Canadas Commitment to Multiculturalism - Essay Example

A Canadian is expected to live and uphold Canadian culture in the twenty-first century. Prince Charles of Great Britain has highlighted the culture of Canada. He praised the Canadian value of of integrating spiritual and psychological human needs in a holistic approach to medical reform; the need for harmony with nature in the face of industrial agriculture; the importance of rural life to the national psyche; and Canada's commitment to multiculturalism. (Prince Charles Speech Canada's culture is intrinsically more valuable since it values multiculturalism. Being Canadian means being a global citizen. A young Canadian must appreciate other cultures and at the same time imbibe and live up to one's culture. Being Canadian means realizing that one's forefathers were the original anti-Americans. Our ancestors rejected the American revolution and they favored Great Britain. Canada faces the onslaught of Americanization. The late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau one time likened Canada to a mouse sleeping with an elephant, who fears that the tiniest move of the elephant may crush him. (Adms, 26). Being Canadian means being cognizant of the American dominance in the economy and politics. About 85 per cent of exports and imports are to and from the United States. The US is Canada's largest foreign investor in Canada. In the area of culture, Canadians are eager consumers of American television, cinema, popular music, magazines, books, fashions, and fast food. The common theme is evidently "birthright," or national sovereignty. The debate over the utilization of Canadian natural resources was spurred by fears of an insatiable American appetite for Canada's water, oil, timber. There are efforts to preserve the Canadian wheat, dairy, and poultry marketing board monopolies from competition by cheaper U.S. products. Most importantly, serious concerns over American cultural domination of Canada led to a series of exemptions for cultural industries were written into the CUFTA and then to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In particular, the CUFTA and NAFTA agreements had enshrined Canada's right to impose "Canadian content" requirements on radio and television, restrict foreign investment and ownership, and to permit government subsidies of cultural industries such as publishing, music, and cinema. Evidently, there was a fear that, in an unfettered market, Canada would be swamped by cheaper, more popular, American music, film, and the rest. There is an economic argument for the cultural protection of the Canadian film industry. Hollywood movies can easily enter the Canadian market. Hence, it is important that the local films are protected. Two arguments are relevant: either the aspects of Canadian culture that are represented in Canadian film would not flourish if Canadian film did not exist, or that Canadian film itself is worth protecting for its own sake. These arguments provide a rationale for a subsidy for the Canadian film industry. These efforts are essential for the preservation of an economically fragile national culture and with fewer impediments to individual choice, by using direct subsidies. In short, Canada would be better advised to foster its culture via subsidies than by restricting or taxing cultural imports. The purpose of this cultural subsidy is to help producers and consumers. In other words, national culture is meant to engender a common and unique experience within the "territory," The most important motivation for Canadian cultural protection policies: the widely shared sense of fragility of national identity itself. The Anglo-Canadians are metaphorically "90 percent" Americanized. This of course heightens the urgency of preserving the remaining "10 percent" of difference. A significant dimesion of Canadian cultural protection is restriction of foreign ownership in the print and broadcast media, such as newspapers and television. Canada has been met with remarkable successful in engendering its cultural industries, especially book publishing and popular music. Writers such as Margaret Atwood, Alice Monro, and Rohinton Mistry have achieved major success, and are taught in English literature courses in universities worldwide. Popular and jazz musicians, particularly female singers like Celine Dion, Shania Twain, Alannis Morissette, and Diana Krall, are at the top of the charts. Canada produces more than its share of North American comedians. Due to globalization, Canada must ensure that the increasing prosperity will strengthen rather than weaken a nation's culture and cultural identity. From a Canadian perspective, the "deepening" issue boils down to whether Canada should open up sensitive areas such as cultural, banking, agricultural and natural resource industries, thus allowing greater integration with their counterparts in the United States. In the second instance, it asks whether the two countries should coordinate, or perhaps even converge, on common immigration, visitor, and security policies. The second major step necessary to eliminate customs controls would be to move NAFTA, or at least its CUFTA component, from a free trade area without harmonized external tariffs and hence cumbersome and opaque rules of origin requirements, to a full-fledged customs union, again as in the E.U. Being Canadian means loving and protecting one's national sovereignty. Canada-U.S. immigration controls need to harmonize the standards and procedures for entering North America and for entering Canada and the U.S. Immigration and border controls are important as it also plays a strong role in preserving Canadian culture. These control are aimed at making it easier for authorities to keep illegal immigrants out, track down those in the country and hinder their travel within Canada. In essence, Canadian society and culture is more egalitarian and less elitist, driven by the socialization of culture and socialization of education in Canada, and by a more even distribution of income. The median purchasing power parity (PPP)-adjusted household income is higher in Canada than United States, while the opposite is true for mean income. This suggests a less skewed income distribution in Canada than the United States due to the progressive income tax schedule in Canada. The integration of Canada with the United States, as a free trade in goods, services, capital, and people, has not undermined Canadian culture. Canada and the United States seem to have diverged socially and culturally just as they have converged economically. Adams (2003) Canada's political structure follows the Westminster-style parliamentary democracy which is very different from the Presidential-Congressional republic model of the United States. Socially, Canada has been much more progressive on matters such as gay marriage, abortion, and capital punishment compared to the United States. This divergence is supported in part by the continued fissuring of immigrant pools to the two countries: While the United States draws primarily from Spanish-speaking southern nations, Canada's immigration is made up of English-speaking Asian immigrants. If the values of these groups are a significant force having an impact on either nation's policies, it presents evidence supporting the contention that Canada's national identity and its cultural outputs will remain distinct with or without government protection. (Dean and Deheji, 4). Canadian foreign policy has also always been distinct, stressing peacekeeping and "nation building" rather than military intervention. (Dean and Dehejia, 5). In effect, Canadian globalization has strengthened cultural identity. A living culture as opposed to a "dead" or museum culture, will undergo constant and revivifying change. Far from being a threat, globalization and economic liberalization are perhaps the greatest engines of the Canadian national cultural identity. Being Canadian brings with it the necessity of being a global citizen. The prevailing globalization has raised the levels of competition in business, industry and culture. Young Canadians must preserve a living Canadian culture given the strong influence of American culture in all aspects of daily life. They have the obligation to ensure that authentic Canadian culture is transmitted to the next generation in the midst of globalization and economic liberalization. Works Cited Adams, Michael, Amy Langstaff and David Jamieson. (2003). Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada and the Myth of Converging Values. Toronto: Penguin Canada. Prince Charles visit to Canada. Speech to the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly following investiture of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, Regina. April 26, 2001. Royal Endorsement of Canada's Spiritual Culture. Canadian Speeches. Volume: 15. Issue: 2. Dean, James and Vivek Dehejia. "Would a Borderless North America Kill Canadian Culture." American Review of Canadian Studies. Volume: 36. Issue: 2. 2006. Read More