Canadian Multiculturalism, Same as it ever Was? (an essay by Kathleen Hoyos)
Abstract: After the Second World War ended, Canada was no longer mainly composed
of its two dominant ethnocultural groups, French and English, but rather constituted by
polyethnicity; meaning, Canadian culture was made up of many different ethnic groups.
Since then, Canada has actively embraced multiculturalism and on 12 July 1988, the
House of Commons passed Bill C-93, ‘An Act for the preservation and enhancement of
multiculturalism in Canada’. The Canadian multicultural experience has been much
portrayed as a celebration of ethnicity where different cultural groups share their
customs and learn from each other. However, it is recently being rumoured that the
multiculturalism hype is not all it is cut out to be and segregates communities rather
than integrate. According to Canadian authors Keith Banting and Will Kymlicka, “in
much of the world and particularly in Europe, there is a widespread perception that
multiculturalism has failed” (44). In this paper, I examine some recent common issues
of concern, especially, racism and discrimination, through the literary expression of
Canadian playwrights and writers such as George F. Walker, Cecil Foster, and
Mordecai Richler. These writers are not meant to represent any ethnic group as a whole,
but rather try to project a general feeling about the nation in individual ways. I will
finally explore the idea of how perhaps multiculturalism in Canada is evolving into
another state since migratory patterns and the social circumstances that Canada is facing
in the 21st century have changed. Today, the idea of celebrating different ethnicities and
customs is no longer as important as celebrating the transcultural or “transnational”
aspects of relations between individuals and groups of immigrants.
Keywords: multiculturalism, transnationalism, transnational literature
The use of Multiculturalism, as a term, within the Canadian perspective, is best stated
middle of paper ... ... Given that multiculturalism is a framework that says that anyone can sit at the table so long as they accept certain political and cultural divisions which ultimately work to make impossible your ability to change the basic structure of meaning in society, or which seek to extract any political potential from the things you say, the things you embody and the things you want. You can have holidays, but not your language. You can have a month of the year for your race, but no justice.
The Indian Residential schools and the assimilating of First Nations people are more than a dark spot in Canada’s history. It was a time of racist leaders, bigoted white men who saw no point in working towards a lasting relationship with ingenious people. Recognition of these past mistakes, denunciation, and prevention steps must be taking intensively. They must be held to the same standard that we hold our current government to today. Without that standard, there is no moving forward. There is no bright future for Canada if we allow these injustices to be swept aside, leaving room for similar mistakes to be made again. We must apply our standards whatever century it was, is, or will be to rebuild trust between peoples, to never allow the abuse to be repeated, and to become the great nation we dream ourselves to be,
...this alternative medicine in reinforcing the legitimacy of their work is that there are even discrepancies between them on exactly how to achieve the desired results. “One of the many methodological problems with auricular acupuncture is that there are so many maps of the ear and little agreement exists regarding point location, lacking definite anatomic stud on the ear skin and its somatotopic correspondences” (Gori 16). In order for this alternative method of treatment to become more mainstream and accepted as legitimate, more conclusive evidence and more consistent results across multiple studies, and more consistent application of the acupuncture itself must be achieved. Until that point, auricular acupuncture will continue to help persons who have experienced its benefits, but it will not receive the attention that a more proven treatment would by the masses.
This essay will focus on racial borders within Canadian literature looking at the effects of a border on a member of a minority group. “The border is in fact also the symbol of the exclusionary practice inherent in the discourse of the nation.” Canada is a country made up largely of immigrants and their descendants, an interesting question is, what caused a country, with a diverse population to be so deeply racist?. Two novels which will reflect the experience of a members of immigrant groups in Canada, are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler and Obasan by Joy Kogawa. The first novel shows the Jewish experience in Canada, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, is a novel written by a Canadian author. The novels protagonist is a Jewish boy living in Canada. The book while comical illustrates the racial prejudices that existed towards the Jewish Canadians, through Duddy’s story. Duddy is a Jewish boy from a small town in Canada yet he has big dreams, he hopes to one day own some land because his Grandfather tells him “a man without land is a nobody. Remember that Duddel.” this can be read as a comment on Jewish displacement, the fact that the Jewish people came to Canada as immigrants. Duddy’s grandfather, Simcha, came to Canada as an Immigrant. Duddy spends a lot of time focused on his one goal which is town his own land. Throughout the novel Duddy faces discrimination due to coming from a poor area and being Jewish. Finally, a second text to show racial borders within Canadian literature is the novel Obasan. Obasan focus on the struggles of the Japanese Canadian’s. During World War II and due to the bombing of Pearl Harbour, the Japanese immigrants in Canada were subject to extreme racial prejudice. Th...
To truly understand the exact context in which deception and betrayal were used in the novel, one must first start with Polly Wilson. Polly was lied to more so than any other person, her naive and uncalculated nature played as an influencing factor which allowed the severity of the situation escalate into a climactic turning point. A culmination of very specific and detailed lies lead to the untimely demise of Polly Wilson at the hands of John. One quote spoken by John Wilson, “Geese” (Page 78, line 18), sets up the story’s climax
One of the biggest issue of abortion goes back to the controversial question of when human life actually begins. Many people will often argue that a fetus is a living being from the moment of conception and feel that it deserves the same legal protections as an adult, therefore making it immoral to kill it. Just like in our court system, we would not put an innocent person on death penalty. The fetus has done nothing wrong and has the right to live. As the editor of Christianity Today wrote, "abortion is one of those monumental issues of justice that comes along once in a lifetime. It is violence against children, a hideous act of poisoning or dismembering tiny bodies, then dumping them in a landfill or garbage disposal." On the other hand, those who are for abortion say that a fetus is only a "potential human being." The advocates for legal abortions want the mother to choose whether she keeps the baby or kills it, and the rights of a mother supersede the rights of a baby. John M. Sw...
