canadian studies

8/10/2019 Canadian Studies

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Write a response to the chapter Who We Are in the federal

governments official study guide for the citizenship test, Discover

Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship [located at the

followingwebsite,

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/publications/discover/read.asp

According to Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of

Citizenships, Canada is known around the world as a strong and free

country. Canadians are proud of their unique identity. A belief in ordered

liberty, enterprise, hard work and fair play has enabled Canadians to build a

prosperous society. Together, Canadians with different ethnicities, religions

and backgrounds sharing a common Canadian identity, make up todays

multicultural society. (2009, 10) However, is this only a theoretical, ideal

definition of Canadian identity? I argue that this definition only represents a

prescribed and accepted version of Canadianness. This mythic and safe

version of Canadian identity has ignores Canadas immigrant population and

has contributed to the erasure of provincial and rural Canadian identities that

do not serve its bottom line.

To understand what it means to be Canadian, it is important to know about

our three founding peoples - Aboriginal, French and British. (2009, 10) It is

also important to understand their positions, responsibilities and rights in

Canada today, how they contribute to a well-rounded Canadian identity.

Aboriginals

First peoples were believed to have migrated across the Bering Strait

from 30,000 to 10,000 years ago. Before European contact, the Aboriginal

peoples of Canada were not a timeless and unchanging population living


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before history. Transformation and accommodation to new challenges were

as much part of their lives as they are of ours. (Nelles, 1942, 3) Being the first

to build lives on the land of Canada, Aboriginals had created an image

through which Canadian sovereignty, security and peace have been

achieved and maintained over the span of some four cen turies.

(Lackenbauer, 2010, 168) However, the loyalty and service of Aboriginal

people were mostly ignored and their rights are undermined in todays society.

It is with considerable irony that First Nations reflect on the line in our

national anthem O Canada: our home and native land. Whose land is it, and

at what cost anyway? (Jones, 2011, 14) The exploitation of Aboriginals land

and the violation of many rights is clearly illustrated in Windigo Faces:

Environmental Non-Governmental Organization serving Canadian

Colonialism. The case of 9 large environmental organizations announcing

Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement without the participation of Indigenous

peoples completely disregards Indigenous jurisdiction by negotiating the deal

without the consent or awareness of the Indigenous communities. Indigenous

community has been working at the international level ever since, forming

alliances with civil society organization legally but still has limited political

authority. () This and many other issues concerning Aboriginals rights

demand to be addressed and solved properly in order to avoid discrimination

and serious conflicts between the state and Indigenous peoples.

English and French

First arrived in the land of Canada since 1600s, French played a crucial

role in shaping Canadian politics and culture. Many European and Indians

encounters were recorded, but it was not until Jacques Cartiers three


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voyages across the Atlantic to claim the land for king Francis I of France that

Canada was officially founded and named. Since Jacques Cartiers

explorations of Canada, it is believed that by possessing the place and its

occupants by naming and describing them, Cartier had attached Canada

firmly to Europe. For Canada, Jacques Cartier was the future, and it was

French. (Nelles, 1942, 16) Over the next century, Canada became

demonstrably British over the next century. Canada stayed British through an

era of revolutions, invasions, and insurrections, and at the end of the period

not only British inhabitants, but also French Canadians and Aboriginal

peoples too, professed allegiance to the British Crown and British ideals.

(Nelles, 1942, 45) Canadian society today stems largely from the English-

speaking and French-speaking Christian civilizations that were brought here

from Europe by settlers. English and French define the reality of day-to-day

life for most people and are the countrys official languages. (2009, 11)

Today, there are over 18 million Anglophones and seven million

Francophones in Canada (2009, 11). Together, they have built a Canada

strongly characterized by the harmonious combination of English and French

culture. This notion has been presented in multiple forms, one of the most

intriguing is the example of Montreal comedian - Sugar Sammy. Incorporating

French and English in his bilingual show, Sugar Sammy finds the humor in

both culture, receiving great accolades from both targeting audiences:

francophones and anglophones. At a time when some might choose to

downplay even deny the bilingual character of this city, Sammy has

chosen to celebrate the richness thereof. (Brownstein, 2012)

Multiculturalism


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An important trait of Canadian identity is multiculturalism. Canada is

often referred to as a land of immigrants because, over the past 200 years,

millions of newcomers have helped to build and defend our way of life. (2009,

10) As stated in Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of

Citizenships, Canadians celebrate the gift of one anothers presence and

work hard to respect pluralism and live in harmony. (2009, 8) However, this is

not always the case. Immigrants are still a separated groups, without being

integrated to Canadian community. While Kim Thuys novel, Ru, carefully

portrays exile as liberation and loss, culture shock as disparities and

similarities between two cultures that allows her to create a bridge,

and successful integration (), it only looks at the bright side of the story. In

fact, immigrants are still struggling to be recognized and treated equally

despite the differences in religions, races or backgrounds. Take the case

of Normes de vie de la municipalit dHrouxville for example. In January

2007 the small town of Hrouxville in Quebec, Canada, introduced a set of

codes of conduct called Normes de vie de la municipalit dHrouxville

(Standards of Living for Residents of Hrouxville). Despite the proclamation

that these rules do not target any particular religion or culture, the language of

the document suggests that the Muslim community was being targeted. () It is

also believed that the so-called multicultural democracy still holds deep-rooted

prejudices and hostile attitudes towards certain groups, in this case Muslims.

As immigrants contribute to the development of the country and to a diverse

community, they deserve to be treated with mutual respect.

Migrants admitted as residents are automatically protected by most

laws that apply to citizens, although in practice, of course, visible minority


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immigrants in Canada, particularly women, often experience discriminatory

and abusive treatment. Due to the precariousness of their status, temporary

migrants, who are also often visible minorities, are even more likely than

resident immigrants to experience various forms of exclusion and abuse.

(Basok, 2010, 344) Migrants in Canada were and still are under maltreatment

of underpaid, unemployment and abuse by Canadian employers. Coming to a

new country, it is inevitable for them to experience culture shock, language

barriers or lack of proper education. It is more than a recommendation, but a

necessity for government to help them adapt well with Canadian life instead of

ignoring their basic human rights. Violation of human rights towards temporary

migrants should be taken more serious, as it is pivotal to maintain the parity

among people of all backgrounds, embracing the true meaning of

multiculturalism.

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