Canada: Equality and Diversity - Research Paper Example

 Canada: Equality and Diversity Evaluate the cultures and behaviours with respect to ethnic background and conflicts in Canada The modern day Canadian society can be defined as a multicultural society. As a result of immigration that has spanned over centuries, the current social structure in Canada consists of people from varied cultural backgrounds, heritages and race. A multicultural society is considered healthy for the dynamism it offers. However, on the other side, a society that consists of numerous ethnic backgrounds is prone to conflict. This article explores the culture and the behaviour of the society in Canada with respect to the ethnic background and conflicts. Ethnic Inequality and Social Stratification in Canada To understand the cultural and behavioural aspects of a nation like Canada, it is important to have a peek at the history. Canada is primarily settler nation and there have been numerous waves of migration. In 1871, after the Confederation was formed, 92% of the population consisted of two main groups – British and French. The rest of the population consisted of Germans, Dutch, Natives and the African-Americans (Lian, 1996). As time progressed, during the 1950s, the populations of Scandinavians, Dutch, Asians, Poles and Jews increased, where as the population of British and French decline. During the 1990s, the collective population of British and French had reduced from 92% to 55%. Apart from the other groups that existed during the 1950’s, there were other groups like the Arabs, Indians, Filipinos, Greeks and Chinese migrated to Canada. As there were so many ethnically and culturally different groups in Canada, the society in Canada was described as a “Vertical Mosaic” where the society was stratified along the ethnic lines (Porter, 1965). According to Porter, the first ethnic group that enters the unpopulated territory becomes the charter group of the society, as British and French were in Canada. The groups that immigrate later tend to accept an “inferior preferred” in the process of economic growth. Due to this stratification, immigration and ethnic affiliation have been crucial in the formation of different social class in the Canadian society. Many researchers did not agree with Porter. For example, Richmond stated that the new entrants from a non-English speaking world did have some disadvantage initially but it was neutralized over a period of time (Richmond, 1971). Overall, the huge wave of migration has resulted in a combination of customs, cuisine, and traditions that define the modern day Canadian society. With regard to a multicultural Canadian society, the main issue arose between the two ‘charter groups’ – the British and the French. The reason of conflict was language. Each of these groups had their own unique language and wanted that particular language to be the dominant language in Canada. One key reason of the ethnic conflicts that Canada witnessed was that the French Canadians in Québec vocalized their aspiration to be recognized as one of the key founder groups of Canada. Quebec was the centre of the divide because of the unique mix of population it had. The English-speaking group in Quebec handled all the economic and financial transaction in the area and spoke only in English. The French-speaking residents of Quebec were not involved in any financial or economic matters. They primarily spoke French, but over a period of time, it was noticed that the needed to have a working knowledge of English to survive in the society. The French speaking community saw this as a threat and this resulted in an ethnic conflict. Language goes a long way in symbolizing the cultural presence, the French-speaking population in Quebec feared that if there is a loss of language, their culture, and hence their identity would also be lost. This ethnic conflict flared up and even became violent. An organization called Front de Libération du Québec was formed during the 1960s and the French speaking residents of Quebec demanded a separation of Quebec as they did not want to be associated with Canada. This organization was described as a left-wing paramilitary group in Quebec, Canada and their propaganda was to over throw the Government in Quebec and establish the new state of Quebec that was French-speaking (Canadiansoldiers.com, 2010). In 1966, Parti Québécois, P.Q. was formed. The P.Q is a left centred political party and it works for the sovereignty of Quebec. Therefore, the establishment of Parti Quebecois went ahead and legitimized the secession of Quebec from Canada. As it was a legitimate political movement, there was no need for the supporters of a separate state to work as an underground organization any more. This reduced the violent uprisings and the demand for the separate state took a peaceful turn. Apart from the main ‘charter groups, it has also been seen that there is a conflict between the aboriginal population in Canada and the rest of the country. This is a cultural as well as an economic conflict. The Aboriginal population has always faced the challenge of being placed in a subordinate ladder in the society. Due to the numerous waves of migration, the aboriginal population was subject to a lot of displacement as they were very often thrown out of their own land by the charter groups that came into the society. This displacement caused a lot of unrest and hindered the social and educational development of this group. To look further, the bison or buffalo, which was the source of income for the aborigines, became extinct due to the influx of population as well as due to hunting. In addition, the aborigines were the victims of diseases like small pox and tuberculosis that the settlers brought along with them. To the aborigines, these diseases were unheard off and hence they did not