Do the Policies and Ideology of Multiculturalism Unite Us or Divide Us - Essay Example

?Is the Salad Too Coarse or too Fine? Canadians like to say that the US is a melting pot, while Canada is a salad. The government takes great care tohelp immigrants retain their ethnic and cultural identities. In this way, for more than a century, we celebrate the uniqueness of each, recognizing their diversity, while applying the law equally to all. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is shared by all, regardless of race, colour, or creed. It guides government policy designed to protect individual rights and encourage the maintenance of ethnic diversity. However, at times these policies bring us together and at others they drive us apart. In order to promote multiculturalism, policies are in place to protect ethnic identities of immigrants and Canadian ethnic minorities. There are programs for education, employment and support for navigating government services. However, these policies do not always result in equal treatment. Multiculturalism is a laudable goal and it looks good from the outside. However, it is not always good from the inside. The idea of multiculturalism, especially in Canada, makes people feel like they are part of a greater good, a bigger picture promoting anti- racism, and that they fighting for group and individual equality. However, policies created to help protect identity or to aid aboriginals protect their culture or immigrants to integrate into Canadian society sometimes offer advantages to immigrants that native born Canadians do not enjoy. One very visible difference in policy is in the area of education. Canada has actively recruited immigrants to boost the economy for more than a century. Because of the Offical Languages Act in 1969 to mollify Quebec separatists, numerous ESL and EFL programs exist for adult immigrants across the country to help new arrivals integrate (Derwing and Thompson 2005). However, over the years these programs have been modified to emphasize the employability skills of participants and to communicate Canadian values. Other programs, such as neighbourhood national festivals are promoted and subsidized by the government to allow immigrants to communicate their culture to other Canadians in an effort to promote understanding, acceptance and equal opportunity. The LINC program improved upon its predecessor by adding women, who were considered unemployable, to the list of beneficiaries, but it still emphasized “Canadian” values, rights, and responsibilities (Bettencourt 2003, 25), including laws, shopping and banking, plus information for services (Bettencourt 2003). It was changed again in 2000. Based upon standards of measurement of language skills, it aims to bring all immigrants’ language skills to a useful level (CIC 1996). Various changes were made to this program by the CIC (CIC 2001; CIC 2006; CIC 2007; CIC 2009) While all this work to help new immigrants benefits society as a whole, the amount of money spent on these programs is not equalled in educations programs for native born Canadians. For example, a native born Canadian who moves to Quebec is not eligible for free French lessons, nor is a Quebec resident who moves to an English province. This is seen as favouring immigrants at the cost of native born Canadians. Education of immigrant children required a change in Canadian school systems. However, public education is the purview of the provincial governments, not the federal government (JEAN-PIERRE, 2011). So many provinces have developed multicultural programs to help resolve the problems of immigration of non-English or French speaking immigrant children. Since schools are funded mostly by property taxes, this is seen as spending the taxes of the Canadian middle class, generally native born, citizens on programs that do not visibly benefit their children. While a case can be made for the value of foreign language instruction to child educational and intellectual development, Canadian schools already offer bilingual education: French and English. Adding other languages might be better accepted if those added languages were major European languages. However, schools are adding the languages of immigrant students instead in an attempt to get the extra value of integrating those students and educating others about their culture in particular. This is understandable, since language is a huge part of our culture, and helping immigrants educate their children is a useful goal. However, with finite funding, this is not always popular. The "Spicer Commission Report," said that diversity was a Canadian value, but argued that federal funds should not be used to support the languages and cultures of minority cultural groups (Spicer 1991). In addition to this, there is evidence that while the education level of immigrant children has risen in comparison to native Canadians, their earning potential has fallen (Bonikowska & Hou, 2010). Immigrant health is another important consideration, yet its promotion is impeded by cultural, language, health knowledge and traditions and socio-economic status. Technology must be leveraged and partners cultivated among businesses and professionals to create programs for community participation, and promote understanding of both the language and the health culture of Canada. New immigrants often have their own health traditions and sometimes do not understand Canadian health systems at all. Canada’s health system is slanted in the direction of prevention, rather than cure of disease. This is not universal and some problems, such as obesity, are not properly addressed for prevention. However, have their own health culture and it may conflict with that of Canada. One example is illustrated by a story from a friend’s parent (personal interview via telephone). She had visited China to teach for a few years, and when one former employer asked for assistance to help their family immigrate to Quebec, she made a small apartment in her home available to them. While they were there, their two-year old daughter contracted a respiratory illness. Ms. Anderson took them to her local CLSC, Quebec local clinic, and the doctor there prescribed a popular penicillin medication suspension designed to be easy to give to children. They were