Dutch Immigrant Identity in Canada - Essay Example

Dutch Immigrant Identity in Canada Dutch immigrants, just like immigrants from other countries have helped shape the national of identity of Canada in many ways. People from Dutch descent make up the "10th largest ethnocultural group" in Canada (Dutch: Explore the Communities). Although the Dutch were among the first Europeans to migrate to North America, a majority of them migrated to the USA. While the Dutch immigrants who came to Canada before the Second World War have since assimilated into the Canadian culture, those immigrating after 1945 have had a tough time maintaining their cultural identity in a foreign land. Religion and language have played a major role in forming the Dutch identity of post-war immigrants in Canada. Dutch immigration to Canada took place in three waves with the first major Dutch migration to Canada starting in the late nineteenth century. Between 1892 and 1914, about 200,000 people migrated to Canada to work as farmers in the new country which promised free land and prosperity. These first Dutch immigrants faced a difficult time settling in Canada since they were not used to the harsher conditions in Canada. But they worked hard and saved enough to start their own farms. These first Dutch immigrants had varied experiences with some finding the Canadian experience tough but rewarding while others finding them too harsh for comfort. This first wave of Dutch immigration ended with the start of the First World War. In the 1920s and 30s, the second wave of Dutch immigrants started coming to Canada encouraged by the Canadian government who deemed the Dutch people "especially desirable" because they were Caucasian like the dominant cultural group in Canada. About 15,000 Dutch people migrated to Canada during this time, mostly as farm workers or domestic help. The third wave of Dutch immigrants came to Canada immediately after the end of the Second World War. Many of these were women who had married Canadian soldiers. Others were looking for newer and better place to move to since the conditions in Netherlands after the War were very bad. Almost 185,000 Dutch people came to Canada in this third wave (Dutch: Explore the Communities). The Dutch who migrated to Canada after the Second World War struggled to adapt to the new country just as their predecessor. Yet owning to their Anglo-Saxon identity and having a greater familiarity with English, this adaptation into the culture was relatively easy for the Dutch immigrants than for people of other ethnicity (Chimbos 243). When we compare Dutch assimilation into the Canadian mainstream culture with that of other ethnicities, we realize that the Dutch had the same individualistic culture as the Anglo-Saxon. This meant that when Dutch had a problem, they often did not discuss it with anyone. This was in contrast to other ethnicities that actively talked and discussed problems with friends and family, thereby making these bonds stronger. When individuals in a group turn to the other people within the group when in times of trouble, they are less likely to interact with people from outside the group even when there are no problems. But the Dutch culture of individualism meant that instead of discussing their problem with other Dutch, they actively searched externally to help find solutions to their problems. This turned them away from people of their own ethnicity and made it much more easier for them to assimilate into the Canadian mainstream culture. Yet all of the Dutch immigrants were not same and hence they had different experiences in their integration process. Religion seemed to play a major role in how well the Dutch immigrants adapted to the Canadian culture. The Dutch coming to Canada since 1945 were either Catholics or Calvinists. Of these, the Catholics are much better integrated into the Canadian society unlike the Calvinists, who established their own institutions, the Catholics joined existing institutions, were open to intermarriage and interacted with the overall Canadian society much more readily (Van Dijk "Ethnic Persistence"). It is generally believed that the first generation immigrants face problem with assimilation but the second and third generations are much better assimilated with the culture of the host country. But a study of the differences between assimilation of the Catholic and Calvinists Dutch shows that religion plays much larger part in assimilation than generation. Any immigrants to a new country take steps to adapt to the culture of the adopted country. However, few immigrants completely give up their ethnic identity during this assimilation process. Immigrants, even in second and third generation may cling on to certain aspects of their ethnic identity such as language, food, religion and customs. A study of Dutch immigrants to Canada shows that the religion has proved to be the deciding factor in how well people have assimilated to the Canadian culture. While Catholics had almost completely given up Dutch customs, language and food Calvinist were much more likely to observe Dutch customs, speak in Dutch or consume ethnic Dutch food. Religion also played an important part in their decision when deciding on which institution to join. Obviously, being affiliated to the Calvinist church, that retained the Dutch identity, made it easier for many Dutch immigrants to remain in touch with their cultural identity. Being member of Calvinist church also meant that these people had much more contact with other Dutch immigrants, making it easier for them to remain in touch with their ethnic identity. However, Catholics, who joined local churches did not have any such institutional connection with Netherlands and so found it much easier to give up their ethnic identity and assimilate completely in the Canadian culture. The Calvinist religious infrastructure was highly organized and as a result, new Dutch Calvinist immigrants were easily able to join a Calvinist church. After church, the next important institution was school and many new Calvinist schools were opened in Canada where Calvinist immigrants preferred to send their children. The Calvinist schools also helped in maintaining the cultural and ethnic identity of the Calvinist immigrants. Calvinist newspapers were yet another factor that encouraged cohesion among Calvinist (Van Dijk "Role of Religion" 66). While the Calvinist church was carving out its unique identity, Catholic Church leaders "encouraged the assimilation of Dutch immigrants into the Canadian social and religious culture" (Van Dijk "Role of Religion" 68). Since Catholic ideologies are the same, Catholic immigrants did not feel the need to organize Dutch Catholic churches and joined the existing Catholic churches in Canada, thus making their assimilation easier. These obvious differences