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The Sikh community in Canada is increasingly growing through immigration in recent years. However, contrary to the values of a multicultural and diversity Canada prides itself with today; Canadian immigration policies in the past presented a dark history of prejudice, intolerance and discriminatory practices. Earlier this year, Justin Trudeau issued a formal apology for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which Canada refused to welcome most of the passengers from a ship carrying a majority of Sikh individuals along with some Muslims and Hindus (CBC, 2016). Prior to the Immigration Act introduced in 1978, Canada’s immigration policies in the early 20th century was rooted from a system of hierarchy preference, which ranked the most desirable …show more content…
The Sikh community originate from Punjab, India and as a result of their Asian identify they were viewed as undesirable immigrants, placing them at the bottom of the hierarchy of preference.
India’s identity as a colony of Britain in the early 20th century, supported the reasoning by Indians that their position allowed them to freely immigrate to Canada, since the British monarch is the sovereign of Canada (Ross, 2016). Prior to the incident of the Komagata Maru, immigrants from India, mostly young Sikh men looking for work were a small group but were becoming more visible in British Colombia. Most of these men worked as labourers in saw mills, cement factories, or cleared land (Johnston, 2014, p.12). However, their presence was negatively perceived by both politicians and other individuals that strongly believed that Asian immigration were taking jobs away from working Canadians. Prejudice stereotypes and propaganda through journalism was used to discourage further immigration from India (Johnston, 2014, p.15). As a result of outrage and protest by an
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Canada was largely viewed by Sikh immigrants as an opportunity to make money for their families and eventually wanted their families to join them. According to immigration patterns, Sikh immigration’s first wave in Canada occurred between the years of 1903 and 1908, in which 5000 Sikhs immigrated to Canada. However, with the introduction of new policies in Indian Immigration, only 118 immigrants entered the country between 1908- 1920 (Razavy, 2005, p. 26). Although, the first arrival of Sikh’s in British Columbia were able to find work, the immigrants arriving after 1908 had more difficulty in arranging stable employment. According to a research study conducted by Razayy (2005), “Language problems, poor education, inaccessibility to medical care, substandard living conditions and the constant threat of racial discrimination and segregation made the transition to Canada difficult” (p. 30). Sikhs were treated unfairly and their social status was considered less than that of the European Canadians, whom were more easily assimilated into the Canadian culture. Unfortunately, based on the attitudes and behaviour towards the Sikh groups it can be assumed that the celebration of diversity,
Historically, Canada has held a world renowned reputation as nation with a magnanimous ideological approach to providing asylum to those individuals subjected to marginalization and persecution in their homeland – regardless of their nation of origin (Ismaili, 2011, p.89 & 92). Indeed, providing sanctuary to refugees who would otherwise experience significant hardships ranging from blatant discrimination and racism to torture and genocide, has very much become an institutionalized aspect of Canadian society. However, recent changes to Canada’s immigration policy delineated in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and Bill C-31 may have perhaps put this ideology in peril (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, 2001).
Since the Indian immigrants were part of the British Empire they should have been able to enter Canada, just like they were able to enter Uganda and Malaya. In 1906, the prime minister of Canada Wilfrid Laurier had said “if an immigrant arrives in good faith and with every intention of becoming a Canadian, then he must be treated on equal grounds, as it would be outrageous to act with discrimination against such a person for reasons of faith, place of birth, or origins.” What Laurier said in
In the year 1957, Canada elected its first Prime minister without English or French root, John Diefenbaker. While growing up in the city of Toronto, because of his German name, he was often teased. [1] He grew up as an outcast, and so he was able to relate to the discrimination and inequality many of the minorities in Canada felt. This essay will attempt to answer the question: To what extent did Prime Minister John Diefenbaker help promote equality to the minority communities. . The minorities in this time period were the women, aboriginals, and immigrants. During his time as the Prime Minister, he was able to help protect the rights of this group because many of their rights were being abused by the society. Diefenbaker also helped the minorities to stand up for themselves and other groups. Diefenbaker was able to bring positive change to the minority communities by making an official Bill of Rights and appointing people of discriminated groups to the parliament while other members did not.
The period of 1914 to 1939, Canada’s immigration policy got very unfair. Changes were made to the Immigration Act in 1914 that allowed the rejection of anyone from any race that was deemed unsuitable for Canada’s requirements. Also, in that same year, the Komagata Maru came to the coast of Vancouver. It was a ship that carried many from Punjab, India. The ship wasn’t allowed to dock and passengers weren’t allowed to disembark off the ship. The ship hadn’t sailed directly to B.C. from India so only 24 passengers were allowed to disembark; most of them were doctors or Canadian citizens already. Another act to keep out unwanted immigrants from Canada was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. This act came into effect on July 1st, 1923. It banned all Chinese immigrants from entering Canada, except merchants, diplomats and foreign students. Before the Chinese Exclusion Act was put into place, the Chinese had to pay a head tax of $500 just to get into the country. The numbers of Japanese immigrants were also restricted. The Canadian government restricted only 150 Japanese immigrants to come to Canada in a year. In 1925, the government relaxed restrictions on immigrants coming from many countrie...
