The Canadian Model of Immigration - Essay Example

? Multiculturalism There exists a worldwide perception that multiculturalism has either failed or is falling into segregation, specifically in places such as in Canada where with time the formerly adopted migration integration policies have ended up being dropped (Pieterse 88-89). Although there also exists a sense that the Canadian model of immigration has been relatively successive and that it only needs little tinkering and not having to turn around the whole system. Despite this prevailing sense, Canada has not failed to fall subject to the rising global anxieties about multiculturalism. Global Context According to studies by scholars it is evident that there has been a global shift with regard to immigration integration. Back in the early 1970s there had been growing support for multiculturalism but however in the 1990s and 2000s the shift has become evident and people are proving to move away from multiculturalism and rather taking to cohesion and integration (Dekkers 189-205). We could use the example of Netherlands who at some point adapted one of the best forms of multiculturalism in the whole of Europe, and that was in the 1980s. However they started dropping the policies bit by bit in the early 1990s up to when it seemed impossible in the 2000s when the entire system was entirely dropped and came to be replaced with very harsh policies which can be termed as not far from old fashion assimilation. Multiculturalism has experienced no form of success ever in the Europe and with it has brought many serious consequences. The only way to handle this is by insisting to new comers to fully subject to their new identity. They should fully embrace the Dutch or British in terms of their social lives and if at all their ethnic identities are to be preserved then they should not be done so in public. The European verses the Canadian Model: Relationship and impact In Europe multiculturalism has been attributed to several ills such as isolation of immigrants, residential ghettoization discrimination against ethnic, increased stereotyping and others as stated in the case. However the perception of multiculturalism playing role to all these can be put up for debate since there exists no tangible evidence showing that the ills named above are more prevalent in countries who failed to adopt the multiculturalism policies (Hyman 1-14). Some views have been aired by several commentators’ and they can be summarized to reveal that multiculturalism has drastically failed in Europe leading to greater stereotyping, prejudice and greater segregation. Many Canadians also think that they may be immune to this issue but it is evident that this same issue is gradually emerging in Canada. The only remedy either being the abolition of the multiculturalism or post-cultureless. Canada had adopted an assimilationist approach to ethnic groups that carried the hope of having the immigrants to fully assimilate to the pre-existing mainstream culture and still hoped that with time they would be fully absorbed and become indistinguishable. In around 1971 there was the adoption of the multiculturalism policy and the main goals included assisting all Canadian cultural groups having demonstrated full desire and effort to continue to develop a capacity to grow and offer contributions to Canada, to promote creative encounters among all Canadian groups and assisting immigrants to fully acquire the rights to participate in the Canadian society by learning at least one Canadian official language. There is an area where multiculturalism seems to overlap and this concerns racism and discrimination. Although the aboriginal people are not counted as visible minorities, they are still clear victims of racism. Within the category of visible minorities there are important differences in the nature of the nature of the types of racism they encounter.is is also believed that anti-black racism is far much different from the type of racism faced by the visible minorities. If we tried to take a look at the statistics of fear experienced by the visible minorities then we might easily lose track of the various patterns of racism that have been surfaced in Canada overtime. Since the early 1960s, the constitution and constitutional discourse have been a looming issue in the whole of Canada. Federalism regionalism and British French dualism have become dominant in trying to explore the Canadian constitutional policies. In trying to study both ethnicity and the constitution a number of biases are introduced into the context of the constitutional policies due to under authorization of ethnic minorities. In the Canadian political science there is an absence of discussion of the aspects of race and ethnicity. In the field of Canadian ethnic studies the Canadians challenged the notion of a bilingual and bicultural Canada. Several scientists including Rupert Taylor state that there is very little literature in the discipline that asserts the impact of public policies relating to anti-racism and human rights for minorities. Legal scholars have been increasingly addressing both the historical and contemporary relations of race racism and the law. To this event the Canadian political scientists have taken to the role of analyzing the constitutional politics and the role of ethnic minorities. The role of the state in defining the role of ethnicity in general and in constitutional politics is readily apparent. There exists many assumptions among the Canadian society one of them being that once the political powers of ethnic minorities and other no dominant groups is realized, then they are grounded to the political landscape as permanent features. Although according to the Charlottetown accord, it stated that recognition of minority groups did not cement their presence or their power in the constitutional representation of Canadian society. The word multiculturalism itself did not even feature anywhere in the whole accord. There is a failure in demonstrating the existing constitutional literature that adequately tries to explain the relationship among ethnic minorities’ politics and Canadian constitution. In tracing the flow of losses and gains, losses and demands of minorities in the constitutional politics of Canada, the suggestion is that the future relationship between constitutional politics and ethnicity will be contingent on how number of factors influencing state society relations and relations between ethnic groups will develop and interact. The Similarities In both articles the dominating factor is multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is widely discussed in relation to the constitutional politics. Also a reflection of the people’s perspectives and views on the same subject is clearly brought out as it is seen as a thorn among many. Some citizens end up feeling like the immigrants step over their rights as the natives and even at some point there seem to be controversies with regards to the same. Multiculturalism is a total failure in the Canadian society. There is a revelation of the adoption of some federal policy in the early 1970s that however never made its way through to the current time. In the controversies the Canadians dwelled on the notion of having the immigrants fully embracing their culture and with time becoming identical to the rest of the society (Li 93-104). There has been gradual evidence of how gradual Canada has fallen into segregation through the failed Accords of Chartteltown and that of the Meech Lake. However from both the articles there is some slight possibility that the existing models of multiculturalism could work but only with slight tinkering. There has been several attempts to try embracing multiculturalism but never succeeded and has given attribute to many ills. Public opinion plays a big role in the overall issue of immigrants and that of the multiculturalism. The relationship between multiculturalism and other two ethno cultural minorities that is, French Canadians and aboriginal groups need to be addressed. Several debates in both the articles have tried to focus on the policy. The people have a greater say on what takes lead with regard to the rights and freedoms of the immigrants and in the same way influences the kind of life they stay in the Canadian society. Works Cited Dekkers. "British Journal of Sociology and Educaiton." Social cohesion and Integration:learning active citizenship (2006): 189-205. Hyman, Meinhard & Shiels. "The Role of Multiculturalism Policy in Adressing Social Inclusion Process in Canada." CanadianMulticultural Education Foundation (2011): 4-14. Li. "Gender, culture and self-close-other(s) connectedness in Canadian and Chineese Samples." European Journal of Psychology 32 (2002): 93-104. Pieterse. "Global Multiculturalism,Flexible Acculturation." Transcience Journal 1 (2010): 88-89. Read More