The multi-cultural society - Utopia or Reality?

”Canada is, as much as any other country, in a process of continuing self-definition and re-creation. We have never assumed that the final form has been achieved”
     Canada’s identity is difficult to define. Several aspects are to be considered. Canada’s culture is influenced by the partition of the country into two official cultures, and the variation in the many immigrants you find. Some might say that in Canada you’ll find a Canadian culture, a French culture and an American culture, although they make a big effort on denying that they’re American. Pierre Berton writes in his book Why we act like Canadians: “We know who we are not even we aren’t quite sure who we are. We are not American.”  

The two official cultures

Canada has 2 official languages; French and English, although it’s only approximately 18 % of the population who speak French. 13 % is bilingual and 2 % speak other languages.
    In the census in 1981 6,2 mio. people declared themselves Francophones, with a concentration of 5,3 mio. in the Quebec province. 14,9 mio. declared themselves Anglophones. In The Canadian Encyklopedia the situation today is described: “Today, francophones comprise only 24% of the Canadian population, a decline of nearly 6% since 1900. This is mainly because the majority of immigrants are non-francophone and the birth rate among francophone women has declined. Nevertheless, francophones continue to constitute 82% of Québec's 6.2 million citizens despite the out-migration of nearly one million francophones in the period between 1870 and 1930”. The English-speaking part of Canada is by far the greatest. 

In 1606-1608 the first successful French settlements in North America took place; in Port Royal and Quebec. The first British settlements happened later on in the 17th century. The French colonization was a slow process, and the French people thereby had opportunity to build a good relationship to the original native people. This was unlike the British settlements, which had a later beginning, but then went fast forward. That was the main foundation for the conflict between the British and the French settlers.

The French part of Canada was early on defined as Quebec; in 1763 the Treaty of Paris ended the Seven-Year War, and eastern North America became British. Along with this incident, the former French area called New France was renamed The Province of Quebec.
    This French part was very isolated from the rest of Canada in a long row of years. They wanted to stay true towards the French culture. In the 1960s a separatist movement founded in Quebec; F.L.Q. It was an organization formed in the early 1960s dedicated to obtaining the independence of Quebec from the rest of Canada at any cost. They were blamed for some struggles and bombings, and caused conflicts between the two cultures. It wasn’t until The Quiet Revolution took place, that the French part of Canada started to integrate in the Canadian society. During The Quiet Revolution a great transformation of the Quebec humanity took place. There were major reforms in the educational system, the civil service was modernized, and electricity was nationalized. In 1968 Rene Levesque founded the Party Québécions which proposed political sovereignty of Quebec along with an economic association with the rest of Canada. Then in 1969 The Official Languages Act was passed and then both English and French could be used in any area.

From our own experiences in Canada, the French area doesn’t seem to be as isolated as it has been generations ago. Some English-speaking Canadian students we met, only felt that the language stood as a difference between them and the Quebec people. Peter Desbarats writes about the issue: “If it weren’t for the differences of language, Québécois would have everything in common with other Canadians(…)”
      Even though we still find a separate French area, the French part of Canada has become more nationalized with the rest of the great country. In the first text in Canada Profile, Susan Crean and Marcel Rioux write about the Americanization in Canada, how, even though the French language has been a slowing factor, Quebec now also, as well as the rest of Canada, subscribes to the American style technology and consumerism: “Industrialization and urbanization happened late, but Quebec now subscribes to the American way of life with as much enthusiasm as the rest of Canada”. With these similarities of the two official cultures, it wouldn’t seem as if, there should be any problems. But still we do find examples of people from “the one side”, who dislikes people from “the other side”. When we in Canada visited the great University of British Columbia (UBC), and chatted with students there, we learned that some of them thought of the partition of Canada in French and English fractions is a big problem in general. When it comes to politics, French electors often sympathize with French candidates, and vice versa with the English electors. The students at UBC thought that it was an unnecessary problem having to say and write everything in two languages. Problems like these do indicate that we still find leftovers from the time of the struggle between the two parts. Susan Crean and Marcel Rioux also make quotations about this in their text: “(…) So little thought and reflection is given to Quebec by English Canadians beyond its significance as a political and constitutional riddle.”  For English Canadians it only comes down to the question of bilingualism.

Immigration - Phases of settlement

The composition of the population in Canada also reflects the changes in the origin of the new immigrants. Every year Canada welcomes thousands of new residents, it actually has a standard of being the most open immigration-country in the west. Coming to Canada as an immigrant is an exciting opportunity, but also a great challenge.

About 45 % of the Canadians are descendant of British people, 29% of French people, 3,4% of Germans, 2,8% of Italians, 2,2% of Chinese, 1,5% of Ukraine’s and 1,3% of Dutch people. The rest has a Portuguese, Latin-American or other ethnic background.
    For the first 60 years of the 20th century, the dominating immigrants descended from European nations. Today, immigrants are most likely to be from Asian countries. In the 1990s it was countries such as China, India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. This shift in the type of immigrants has been due to a number of factors. Both changes in Canada’s immigration policies and international events related to the movement of migrants and refugees.