cautioned that the medicine had to be finished once started. After two days the child got better and the father stopped giving her the medicine. Since it was kept in the refrigerator, Ms. Anderson soon realized the child was not getting the medicine. It took a very long difficult conversation with these parents to convince them they had to finish the medicine. Chinese traditional medicine is stopped as soon as the patient gets better. With the huge range of countries from which Canada get immigrants, the diversity of health traditions is immense. With language getting in the way, it is very difficult to educate these immigrants about Canadian medical systems and about the medicine used. Some recent news articles points out the dangers in not educating people, since there have been deaths attributed to using folk medicine to treat sick children (Kirschner & Stein, 1985; Zou & Parry, 2012). Canadian medicine is not necessarily better, but it is proven by research to a degree where it is defensible by law. Of course, when considering equality between native Canadians and immigrants, there are at least as many problems for immigrants as benefits. Language difficulties become barriers to services, education and the culture as a whole. Language, ethnicity and colour are barriers to employment and advancement. Immigrants who are professionals in their country of origin need more education to practice that profession in Canada, sometimes a great deal more. Doctors are a case in point. However, immigrants need employment soon after they arrive, so there are doctors cleaning floors and nurses, where our system has shortages, doing child care. While it is understandable that professionals need to meet Canadian standards, the system in place guarantees that they must get more education, not that they meet Canadian standards, and requirements differ from province to province (Andrew, 2010; Deber, 2010; MacLellan, Brailovsky, Rainsberry, Bowmer, & Desrochers, 2010). A system of exams and assessments would be more useful and it would add to the productivity that new immigrants represent (Ryan, Sinning, & National Centre for Vocational,Education Research, 2012). Requiring additional education simply supports Canadian educational institutions and keeps foreign competition out of the market for jobs. Perhaps requiring new immigrants to practice a year in a needy area plus pass certain exams would be a better method for certifying their skills. This paper has only touched on the inequality between new immigrants and native born Canadians, and only three areas have been examined. There are so many more problems published in the papers concerning rules for immigrants being different than for native born Canadians. In addition, every taxpayer is paying for programs for new immigrants. They need to see some tangible benefits. For example, in many locales around the country (Edmonton, AB, for example) one cannot get a family physician, as they are not taking new patients. So we have barriers to foreign educated physicians entering their fields while there is a demonstrated need for their services. This seems to punish both sides: the new immigrants and the Canadian public. A balance must be struck when accommodating new immigrants. A certain amount of integration and assimilation is necessary. One must learn one of the two official languages, learn social norms and laws, and find some way to identify with the somewhat intangible Canadian culture. Canadian culture is very hard to define. Perhaps more participation by immigrants will help. References Andrew, R. F. (2010). How do IMGs compare with canadian medical school graduates in a family practice residency program? Canadian Family Physician Medecin De Famille Canadien, 56(9), e318-22. Bettencourt, E. 2003. LINC Then and Now: 10-Year Anniversary. TESL Ontario 29.2: 25-28. Bonikowska, A., & Hou, F. (2010). Reversal of fortunes or continued success? cohort differences in education and earnings of childhood immigrants. International Migration Review, 44(2), 320-353. doi:10.1111/j.1747-7379.2010.00808.x CIC. 1996. Canadian Language Benchmarks: English as a Second Language for Adults/English as a Second Language for Literacy Learners. Working Document. Ottawa, ON: Minister of Supply and Services Canada. CIC. 2001. Immigrant Integration in Canada: Policy Objectives, Program Delivery and Challenges. Ottawa: CIC. http://wiki.settlementatwork.org/wiki/Immigrant%5fIntegration%5fin%5fCanada:%5fPolicy%5fObjectives,%5fProgram%5fDelivery%5fand%5fChallenges. CIC. 2006. Major Crown Projects and Horizontal Initiatives. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/horizontal-2006.asp#linc. CIC. 2007. Skilled Workers and Professionals: Who Can Apply -- Six Selection Factors and Pass Mark. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-factors.asp. CIC. 2009. Citizenship and Immigration Canada Enhanced Language Training Initiative. http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/skilled/apply-factors.asp. Deber, R. (2010). Internationally educated workers jeopardy: Answers and questions. HealthcarePapers, 10(2), 22-7; discussion 51-5. Derwing, T., and R. Thomson. 2005. Citizenship Concepts in LINC Classrooms. TESL Canada Journal 23:1: 44-62. Jean-Pierre, J. (2011). Multicultural education before and after the federal multiculturalism policy: A case study of the board of education of the city of Toronto Canadian Ethnic Studies. Kirschner, R. H., & Stein, R. J. (1985). The mistaken diagnosis of child abuse. A form of medical abuse? American Journal of Diseases of Children (1960), 139(9), 873-875. MacLellan, A. M., Brailovsky, C., Rainsberry, P., Bowmer, I., & Desrochers, M. (2010). Examination outcomes for international medical graduates pursuing or completing family medicine residency training in quebec. Canadian Family Physician Medecin De Famille Canadien, 56(9), 912-918. Ryan, C., Sinning, M., & National Centre for Vocational,Education Research. (2012). The training requirements of foreign-born workers in different countries. ().National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). Zou, P., & Parry, M. (2012). Strategies for health education in north american immigrant populations. International Nursing Review, 59(4), 482-488. doi:10.1111/j.1466-7657.2012.01021.x   Read More