There was a notable divide between Canada’s French and English-speaking population in the 1960s, as they each presented contrasting views of the country’s national identity. As the federal government faced what seemed like two separate nations embodied within a single country, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson assembled the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism in July 1963. It was to evaluate the existing state of bilingualism and biculturalism and recommend the actions needed to alleviate the largely linguistic and cultural divides in Canada. Pearson’s directive was given at a time when Quebec was experiencing a period of great social and economic development through the Quiet Revolution, while English-Canada was grappling with the re-establishment of the country’s identity as the British definition of Canada was becoming increasingly rejected. This paper will assess bilingualism and biculturalism as it challenged national identity, seen through the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (RCBB) and the influence of the Quiet Revolution; which resulted in policy – the Official Languages Act in 1969 and the Official Multicultural Policy in 1971 – that ultimately shaped bilingualism and biculturalism within what became a multicultural framework in Canada.
Another issue that arises is the potential personhood of the fetus. Many would argue that its poten...
There are two kinds of existentialist; first those who are Christian, and on the other hand the atheistic existentialists. Many unfamiliar with the subject people associate existentialism with atheism, but they are wrong. The truth is that the majority of existentialists are not atheists. Sartre, which we place among atheists, stress that central concern of philosophy is human existence. He says that human being is a special kind of consciousness (being-for- itself). Everything else is matter (being-in-itself). He believes that human being has no God-given essence and is absolutely free and absolutely responsible. According to him, anguish is the result of the absolute freedom and responsibility. He also says that human existence is absurd and unjustified. Therefore, the goal of human being is to justify his/her existence.(2) Sartre believes that there are those in our history who have established a religion to reassure nothing more than what he calls a "fundamental project." That means that when we become anguished by the affairs of life we pursue a fundamental project in attempt to flee this anguish. He says that we try to make ourselves Gods in hopes that others would see us divine, and hold us in higher regard. To pursue a fundame...
The way science is portrayed now makes it more difficult to advocate that a fetus is not a human and seeing that from the moment that it is fertilized it automatically has human DNA, so the issue centers on the person’s individuality. If a human is only a person when neurologically operating as a human, so then by the same argument if you can kill a fetus then it would be acceptable to kill people who are in deep sleep, comas, or are mentally handicapped. Other arguments that are able to be brought up are by location and viability. Therefore, the only time that we can argue that a fetus can be considered a human is when it’s being concepted.
In this process, there are many toxic materials and lethal chemicals used and released which are injurious to human health. If cyanide and acid solutions and materials like plating bath filters and resins are not disposed properly, they can cause serious harm to the environment. Due to spillages of Cyanide, it can be found in wastewaters where it mixes with the wastewater’s acid generating lethal hydrogen cyanide gas. Hydrogen Cyanide gas is very unstable and produces lethal concentrations in room temperature. Hydrogen Cyanide has vapors that are highly flammable and explosive. Inhaling it can cause headaches, restlessness and respiratory difficulties. High levels of exposure can even cause death. (Hydrogen Cyanide). In the process of electroplating, Cadmium is also released in the air. Inhaling such air for a long period can cause damages to lungs, liver and bones. Inhaling extreme levels of Cadmium can even cause death. Plants, fish, and other animals such as crabs can also take up cadmium, which enters their livers and kidneys. Consumption of such sea animals and plants can harm the health of the consumer.
The argument can be made that the fetus deserves the same level of personhood that children and adults do. This can be countered with the fact that children and adults are able to live without occupying the body of another person. The point at which personhood occurs may never be established because of the contrasting views for and against personhood and it would be very difficult to establish any kind of middle ground on personhood.
Many existentialists believed that man had no reason for life. In other words, there was no God and no reason to live life with rules of any kind because there is nothing in the end anyway. This thought did not gain the existentialist popularity with many religions.
According to pro-life arguments, some of the reasons people are against abortion is because they view abortion as murder because life begins at conception, which means unborn babies are human beings from the beginning. Another argument is that the fetus can feel pain during an abortion and there are plenty of arguments against abortion regarding religion. The abortion is murder opinion is a popular one, individuals justify it by saying the fetus and mother are two different individuals; with that being said, the mother should not have a choice to abort the baby, because it is a separate being. Although science shows the fetus develops features fairly early in the pregnancy that make it seem more human, the fetus is still inside the woman’s body and what she wants to do with that fetus should be her choice.
In his article “The Failure of Multiculturalism”, Kenan Malik uses the diverse European culture to study and explain the irony of multiculturalism. He defines multiculturalism as “the embrace of an inclusive, diverse society” (Malik 21). Integration between cultures is practically inevitable, but several nations view this as a threat towards upholding their culture. Due to this, many countries have made attempts at properly integrating new people and ideas while trying to prevent the degradation of their own. This can result in unjust regulations and the reverse effect of an intended multicultural society.