Peel Region Case Study

America has come a long way since the Reagan era, because “twenty-five years ago, the greatest strength of the Asian American movement was the ability of activist to organize the unorganized and bring new political players in community politics” (Omatsu). During a current era there are problems with lack of knowledge of what happened to Asian Americans, because those who were not around to see the struggles with racism. “However, by stimulating the discussion over how Asian American define community problems, the neoconservatives bring a vibrancy to community issues by contributing a different viewpoint” (Omatsu). Young political activists voices are the solution to end the struggle against racism for as long as there is activism that thrives our voices will be heard in

Throughout the last three decades, increasing numbers of Asians have migrated to Canada from all over the Asian continent. Currently, 44% of the Vancouver area population is of Asian descent (Statistics Canada, 2001). Immigrants commonly occupy skilled job positions that the host nation is unable to fill with its own citizens, and thus they offer many advantages to their receiving country. In a nation with a declining birthrate, such as Canada, their contribution can play a major role on multiple levels. The immigrants themselves often enjoy a greater earning potential than they did in their native country, which can be advantageous for those who wish to send money back home to support their families.

Overall, the representation of elected women now stands at about 25 % at each level of government, including on municipal councils, in provincial/territorial legislatures and at federal level. (Parliament of Canada, 2016) With this significant gender parity in politics, the paper examines the causes of the under-representation of Canadian women in politics. Findings are based on scholarly articles and their analyzed data on why do fewer Canadian women run for political office. When taken together, the results presented in this paper argues that (1) unwelcoming environment (women and family unfriendly working environment) with lack of support in political engagement, (2) women’s experience of exclusion, paternalism and systemic discrimination in political realm, and (3) media’s portrayal of women as to be marginalized by the society are what cause Canadian women to be under-represented in politics. Finally, the paper raises an interesting question from the topic of gender disparity into further discussion of the discrimination within discriminated group women other than those privileged ones who are likely to be selected in public

And this solution led to liberal immigration laws that admit 200,000 new immigrants to Canada each year. About 70 percent of recent immigrants to urban Canada are visible minorities; people of color make up nearly 50 percent of populations in Vancouver and Toronto and are the fastest growing communities in Canada’s eight largest cities (J. Y. Yee and G. C. Dumbrill, “Whiteout: looking for race in Canadian social work practice,” inMulticultural Social Work in Canada: Working With Diverse Ethno-Racial Communities, A. Al-Krenaw and J. R. Graham, Eds., pp. 98–121, Oxford University Press, Don Mills, Canada, 2003.) For instance, RBC Financial Group has ensured that 22% of their workforce is comprised of visible minorities (V. Dugale, “The changing color of Canada,” Our Times, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 24–28, 2006.) Similarly, FedEx has a high proportion of visible minorities (almost 7%) in senior management positions. Its staff represents about 19 nationalities at its Mississauga, Ontario headquarters (R. Robin, “Delivering diversity,” Canadian Business, vol. 77, no. 7, p. 38, 2004.)

It is also evident that since female and male candidates are equally qualified for political positions and have the same success rate in elections, the gender gap can be explained through the lack of female participation in elections. Many governments, including the Canadian government, have contemplated introducing quota systems to reduce the scope of the gender gap and ensure female representation in parliament. However, in a democratic system, quotas can be viewed as a “violation of liberal democracy” because they favour a specific people group (“50% Population”). The solution, therefore, rests in the hands of the next generation of female leaders. It is up to young, educated women to embrace Virginia Woolf’s parting message in her essay A Room of One’s Own of acquiring “a room of [their] own” (Woolf 4). In other words, young women are faced with the task of developing a sense of independence and having the “habit of freedom and the courage” in order to pursue a career in politics (Woolf 112). Even though there are initiatives in universities aimed prepare women to run for politics such as the She Will Run, it is essential to acknowledge that gender parity in the political environment will not be achieved automatically ("50% Population”). As instructed by Woolf, young women must move past stereotypes, suppress

Black civil rights in Canada have changed immensely over the last century, giving black Canadians a sense of identity and equal opportunity within Canadian communities. This document provides a detailed overview of the struggles, oppression, and changes that individuals went through, as well as the changes they enacted into the Canadian system to improve the living standards of black Canadians. The purpose of those like (insert people’s names) and their causes are explained in detail; but also gives a background on each person’s life and the struggles that they themselves dealt with when they first moved to Canada. Some groups or movements are also touched on in detail, and how they had an impact on the way civil rights changed both socially and politically as they were eye-opening experiences for the Canadian government and its citizens.

