Intercultural Diversity In Canada

Canada’s identity comes in many shapes and forms. Multiculturalism has been adopted and is at the forefront of Canadian identity. Following the Second World War, Canada’s multiculturalism policies became more acceptable and even successful in, not only accepting, but inviting multiple ethnic cultures in. In contrast to other countries, multiculturalism adaptation works for the Canadian culture. Canadian policies on multiculturalism have shifted over the past few decades; policies are now implemented for integration, not discrimination.

A big part of the problem is that they do not get enough experience speaking or writing in their parents’ native language (Population Council). However the bigger part of the problem is most immigrants’ method of parenting. Chinese immigrants’ way of raising their children to speak and write both Chinese and English fluently has proven that it is possible to raise the next generations to be bilingual. According to a study by Eddie Kuo, over 90 percent of the studied Chinese-American families mainly spoke Chinese at home, proving that Chinese are the only immigrants who truly hold on to their language everywhere they go. That is why Chinese is the most common language around the world, before Hindu and English (Ethnologue). It is such a big advantage to know multiple languages; bilingual people always have higher chances of getting hired, especially if they are in the community in which that their languages are commonly used. Other ethnic groups should really learn from the Chinese and preserve their native language.

A common joke says “What do you call someone who speaks two languages?” in which the person being asked the question would usually respond with “bilingual.” It goes on to ask about those who speak three or four languages, but then there is a kicker. “What does one call someone who only speaks one language?” to which the punch line is “an American.” According to the 2006 General Social Survey, only 25 percent of American adults are fluent in a foreign language, while only 7 percent cite the source of this education to formal schooling (Devlin 1). Large amounts of evidence point to the benefits of being multilingual. Although the United States has a few laws that help immigrants assimilate through dual language programs, there is little to be

“Section 27 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms requires that the Charter “be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.” The Official Languages Act has significantly made an effective contribution on Canada’s immigration success. It has allowed Pierre Elliott Trudeau to further expand his ideas on allowing individuals of all ethnicities and races to live their lives freely. English and French languages can be used in all government institutions of Canada, communicating freely within the public area and in the home. Both the English and French languages can be used in debates, courts, schools and any public institution. The importance of the Official Languages Act is to guarantee equality rights such as privileges and status between the French and English Canadians. Nevertheless, Pierre Elliot Trudeau was productive in ensuring the equal opportunities and rights of citizens. In modern day society, Pierre Trudeau’s accomplishments in enacting human rights has significantly improved. Overtime, it has diversified the cultures in schools and other public institutions. More individuals are becoming acceptant of race, ethnicity, homosexuality and religious beliefs. Due to the result of the diversity of cultures in schools, it has brought humans closer to one another and accepting of ones’

Canada was set up to be a bi-lingual country for both English and French to be equally represented in the government. However, the number of French speakers began to disappear in the country. “In Quebec, 7.7% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 78.1% reported French only, and 12.3% reported only a non-official language, in 2011. In comparison, the national percentages were 56.9% for English only, 21.3% for French only and 19.8% for non-official languages only” (Canada). While the providence is not officially bilingual, it is apparent that francophones are dominant in Quebec and Anglophones are more common in the rest of Canada. Before traveling, one should be sure to make note of the prominent language within that city to be

The law also changed the demographics in the schools, with all immigrants now attending French school. This, while ensuring an immigrant population which would speak French as their second language, caused some upheavals in the French system where in some areas, Francophone children found themselves in a minority in their own schools. This was and is the case in Montreal where most

Second there is English Canadians who are the descendants of English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish settlers, soldiers and immigrants who came to Canada from the 17th to the 20th century. Generations of these pioneers helped to bring British political institutions and traditions to Canada” ("The government of Canada," n.d., para. 1). However there is a ton of diversity and different religions that has expanded across their region. In the last 200 years many travelled and arrived there (The government of Canada," n.d.).

Of the total, population of Quebec, more than half are descendants of the 10,000 original French

While the rest of Canada employs the concept of multiculturalism, Quebec emphasizes on another theory: interculturalism, or the notion of support in cross-cultural dialogue and challenging self-segregation tendencies within cultures. In the province, the word multiculturalism announces pejorative meanings. This was due, in part, to the fact that “a federal commission which was charged several years ago with the task of developing policies for Canada, based on its bicultural and bilingual character emerged with a recommendation that Canada think of itself as a multicultural and bilingual country.3”. Francophones, on the other hand, felt that this concept placed them at the same level as minority ethnic groups, thus erasing their thoughts of being seen as one of the country's founding nations.

Canada is an immigration country, meaning Canada is a diverse and multicultural country. Canada has become an attractive pole for immigrants from around the world who are looking for a host country that will give them good opportunities. Immigration helped Canada in many ways. Too often, immigration to Canada is viewed as a cost to our society, rather than as a net benefit. But research has found that immigrants are an enormous benefit to Canadian prosperity. It is a well-known fact that immigrants are highly entrepreneurial; whether they come to Canada with millions of dollars to invest or have PhDs and hope to find work that is suitable for their skills. Immigrates to Canada covered two third of the annual population

A country built on immigration, Canada has long had a reputation of being culturally and ethnically diverse. While multiculturalism is meant to be built on equality and appreciation of different cultures, its concept has gained both support and opposition. On one hand, it allows for more assortment and the voices of minorities have a higher chance to be heard. On the other hand, loss of unity and conflicts may occur due to contrasting worldviews of the citizens. All in all, multiculturalism is a controversial policy that has both advantages and disadvantages, but has proven to be a successful strategy in Canada.

The quantity of individuals who are into Canada is consistently expanding as seen somewhere around 2001 and 2006, the quantity of remotely conceived individuals expanded by 13.6%, and by, 2006 Canada had developed to have 34 ethnic groups with no less than one hundred thousand individuals each, of which eleven have more than 1,000,000 individuals and various others are spoken to in littler sums. 16.2% of the populace self-distinguishes as a noticeable minority (Statistics Canada, 2011). This massive immigration has ensured that multiculturalism in Canada has never faced any threat of collapse. The Canadians know that the only way different cultures are going to strive in the country is by supporting legal immigration of people from various parts of the world into the country. By allowing the settlement of immigrants, multiculturalism in Canada was being

“We do not need French of an Official Language, your pushing it onto us” (Will Ferguson, pg#365) Canada believes that they did not need French has an official language. Then they finally got elected to the Official Languages Act into the election, they got to have the right to use whatever language they wanted and then thought that they were getting the French language pushed onto them.

I was surprised to see that such a low percentage of people speak the language of their birth.

Europe accounts for 39.87% of the French-speaking population […] In Europe (excluding France), the largest populations of French speakers are essentially to be found in Belgium (45% of the population), Switzerland (20% of the population) and Luxembourg. French is Europe’s second most widely spoken mother tongue with over 77 million speakers”. The French language can be seen spoken in different environments. It is spoken in homes, schools, the government, such as in the United Nations and most distinctively in the European Union. In Western Europe a large majority of the population learns more than one language growing up due to the close proximity to other ‘countries’ who’s official language may be different. There are five distinct regions in Western Europe where the French language is the population’s native language: the French Republic, Wallonia, the Principality of Monaco, the Swiss Federation, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.