between the ethnic identity and assimilation of Catholic and Calvinist Dutch immigrants means that it is not possible to place the two groups under the same category of immigrants. Besides religion, the Dutch identities differed in several other ways. For example, while vast majority of Dutch immigrants were farmers, there were many professionals and business owners as well. In general, Dutch immigrants to Canada ended up recreating the class and ideological divisions and the social and political structure of their country of origin (Schryer). In order to understand the inter-ethnic differences of the Dutch immigrants and the reason for these differences we need to understand the society from which these people were emigrating. Most of the people who came to Canada after the War did so between 1945 and 1950. Although a few people continued to immigrate until as late as 1990s, the major influx had already ended by 1950s. These people were affected by the social stratification of the country of their origin at time of the emigration. The pre-War Netherlands was made up of three religious pillars, the Catholics, the Protestants including the Calvinist and the neutralists. Each of these pillars had their own church, schools, political parties, clubs and unions. Since each one of these pillars were complete on their own, there was little need for contact between members of different groups. Hence, the immigration of these groups to Canada was independent of each other and their assimilation into Canadian culture completely different from that of each other (Van Dijk and Botros 203). Remarkably, even when the process of de-pillarization started in Netherlands in the 1960s, it did not affect the Dutch who had already immigrated to Canada in the 1940s and 50s since being away from the country of origin and having little contact with Netherlands, they were isolated from the changes taking place in Netherlands. As a result of all these factors, the Dutch immigrants in Canada continued to show distinctly different identities even though the identities of the people of Netherlands has since become a lot more homogenous. While religion decided how fast and how much the Dutch immigrants assimilated into the Canadian mainstream culture, there were several other factors also at play. Language can prove to be a daunting obstacle in quick assimilation. But The Dutch immigrants, irrespective of their religious affiliations, were quick in learning English, thus making their assimilation much faster. As a matter of fact, even many first generation immigrants no longer speak the same Dutch spoken in the Netherlands as certain changes have crept into their spoken language. This fast attrition rate of language is directly due to competition from another language, in this case English. With little or no contact with the Netherlands, the immigrants had little need to converse in their first language. However, with daily need to communicate with the English speaking Canadians, the immigrants quickly forgot their first language as they adopted English. Thus the quick adoption of English also served to make the Dutch the invisible minority. This was the minority that looked like the Anglo-Saxon majority of Canada and also spoke its language (Keijzer 106). Thus we see that a generalization of an ethnic group on the basis of the country of origin is not only incorrect but also almost impossible. While Catholic Dutch have almost completely assimilated into the Canadian so much so that they are often referred to as the invisible or the silent minority, the same cannot be said about the Calvinist Dutch. The Dutch Calvinist have retained their Dutch identity even in second and third generation immigrants. This could be because the Calvinist preferred to send their children to Calvinist schools, read Calvinist newspapers and congregate at Calvinist Churches. As a result, it was much easier for children to identify with their Dutch roots and the Calvinist kids of even the Second and Third generation have a much stronger ethnic identity than the Catholics who can be said to have completely assimilated into the Canadian culture. Despite being so different, the Dutch immigrants are also similar in that they have assimilated a lot more into Canadian culture than many of the other ethnicities mainly due to their culture of individualism. So even though all the Dutch immigrants assimilated into the Canadian culture in different ways and at different rates, the Dutch identification with their adopted country was much stronger than that of other ethnicities. As the fourth largest ethnic minority of the country, Dutch have become an inseparable part of Canadas multicultural society. Whether they retained their Dutch Calvinist culture or assimilated completely with the Catholic Church, the Dutch integration into Canadian society was much more homogenous than that of any other ethnic group. The ethnic identity of the Dutch has helped shape their Canadian identity and they have in turn helped shape the multicultural identity of Canada. This Dutch Canadian identity is very different from that of the Dutch in Netherlands since the de-pillarization process of 1960s has resulted in a much more homogenous Netherlands. Thus, heterogeneity of the Canadian Dutch and their identification with the more orthodox Calvinist Church makes the Dutch Canadian identity uniquely Canadian. Works Cited Chimbos, Peter D. "A Comparison of the Social Adaptation of Dutch, Greek and Slovak Immigrants in a Canadian Community." International Migration Review 6, no. 3 (Fall1972 1972): 230-244. JSTOR (accessed November 22, 2011). "Dutch: Explore the Communities" Library and Archives Canada. 13 Jan. 2005. Web. 22 Nov. 2011 Keijzer, Merel. "Language Attrition In Dutch Emigrants In Anglophone Canada: Internally Or Externally-Induced Change?." Linguistics In The Netherlands 25.1 (2008): 97-108. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. Schryer, Frans J. "Postwar Dutch Immigrants In Ontario: A Re-Examination Of Immigration And Ethnicity." Canadian Ethnic Studies 30.1 (1998): 1-18. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. Van Dijk, Joanne. "Ethnic Persistence Among Dutch-Canadian Catholics And Calvinists." Canadian Ethnic Studies 30.2 (1998): 23-49. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. Van Dijk, Joanne. "The Role Of Religion In The Postwar Settlement Patterns Of Dutch Canadians." Canadian Review Of Sociology & Anthropology 38.1 (2001): 57-74. Academic Search Complete. Web. 22 Nov. 2011. Van Dijk, Joanne, and Ghada Botros. "The Importance of Ethnicity and Religion in the Life Cycle of Immigrant Churches: A Comparison of Coptic and Calvinist Churches." Canadian Ethnic Studies 41, no. 1/2 (January 2009): 191-214. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed November 22, 2011). Read More