In 2001 18.4% of Canada’s population, were born outside the country. This was the highest number since 1931, when foreign-born people made up 22.2% of the population. 13.4 million people have immigrated to Canada since 1901.

In 1858 a discovery of gold along the Fraser River was made, which brought 30.000 miners into the territory, and therefore contributed to the founding of British Columbia. In the period from 1861-1891 mostly people from British Isles, North West Europe and USA settled in Canada.
    The following years up till 1911 the settlers were more dominated by farmers, and a lot of them came from central Europe.  During this phase, the largest immigration took place from 1901-1911. Then from 1911-1941 you saw Jewish people, war refugees and displaced persons immigrate to Canada, and the number of people stagnated from 1931-1941. From 1941-1961 the southern European immigration began, and from 1961-1976 the third world immigration began, which led to many professional and technical workers.

In the premature part of the century, you’ll notice a moderately high number of immigrants settling in the Prairie provinces. Together with the low overall populations in these areas, it led to a very big percentage of foreign-born. The proportions of immigrants to the Prairie provinces have declined over time, and in the latest decades people increasingly seek the cities, because they find more work-opportunities and house-possibilities. In Ontario and Quebec the number of immigrants has steadily grown in the last 100 years.
    The first major wave of Chinese immigration to Canada occurred during the late 1800s when
Chinese labourers arrived in western Canada to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. But after its completion Chinese settlers were discouraged, and out of jobs. Until the 1960s, restrictions kept the Chinese population from settling in Canada. Since then, however, waves of Chinese immigrants have begun. Especially in Vancouver Asian people are to be seen. This could maybe be due to the fact, that it in the beginning of the 20th century it was mainly Asian people, who immigrated to the west coast, because of the great fishing industry. You would especially find a big amount of salmons in e.g. the Fraser River, which we visited on our trip to Steveston, and learned about.

Minorities

    In Vancouver, where we lived when we were in Canada, you very much feel and see this big difference in nationality amongst the population. But also especially British Columbia should be marked by the multiculturalism. According to the census in 2001, B.C. and Ontario were the two provinces with the highest proportions of people born outside the country.
Immigration to Canada over the past 100 years has shaped the country, each new wave of Immigrants adds to the nation’s ethnic and cultural structure. Immigration has been a contributor to the raise in the number of visible minorities in Canada. Now Canada is a nation that has become increasingly multi-ethnical.

In the census in 2001, Canada was home to almost 4 million individuals, who identified themselves as visible minorities, which would be 13, 4 % of the total population. Visible minorities are defined by the Employment Equity Act as "persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour". The visible minority group is actually growing much faster than the total population is. This growth in the visible minority population is also an outcome of the stagnation of immigrants that are European descendants.
     If this tendency continues, it has been valuated by the 2001 census - analysis series that by 2016, visible minorities will account for a fifth of Canada’s population.

By the experiences and studies we have made about Canada, the multicultural society seems a reality instead of utopia. Not only is the country separated into two official cultures, it also has a wide web of human races. And still, we haven’t mentioned the first nations; In Canada you’ll find about 800.000 natives; Inuits, who live very different lives; everything from integrated in the city culture till traditional hunter societies in remote areas in the north, for exampel the new territory: Nunavut. There are over 6 cultural regions and 10 different families of languages, and many of them are still being spoken today.

European cultures and the existing cultures

Living in a country with a nature and culture different from your own, could be a problem. Some might have a feeling of having to adapt to the Canadian living and cultures. Several differences could cause colliding interests between the cultures. Different cultures have dissimilar religions and beliefs, as well as days to celebrate and to vacations. But with Canada being a multictulural country, with so many different nations, it’s hard to determine the Canadian identity. The Canadian culture is a mix of all the nationalities thriving in the country. Maybe the European or Asian culture hasn’t adapted to the Canadian culture, but has Canada adapted to the guests cultures? Whatever the case is, foreign cultures have found ways to thrive in Canada. Canada’s variety in nations is actually reflected in their stores and eating places. When we walked down a street in Vancouver, we meet dozens of Chinese restaurants, Indian places, Sushi, Italian restaurants and so on. Even the Chinatown we met in Vancouver, wich you’ll also find in other big cities in Canada, is an example of how the foreign cultures have adapted to the existing cultures.
    Immigrants on Handsworth Secondary, that we visited in North Vancouver told us, that they thought Canada is the best place to be an exchange student. They felt welcome, and they said that everyone was accepted. They actually thought it was really hard to stand out, since everybody was so different from one another. Canada is very open towards new citizens, and when you have lived as an immigrant for 3 years, you can actually get a Canadian citizenship. It seems like racism doesn’t exist in Canada.
     New cultural impulses are a strengthening factor Canada, and it has also put them in a good financially situation.

Our trip to Canada has opened a great, different, open-minded, multicultural side of the country for us.  Of course, you would have to consider, that we only visited the west coast. In central Canada it could be hard to believe that it is the very same country. Few traces of the great multicultural society in Vancouver would be found there. But that is only another amazing aspect about Canada; that you could visit 25 areas and each time return with a new experience of the country. The size is overwhelming, the differences in the nature are overwhelming and last but not least the nation reflects a varied, rich cultural mosaic.