have a natural immunity to fight these diseases. Overall, these factors led them to be pushed in the bottom of the ladder in the society that resulted in a disadvantage for them in terms of education, healthcare, employment and other social aspects. The aborigines were also subject to violence at the hands of Anglo Canadians and this history of violence resulted in the backwardness in terms of education, unemployment, poverty that the Aboriginal community faces today. Even today, the aborigines face challenges like over-surveillance and abuse. The aborigines belong to a society where the law system was based on compromise and community based solutions and hence, the unfamiliarity with the legal and judicial system in Canada has made it very hard for them to understand the current system (The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission, 2010). For example, in the field of education, it is noted that the parents who belong to an aboriginal group find it hard to fit in the public school culture and hence do not encourage this kind of education (Murphy and Pushor, 2004). Therefore, over the years, the aborigine population in Canada is facing marginalization as well as exclusion as they are considered backward in terms of education and employment and Aboriginal fight for autonomy is yet another complication of Canadian multiculturalism. Another conflict that today’s Canadian society faces is Racism. Canada is one of the developed countries of the globe and the citizens maintain a very high standard of living. However, certain sections of the society have not been able to make use of this privilege due to racial discrimination. The racial profiling in Canada is manifested by targeting the African Canadians due to color and race. However, over a period, this has expanded to other groups like Muslims, Arab Canadians and South Asians. After 9/11, the Muslim and the Arab community also began to be targeted based on race (Bahidi, 2003). This is an ongoing challenge that the society faces even today. The Asian community faced a lot of discrimination. The perception of Asians as particularly foreign exists even today. In the criminal justice system, Asian youth are stereotyped as gang members, drug dealers and operators of prostitution rings. As characteristic of any migration process, migrants usually encounter many issues of integration, and face numerous institutional and policy hurdles that are set in place to regulate population movement and access to different services. The common challenges that are encountered include finding employment with a decent salary, assimilation into local societies and groups, coping up with a new social environment and so on. According to Li and Li, the recent immigrants to Canada are facing the challenge of employment with good wages when compared to the previous immigrants. The main reasons that have resulted in this scenario include devaluation of immigrants’ foreign credentials in Canada, and the shifting country of origin of immigrants from European sources to non-European ones, mainly Asia and Africa (Li and Li, 2010). Therefore, the recent waves of immigrants are also facing challenges of assimilation in the society. The Majority-Minority Debate in Canada As the Canadian society has been a historically stratified society, it was very natural that a majority and minority debate occurred in the country. As the first occupants, the French Canadians and the British Canadians constituted the majority of population and took their place in the top of the societal ladder. The concept of ‘Visible Minority’ exists in Canada. The Employment Equity act of 1995, Visible Minority has been defined as “members of visible minorities” means persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour (Employment equity Act, 1995). As this definition was given based on colour, there were many controversies associated with this act. Many critics felt that defining and demarcating the society in this way creates exclusion and further divide. It is also said that this term has a racial connotation associated with it. The groups that fall in the category of Visible Minority take longer to integrate into the mainstream Canadian society and often have fears about being harassed or isolated. They key tool of dominance here has been that of exclusion. Let us illustrate this with an example, the Chinese men in the Canadian society had to pay a head tax and they were confined to some particular areas of the society (Brooke, 1999). Apart from the migrant groups described above, the native community or the aborigines also consists of minority in Canada. It has been mentioned earlier in the article that they have been placed among the lower section of the society and have battled conflicts like lack of education and lack of employment for a long time. Therefore, this particular group is also facing the issues that a minority group faces in the society. In this case, the key tool of dominance has been stereotyping. The society has developed an inherent prejudice by classifying this community as backward in terms of education and knowledge of English. A Step forward - Towards a society of assimilation and pluralism. The main reason for ethnic conflict in Canada was due to language as the British Canadians and French Canadians wanted to retain their respective languages as the national language. As the multicultural Canadian society was facing the risk of being fractionalized, the Government introduced the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (RCBB) in 1963. This status of Bilingualism provided a much-needed sense of relief to the conflicts in Canada as both the languages – English and French retained an equal importance. The Government machinery was to function in both these languages. The visible minority in Canada was extremely anxious about their