The reading The Other Family addresses an important problem in Canadian society. There is a hegemonic culture in Canada that causes immigrants to fear that they will lose their own customs and traditions. In the reading the little girl drew a picture of a family that was not representative of her own but that was what she knew to be a “Canadian family”. The reaction of her mother is indicative of the fact that this is a concern for their family and their heritage. This shows the overarching issue about the education system not being inclusive of all cultures as they should be in a multicultural country.…
Finally, Saul engages himself with a fun skip about Canada's cowardly and debilitated elites, attributing their brokenness to the already said separate: they don't understand the honest to goodness thought of themselves or the country, hence they without a break go into a faithful mentality in their relations first with Britain and a while later, later, the United States. Saul's story begins—as each sensible paper on the Canadian character must—with the conceal trade, especially with the money related and family associations that were developed among Europeans and Natives over the underlying 250 years of pioneer life in Canada. As Saul points out, generally speaking it was the Natives who were teaching and helping the newcomers survive, and in wedding Native women most European men were wedding up—fantastically upgrading their social, political and fiscal current circumstance. These associations were associations in each essential way and through this enduring mixing the Métis character of the Canadian people were…
Chinese Disenfranchisement Chinese immigrants came to Canada, solely for the gold rush in British Columbia. Although, there were tough jobs to be filled, over 15,000 Chinese came to Canada, between 1881-1884. Canada only employed 6,500 of the Chinese to build the railway. During the construction of the railway, the Chinese workers were treated very badly. After the railway was finished, the Chinese were still coming into Canada on their own terms so they were taxed and put into labor camps.…
He states that “We take enormous pride, with good reason, in our acceptance and tolerance. Much of it came out of necessity”(36). The author argues that immigrants quickly realize how Canada prides itself and values acceptance and tolerance of others. Consequently, Macgregor claims they also realize that they are compelled to act the same way not just to survive, but also to consider themselves truly Canadian. On the last lines of his piece, Macgregor makes a bold statement that ultimately sums up his main argument.…
Canada is known for its diversity and equality but ever since the first Japanese immigrant arrived in 1877, they were welcomed with racism and discrimination. At first, they were known as more "desirable" compared to the Chinese but quickly that changed. The Japanese Canadians were regarded as spies that would sabotage Canada, although there was no evidence to support their biased judgement. The treatment of the Japanese Canadians was truly unethical, they suffered unbearable living conditions that were not impartial. They were not treated equally in the Canadian community, they were considered inferior to the rest of the community.…
The Chinese people are not respected as the average citizens. They do not receive the same opportunities as the white Canadians. The only jobs that are given to the Chinese immigrants are ones that the Canadians don’t want or the ones they create for themselves (ie: coffee shops, gambling bars, etc…). “They were forbidden by a Vancouver city bylaw to hire white women, and at the same time, they could find virtually no local Chinese help.” (p.67, The Concubine’s Children).…
“Iron Road” is a Chinese-Canadian, co-production film, taking place during the 1880s. The movie revolves around the perspective of Little Tiger, and the struggles she encounters. It consists of engaging illustrations that effectively explain the push and pull factors compelling the Chinese to leave China as well as demonstrated the many struggles endured in Canada. The film displayed many different perspectives of the Chinese, through the filthy setting, and each of their individual financial struggles and conflicts. This also explains the sudden compulsion to move to Canada, as the income was better, the environment was cleaner and they would be properly fed and tended to.…
This paper explores the ways “The Swamps Come Back” is an allegory to the social phenomenon of Yellow Peril and how the fears of the characters in the story mirror the real life fears of white Canadians in 1941. The construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway brought more than 15000 Chinese men to Canada. When the railway was finished, demand for Chinese labor had vanished, and white Canadians grew skeptical of those that chose to remain in Canada. Caught between the desire for cheap labour to fulfill its capitalistic ambitions and the desire to maintain its racial purity, Canada would struggle with its immigration…
Biases are based on preconceived ideas and notions towards a specific group of people. These bias are in fact prejudice in nature and exemplifies the idea of supremacy. Sometimes these bias become an integral part of our society. This is evident when a leader of a first world nation could make a travel ban, banning immigration from a specific nation because of religion or ethnic background. As a society we retain these bias because of historical circumstances or ignorance.…
Conclusion In the past, Canada was not known for its multiculturalism or seemingly racism-free ideals. Similar to the U.S., the United Kingdom, and several European nations, it held the belief of white supremacy. Examples of overt racism against visible minorities in Canada’s past include the introduction of the Chinese Head Tax, where only Chinese people entering Canada had to pay a fixed fee, and the St. Louis incident of 1939 when Canada turned away 907 Jewish refugees due to racist…
People from other countries than China were also trying to migrate to Canada such Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, etc. They were the subcategories of the Chinese migrants. Canadians were not able to distinguish the difference between the people of those countries. Like any other Asians, Japanese people came to Canada in order to make enough money to go back to Japan and to rebuild their lives (Epp et al, 2004, p.234). Like any other Asians, Japanese people were hired to replace the Canadians workers with a lower wage.…
Asian immigration to Canada during the 19th and early 20th century provided multiple issues to Canadians. After the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Asian labour was no longer perceived to be necessary for the country. Asians were then forced to compete with Canadians and would accept lower wages and standards of living. This, in turn, increased domestic unemployment rates and decreased the standards of life of Canadian workers. Although many other immigrants have arrived in Canada in its history, the shoulder of the blame during this time was given to Asian immigrants.…
One may be able to assume that the concept of racism in Canada, due to the multicultural nature of the nation, would be essentially non-existent or would have little significant impact on the society. The reality of the situation, however, is that racism has left significant impacts families and children across Canada over the course of the country’s history. The main issue this paper proposes to analyze is how racism has impacted immigrant families and children during the historical time frame of Diamond Grill. Fred Wah’s autobiography, Diamond Grill, exemplifies many of the numerous fashions in which racism has affected Chinese families, including his own, as well as children and students. Within this text, Wah, being of Chinese descent,…
Nevertheless, before discussing how effective the multiculturalism act has been, it’s necessary to discuss parts of Canadian identity, and asses how multiculturalism shapes Canadian society. Canadian identity is ambiguous; often been describes described as an inclusive nation, rather than exclusive nation. Instead of promoting its own interest Canada has been known as a compromising, pace-making, compassionate nation filled with virtue. Canadian identity is closely associated with the promotion of diversity and multiculturalism. Unlike their American neighbors in the South, Canada is said to have embraced distinct cultures and language, without forcing in assimilation.…
The Chinese, Jews, and Irish immigrant were different by their culture and their physical features. The immigrants culture was frowned upon and looked exotic to Americans. All of them were discriminated for following a different religion, playing different gambling games, speaking a different language, wearing different clothes and styles, eating different foods, celebrating different holidays, etc.. One example from the Chinese immigrants that was unacceptable to the Americans and part of the Chinese culture was the queue, long hair worn in one braid down the back, worn by Chinese men. The hairstyle was considered a symbol of Chinese submission to the dynasty.…