exceeds the scope of the problem that the authorities faced.” This revolution tore apart Canada and showed that many people didn’t respect English and/or French culture. Additionally, we didn’t respond to the Chilean refugee crisis. In 1973 the government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by a …show more content…
Canada’s army limited who could fight, be treated with respect, and be acknowledged depending on the colour of people’s skin during World War I. During World War II, many Canadians had anti-semitic, and anti-japanese views, leading the country to reject hundreds of Jewish refugees and put 23 000 Japanese Canadians into internment camps. Lastly, Canada disrespected culture in post-war times with the French Canadians, Chilean refugees, and First Nations people. The definition of multiculturalism is, “the coexistence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviours, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles,” Canada has not stayed true to this definition on many occasions, and even though our treatment to different cultures is better now, our history makes us unqualified for a multicultural
Throughout Canadian history we’ve discriminated against non-anglo-saxon groups of people on many occasions. Although we are now known as a country that accepts all cultures and races, we haven’t always been deserving of that status. During World War I, World War II, and post-war times we treated other ethnic groups unfairly and because of this Canada does not deserve its multicultural reputation. Canada’s army limited who could fight, be treated with respect, and be acknowledged in the army during World War I, depending on their ethnic background. To begin, all Canadian …show more content…
Issues with the French in Quebec, Chilean refugees, and with First Nations land claims were all problems in Canada’s society after the wars. First, the French in Quebec were worried about the survival of the French language, culture, and the separate identity of Quebec. After the wars were over, French Canadien nationalism was spreading and getting more attention. A “Quiet Revolution” was born in the 1960s, but some felt the revolution was too ‘quiet.’ In 1963 the Front de Liberation du Quebec, or the FLQ, was created to get Quebec independence, even if it meant using terrorism. Their slogan was “Independence or death,” and they bombed many English buildings and White dominated neighbourhoods in Quebec. To try and control this terrorism the government enacted the War Measures Act once again. Many French people were upset including this editor for Le Devoir who wrote, “It is the first time in the history of Confederation that a government dares to invoke such an extreme law for the purposes of internal peace. The gravity of this Act calls on us to raise some fundamental questions … [the Act] far exceeds the scope of the problem that the authorities faced.” This revolution tore apart Canada and showed that many people didn’t respect English and/or French culture. Additionally, we didn’t respond to the Chilean refugee crisis. In 1973 the government of Salvador Allende was overthrown by a …show more content…
Canada’s army limited who could fight, be treated with respect, and be acknowledged depending on the colour of people’s skin during World War I. During World War II, many Canadians had anti-semitic, and anti-japanese views, leading the country to reject hundreds of Jewish refugees and put 23 000 Japanese Canadians into internment camps. Lastly, Canada disrespected culture in post-war times with the French Canadians, Chilean refugees, and First Nations people. The definition of multiculturalism is, “the coexistence of diverse cultures, where culture includes racial, religious, or cultural groups and is manifested in customary behaviours, cultural assumptions and values, patterns of thinking, and communicative styles,” Canada has not stayed true to this definition on many occasions, and even though our treatment to different cultures is better now, our history makes us unqualified for a multicultural