Of course discrimination based on race is not the only form of discrimination. Sexism, ageism, homophobia, etc. also exist. What ties different forms of discrimination together is that they all involve ignorance, fear, and/or hate toward groups of individuals who we see as different, unknown, and/or inferior. In a study of twenty-three Anglophone and non-Anglophone immigrant women in Fredericton, Miedema and Nason-Clark found that many women felt that the hardest thing about being an immigrant woman was not being accepted into Canadian society. One visible minority woman commented that people always view her as a foreigner, as if Canada is not really her home (Miedema and Nason-Clark, 1989: 70). 68% of the women, both visible minority and non-visible minority women, reported direct discrimination. One English-speaking visible minority woman reported that shortly

Many will agree that the root of the horrendous conducts stipulated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report is an old classical racism; but has this classical racism vanished or just done a cosmetic face lift over time? It would be naïve to think that the report in question had any impact on the basis of racism in Canada. Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada may have opened some eyes, but correspondingly, has not and cannot eradicated the source of racism, so as to stop racist based injustices from reoccurring. The probability of repeating such racism stipulated in TRC report looks feeble in today’s Canada, nonetheless a kind of modern racism which is complicated, hard to penalize, and is multi-dimensional, that has developed in the recent years, and needs to be addressed, exists. As defined contemporary racism is the

Studies that have been conducted to examine the level of access and employment inequity experienced by minority groups show that with equivocal levels of education and work experience, job applicants who have an English sounding name are requested for an interview up to forty percent more than their competing job applicants who have a Indian, Pakistani, or Chinese sounding name (TIEDI, 2011). Furthermore, the dismissal of the African-Canadian woman discussed earlier is not as surprising when one takes into account that in Toronto, arguably Canada’s most multicultural city; those of African-American descent reported one of the highest amounts of discrimination in relation to those of other visible minorities (TIEDI, 2011). The deduction that can be made then is that there still persists to be a belief that there is a correlation between one’s racial background and their perceived ability to do a job as effectively as that of their Caucasian or other dominant racial counterparts. Such a belief greatly hinders Canada’s workplace as it fails to utilize the skill-sets, knowledge, and qualifications of visible minority individuals that would otherwise benefit the community, and it largely damages one’s ability to integrate into Canadian society as a functioning member treated with equal regard,

Gender inequality has been a long part of Canada’s history with men being the dominant decision makers. Women have had to fight long hard battles and overcome numerous obstacles to prove themselves and demonstrate that they are equal to men and not inferior. Over the course of a century women have achieved suffrage and have become increasingly visible in the political and economic sectors. Despite all the achievements women have made barriers remain in effect leaving women at a social, economic and political disadvantage even in the twenty-first century. The primary obstacles in achieving gender equality are the noticeable absence of women in authoritative economic and political positions, unfair social stereotypes that are still

Civic participation is a fundamental component in one’s life when they become citizens to a country. It begins with an informed decision to engage as a citizen in the democratic process. There are a myriad of ways in which citizens can be active in society. This includes; being involved in political parties, government-making decisions, joining particular organisations of interest as well as the community and its local affairs. It is through this engagement that one attains a sense of identity. However, barriers can also arise when one attempts or chooses to actively participate in the community. This therefore, hinders individuals from further obtaining a form of inclusion amongst society. This overarching idea is evident in Julia Gillard’s misogyny speech. This speech is an excellent exemplar of how gender roles and prejudice against women can trigger and prohibit individuals from actively participating in society.

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.

Today, Canada is known around the world as a cultural mosaic. As a nation it welcomes people of both sexes with all different beliefs, cultures, and religions. Creating a mature nation would require promoting equality of opportunity to all and giving help to those who were disadvantaged. However, Canada has not always been a welcoming and mature nation. In the past, women were not allowed to vote alongside men or run for political positions, due to the fact that they were not considered “persons”. As well, Aboriginal children were stipped from their homes, families, and identities so that they could assimilate all First Nations people. During the last century, women have gained more political rights, gained more respect from society, and

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

When Sylvia Bashevkin wrote “ the higher, the fewer” it was to indicate a pattern in women's political participation. The number of women in politics drops as one moves upward to the upper tiers of government, federal or provincial. The gap between the number of women involved in politics to the number of women in the country is still too wide. Over half the population is female and yet less than 25% were Members of Parliament in 2011. As of 2016 only 31% of senators were female. This gap highlights the need to continue to pursue the feminist movement.