Canada is often characterized as a multicultural society. What does it mean? The very concept of Canada as a “multicultural nation” can be explained in several ways: descriptively (meaning a sociological fact), prescriptively (meaning some kind of ideology), like a set of intergroup dynamics (meaning a process), or from a political point of view (as a policy).
Multiculturalism in Canada as a sociological fact relates to the existence and insistency of varied racial and ethnic minorities. Such diverse minorities determine themselves as divergent and wish to remain unchanged. From the ideological point of view, multiculturalism includes respectively connected set of ideas concerning the celebration of Canadian cultural diversity. Multiculturalism is also the process, which helps racial and ethnic minorities emulate to receive assistance from the central instance of authority for the accomplishment of their specific aims and ambitions. Finally, multiculturalism as a policy is structured around the control of diversity due to initiatives in the municipal, provincial, and of course federal domains. So the population of Canada nowadays images a broad variety of cultural inheritance and racial groups. And such multicultural diversity is the effect of centuries of immigration.
All Canadian population along with the Native People can observe their origination from the immigrant past. Of course, it does not imply the fact that most Canadian citizens are immigrants. The sociologists accounted that only about 16% of nowadays Canadian population were born out of the Canadian boundaries. But it doesn’t mean that everyone who wishes to immigrate to the country may do so. Immigration to Canada is considered to be a privilege but not a certain right. Canadian Government is still selective towards who may come to the state and who may not (Statistics Canada, 2002).
In recent years the attitudes to immigration and the evolvement of immigration policies have developed, showing political, economic, and social points at issues in the country. Not long ago Canadian Government has made some changes for increasing the number of immigrants, which are permitted to come to Canada. Also, the changes will make it difficult for people living in Canada, both Canadian-born and immigrants, to take their families to Canada from abroad.
According to some analysts demographically Canadian society can be shared into three main “forces”. The first force combines all Aboriginal peoples including Metis, Inuit, status Indians, and non-status Indians. Aboriginal peoples are characterized as all natives by the Constitution Act, 1982. The number of Aboriginal peoples in the total Canadian population is growing. For example, in 2001 over 1.3 million inhabitants of Canadian cities were informed about their Aboriginal ancestry. It was nearly 4.4% of the population. Comparing in 1996 citizens with Aboriginal ancestry
presented only 3.8% of the total population of Canada (Belanger, 2005). The colonizing groups that specified themselves as founding representatives of Canadian society are the second force. The French-speaking and the English-speaking communities are known as the Charter groups and comprise the second force. The third force consists of the racial and ethnic minorities that are not included in the Charter groups. Such minorities are foreign-born and native Canadians, which have non-British and non-French ancestry. All representatives of Canada’s three main forces came to the country in plums and throngs over years and years. It began with the coming of the Aboriginal peoples’ predecessors from Asia.
For thousands of years, they were followed by colonizers from Great Britain, Ireland, and France who proclaimed themselves as the official progenitors of Canada. At the turn of the twentieth century, immigrants from other European countries were welcomed to arrive in Canada. The inrush peaked during 1912 – 1913. In percentage Correspondance annual coming was over 5% of the total Canadian population. Recently the percentage of immigrants arriving in Canada has increased to peak highs. In the period of 1991 – 2000, nearly 2.2 million immigrants came to Canada. Also, the measures of immigration have moved to non-traditional territories such as the Caribbean, Asia, South and Central America. The most common ethnic origins were Canadian, French, and British. Italian, German, Ukrainian, North American Indian, and Chinese antecedents appeared in second place. Equally important has been the unexplained rush of landed fugitives mainly from the countries of the Third World. They have asked about the entry into the country (Francis, 2003).
According to the existing situation the Canadian government had to solve the problem of pluralism of origin. So in 1917, the main authorities proclaimed their policy of multiculturalism. The policy consisted in admitting the very fact of pluralism in Canada and in reversing the earlier efforts of migrant assimilation. Such policy-induced Canadians to acknowledge cultural pluralism while stimulating them to take part in all spheres of Canadian society. The government insisted on adopting a new form of citizen participation in the large society. Everyone who accepted the pluralism of ethnic groups considered being an essential part of the Canadian family. However, in November 2002, the Canadian government proclaimed that every year on 27 June Canadian Multiculturalism Day would be held. The United States of America was always associated with the social model of the melting pot. The Canadian Government proposed a blueprint for a Canadian identity. The more liked the idea of a cultural mosaic model. Such a new model presupposed that every unique piece would be fixed together forming a unique whole. Also, the Government stated that ethnicity didn’t tear down Canadian identity. Ethnicity itself was Canadian identity.
Of course, not all Canadians agreed to support multiculturalism. English-speaking part of Canada thought that multiculturalism would separate the Canadian population instead of uniting them into the whole society. Some were afraid that this demographic reality would destroy the high British heritage of English-speaking Canada. The population of Quebec province was sure that multiculturalism was created to shatter nationalism in Quebec. Some citizens of Ottawa hoped to use multiculturalism to disturb Quebec’s plans by assimilating it with other Canadian ethnic groups.
The people who supported the new policy accepted it as official recognition of the pluralism that was the basis of Canadian life. In 1917 when the policy was proclaimed the European heritage was still in the first place. But the Canadian ethnic mosaic began to declare about their notable contribution to Canada. In years the immigration to the country from the developing world rose. That’s why the policy of multiculturalism had to face with interests of visible minorities. Such newly emerging communities did not worry about the acknowledgment of their heritage in Canada. The minorities applied to the multiculturalism policy not for comfort the enrichment but for help in the riddance of discrimination and racial prejudice. They just wanted to have equal opportunities to get a job, housing, and education (Wilson, 1992).
The future state of multiculturalism is uncertain. Canadian history has shown that changes in economic development and the need for large manpower result in the openness of Canadian society to new immigrants. Probably the multicultural policy will face greater success. The future of Canada hangs on the commitments of all populations to maintaining Canadian identity.
References
Belanger, Alain, Eric Caron Malenfant. (2005). Ethnocultural Diversity in Canada: Prospects for 2017. Canadian Social Trends, Winter, pp. 18 – 21.
Francis, R. Douglas, Richard Jones, and Donald B. Smith. (2003). Destinies. 5th ed. Toronto: Thompson Nelson.
Statistics Canada. (2002). Canada’s Ethnocultural Portrait: The Changing Mosaic. 2001 Census: Analysis Series. Industry Canada.
Thorner, Thomas, Thor Frohn-Nielsen. (2003). A Country Nourished on Self-Doubt. Documents in Post-Confederation Canadian History. 2nd ed. Peterborough: Broadview Press.
Wilson, Seymour V. (1992). The Evolving Policy of Multiculturalism in Canada. State of the Art Review of Research on Canada’s Multicultural Society. Multiculturalism and Citizenship Canada.