Labour leaders in Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s were strongly opposed to the idea of Asians immigrating to Canada. In “Constructing the Great Menace” by David Goutor, it outlines the oppression of Asians by labour leaders which does not conclude that labour leaders hated all immigration and had a prejudice against all racialized groups. The unionists’ main argument for this opposition is based on the stereotype that Asians were claimed to have “accepted low wages and degraded working conditions” thus proving that they will diminish the standard of living for Canadian workers. These Labour Leaders were prejudice to Asians in an effort to supposedly protect Canadian workers and their jobs. However, it is not fair to say that labour
After several generations of Indian people being subjected to discrimination, abuse, and neglect by government authorities. It is hard to deny that in many ways the government policies set in place generations ago to eliminate Canada of Indian culture, have been successful.
The Japanese living in Canada during World War II (WWII) faced one of the harshest and inhumane living conditions in Canadian history. One unidentified woman remembers, “it was terrible, unbelievable. They kept us in the stalls where they put the cattle and horses.” Before WWII, the Japanese were targeted for their culture. An example is the Anti-Asiatic League that was created to limit the number of Japanese men that could immigrate to Canada. Canadians did not want the potential competitors in farming and fishing. 22,000 Japanese Canadians were interned during WWII, even though 14,000 had been Canadian born citizens. This was because the Japanese had bombed Canada’s ally, the United States. With this in mind, the Canadians viewed the Japanese as the enemy. This made the innocent Japanese Canadians become the victims of unfair suspicion and they began to fall through the cracks of Canada’s developing society and government. Internment camps were created to forcibly keep the “dangerous” Japanese from the seemingly “innocent and civilized” Canadian citizens.
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,
“Multiculturalism” entered public speech in the late 1960s and early 1970s in Canada that focused on unique cultural diversity, nationalities, and ethnicity across the nation. Multiculturalism and Immigration are important factors in the development of Canada to attain a strong multicultural example of economic stability, social and political growth which leads to the emergence of Canada’s identity and culture.
Ninette Kelley and M. J. Trebicock, The Making of the Mosaic: a history of Canadian immigration policy. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998). Immigration Policy in Canada: History. Administration and Debates. “Mapleleafweb.com.”
Every year, over 250,000 people make Canada their new home. Attracted by its education system, economy and universal healthcare system, there are few other places in the world like it. All Canadians are guaranteed equality before the law and equality of opportunity, regardless of where they are from. However, some might argue that Canadian policy has not been put into practice as well as it should be. Is the concept of true equality a far-fetched idea? It seems that Canada has taken great measures to promote the integration of immigrants socially, but can the same be said for their integration economically? Politically? To judge whether or not Canada has been successful at promoting the integration of immigrants in these realms, a deeper understanding of Canadian policy must be considered.
Do you know that despite Canada being called multicultural and accepting, Canada’s history reveals many secrets that contradicts this statement? Such an example are Canadian aboriginals, who have faced many struggles by Canadian society; losing their rights, freedoms and almost, their culture. However, Native people still made many contributions to Canadian society. Despite the efforts being made to recognize aboriginals in the present day; the attitudes of European Canadians, acts of discrimination from the government, and the effects caused by the past still seen today have proven that Canadians should not be proud of Canada’s history with respect to human rights since 1914.
Canada is a cultural mosaic. Cultural mosaic is the mixture of different ethnic groups, languages and cultures that living in a society. Canada is one of the countries to declare multiculturism in the world as official state policy. This step showed the path to a resounding and evolving cultural mosaic premised on mutual respect for all the Canadian citizens of the different types of ethnic back ground. The roots of multiculturalism in Canada can be seen in the country's beginnings, as three establishing cultures aboriginal, British and French, who were soon joined by many more cultures from around the continents. Today this can be seen as a benchmark of Canadian national identity and a point of pride for Canadians. Even though of all this multiculturism right after the attacks of 9/11 in America a lot of Muslims who were gathered for praying in mosques and churches were attacked in Canada. Even Sikhs were attacked because they were perceived to be Muslims. Several Muslim schools were closed in major cities of Canada. Women were also attacked for their dressing (Faisal Kutty). History of African labor, Chinese labor, Aboriginal genocide and Japanese entombment are all forgotten over by propagandized multicultural progress, this has created a racialized logic which made it impossible for many Canadian citizens to recognize the racism taking place in the surrounding environment. So, racism is embedded in Canadians and can be seen in form of prejudice and discrimination at workplace.
The fear of Japan invading Canada in World War Two cause racism to arise in Canada. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 (Bolotta et al, 2000), Canadian citizens feared the Japanese immigrants living in Canada may aid Japan in attacking. Worried about its citizens and problems that may arise, the Canadian government prevented the problem by interning Japanese Canadians. The issue with this solution was the Canadian Government was not justified in interning the Japanese Canadians. The Canadian government had no reason to intern the Japanese Canadians; it was unreasonable, unnecessary and discriminatory.
Canada is perceived by other nations as a peace-loving and good-natured nation that values the rights of the individual above all else. This commonly held belief is a perception that has only come around as of late, and upon digging through Canadian history it quickly becomes obvious that this is not the truth. Canadian history is polluted with numerous events upon which the idea that Canada is a role model for Human Rights shows to be false. An extreme example of this disregard for Human Rights takes place at the beginning of the twentieth-century, which is the excessive prejudice and preconceived notions that were held as truths against immigrants attempting to enter Canada. Another prime example of these prejudices and improper Human Rights is the Internment of those of Japanese descent or origin during the Second World War. Also the White Paper that was published by the government continues the theme of Human Rights being violated to the utmost extreme. All these events, as well as many others in history, give foundation to the idea that “Canada as a champion for Human Rights is a myth”.