Immigrant Culture - Assignment Example

Assignment, History Within Canadian context, political and cultural history is interconnected with multiculturalism. To be specific, immigrant culture played an important role in the cultural development of this nation. Jerry Diakiw stated that, “For centuries while each new immigrant group held on to their own birthplace identity and values, as they slowly assimilated, their children, playing and learning together in the mixed cultural and educational settings, assimilated at a much faster rate than their parents, often creating tension in the family over conflicting values.

”1 Similar to the other nations which accept multiculturalism, Canada provides ample importance to the amalgamation of different cultural characteristics. Still, immigrant population in Canada is allowed to preserve their traditional customs related to their unique cultural characteristics. This sort of cultural diversity is evident in the linguistic and religious diversity in the society. Apart from other nations in favor of multiculturalism, the immigration policy of this nation is so flexible that it is easier for immigrants to gain access to this nation.

Nelson Wiseman stated that, “Many Canadian smugly assert that, though America pressures its immigrant minorities to abandon their customs, Canada celebrates group differences.”2 On the other side, the government provides ample importance to the idea of ‘Canadian identity’, disregarding cultural differences among the mass. Besides, the authorities know that discrimination based upon one’s cultural identity as the member of a specific immigrant group can result in further problems in the mainstream society.

Alan Simmons stated that, “The imagined future of the nation underlying state policies was that of an industrially expanding, immigrant-welcoming, multicultural nation.”3 Within this scenario, the Canadian government provides importance to the process of acculturation and this is evident in the steps taken to create cohesive feeling between the dominant race and the immigrant population in the society. BibliographyDiakiw, Jerry. Canadian Culture and National Identity. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag, 2011.

Simmons, Alan. Immigration and Canada: Global and Transnational Perspectives. Ontario: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2010.Wiseman, Nelson. In Search of Canadian Political Culture. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.