status in the society, therefore the commission declared Canada as a Bilingual state with a Multicultural framework. There was every effort made to include the visible minority by assimilating the concept of Multiculturalism and make it a state ideology. There could have been several reasons for taking the strong step towards a multicultural framework. Post the 9/11 attacks, Canada’s anti-terrorist act began to pay more attention to the Canadian Muslims and this group was subjected to suspicion and insecurity. This not only unreasonably limits liberty and security of the person interests, but it also undermines the rule of law (Mia, 2002). This resulted in the Muslim community living under constant threat and leading a closeted and isolated life due to the general hate phenomenon that ensued. As the situation was getting out of hand, an amendment was made to the Anti Terrorism Act. These amendments stated that the court the courts could order the removal of any website the propagate hatred against any particular community. The court could also create criminal offence against the individuals or groups that attack community centers or places of worship. The Human Rights Act in Canada was also amended to make sure that no hatred was spread via the means of communication like telephones or internet. This was a small step towards cultural harmony and there is still a long way to go to prevent propaganda of hatred against any particular community. However, this small step was crucial in restoring faith and preventing isolation. Comparison with the American society Canada is known for its ethnic heterogeneity and its neighbour, the United States has a similar multicultural framework. In Canada, there is a policy around multiculturalism where as in the United States; there is no clear written policy by the federation. One common factor between the two nations is that both these countries have gone through phases of immigration and there are numerous ethnic groups that form the society. When we look at the differences, in Canada, we see that there are two charter groups, the British Canadians and the French Canadians and these groups consisted of the majority. In the United States, the majority-minority discourse was primarily based on colour and hence Whites constituted the majority. Therefore, there was only one charter group that occupied the highest strata in the society. The Hispanic and Black population in the US were treated in similar ways as the Asians, Arabs and Chinese in Canada. Racism based on colour was extremely prevalent in the United Sates. Racism is an issue of concern in Canada too; however, the predominant issues in Canada were based on language and the identity crisis faced by the immigrants. Another common factor that has come to notice is the fact that the ethnic conflict among the non-charter groups was minimal. There were scopes of conflict among a charter group and an ethnic group, but the intensity of conflict among two non-charter ethnic group was very low. This was because each ethnic group had its own battle and the conflicts were more or less dissociated. This phenomenon was common in both United States and Canada. When we look at economic development, Canada is placed higher as the economic developed has been phenomenal over the years. The dynamism that a multicultural society has brought about has been crucial in this remarkable progress. Canada has had its share of conflicts and continues to battle a few even today. However, the society continues to battle these conflicts to make unprecedented progress. As Canada is a settler nation, it is very difficult to describe the Canadian culture. Historically, Canada has always faced the pressure to retain its ethnic roots while assimilating the migration of various cultures. Even though these factors have created conflicts, it has also gone a long way in defining the artistic, social, political and economic expression of the nation today. References The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission Report. (2010).Retrieved from: www.ajic.mb.ca. Retrieved on 4 Nov 2010. Brooke, J. (1999). Canada: Chinese Merchants. Migration News, 6(10). Retrieved from: http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=1923_0_2_0 Retrieved on 5 Nov 2010. Canadiansoldiers.com. (2010). FLQ Crisis. Retrieved from www.canadiansoldiers.com/history/domesticmissions/flqcrisis.htm Retrieved on 4 Nov 2010. Employment equity Act. (1995). Retrieved from: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/E-5.401/index.html Retrieved on 4 Nov 2010. Li, P. and Li, Z. (2010). Economic and Social Integration of Migrants and Immigrants. Retrieved from http://artsandscience.usask.ca/esimi/Economic_and_Social_Integration_of_Migrants_and_Immigrants__A_Comparative_Approach/Conference_description.html Retrieved on 4 Nov 2010. Lian, J. Z. (1996).Ethnic Earnings Inequality in Canada. Open Dissertations and Theses. Paper 1158. Murphy, B., and Pushor, D. (2004). Parent Marginalization, Marginalized Parents: Creating a Place for Parents on the School Landscape. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 50(3), p 221-233 Porter, J. (1965). The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada. Canada: Toronto University Press. p 60 – 103. Bahdi, R. (2003). No Exit: Racial Profiling and Canada’s War Against Terrorism. Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 41, p 293 Richmond, A. H. (1971). Social Mobility of Immigrants in Canada, Canadian Society: Sociological Perspective, Macmillan. Mia, Z. (2002).Terrorizing the Rule of Law: Implications of the Anti-terrorism Act 14.1. National Journal of Constitutional Law, 14(1) p 125. van der Zon, M. (2010). Aliens Go Home: A critical Media Analysis of the Chinese Migrants. Retrieved from: www.islandnet.com/~vipirg/aliensgohome.pdf Retrieved on 4 Nov 2010. Read More