The Canadian Culture Essay

The government of Canada decided that the country could be a mosaic of cultures where people from different countries could keep their nationalities and still be called canadian therefore allowing an influx of different cultures. The royal commission came up with the idea of "cultural pluralism" and encouraged the government to reflect this in their policies. Pierre Elliot Trudeau, the prime minster in 1917 accepted this policy called the multiculturalism policy. In 1988, the governement of Canada also imposed the "Multiculturalism Act" . The factors influencing these two policies/acts were quite similiar to one another. In mid-1960s, the troubled English-French realtions in Canada desperately needed a solution. They preferred the idea of a cultural mosaic. After establishing this policy racism reduced significantly as every ethnic group was to be treated the same way, allowing canada to be a cultural hub. In the context of theory so far everything seems to be working smoothly but the real question that we need to ask ourself is whether multiculturalism is working in our society or not ? Do we feel comfortable living amogst all the different kinds of people and are content with our lifestyle? Take education for an example. A university in North America called Stanford had a program in which the curriculum was designed

Also, Canada is pressures on the political field by the United States. As a superpower United States is pressuring Canada to support them. During the Cold War Americans moved the nuclear missiles into Canada, even though the majority of Canadians were against it. Canada sends forces to Afghanistan to finish the

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.

Canada is a country, proud of its culture and heritage. Canada is a country in North America alongside the United States and Mexico, boarded by the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific oceans. Particularly Canada is a multicultural, diverse country with two national languages consisting of French, as well as English. Although the language is diverse it is not the only element that changes across the country. In addition, Canada consists of just under ten million kilometers squared of land, which is the second largest landmass in the world. Likewise, Canada has everything from flat grass to beautiful mountains, sparse hills to large valleys with mesmerizing beauty. Something to consider about Canada and its success is the aspects of Canadian society, and what is contributing to the overall well-being of all Canadian citizens making Canada a great country to live in.

However, Lester B. Pearson helped with this problem. Pearson was an essential contributor to the Suez crisis of 1956, and he aided in

Canada is a nation built on immigration, and as the world becomes an ever increasingly hostile place more and more have chosen to try and make Canada their home. This melting pot of different cultures has created an overall atmosphere of acceptance, and is teaching younger generations a sense of community, empathy, and togetherness. Sharing our space and learning to grow with different ethnicities has perpetuated our status as a friendly, caring, and loyal nation, that many are willing to risk everything for in exchange for becoming a part of it.

There was a time, post-World War II when Canada had changed quite a bit. Canada’s population went up rapidly because of the boom and the veterans. The economy developed and there were no economic hardship so students did not drop out of school. It was booming, new technology, thousands of immigrants and new houses especially in the suburbs. New inventions such as the television caused consumerism and cars were being sold rapidly. The television also affected Canada politically. Teenagers with their fashion and rock ‘n’ roll music such as Elvis Presley had a big influence on the society. The baby boom, new technology and the many veterans returning home had a huge impact on Canada socially and economically.

Canada, was once a respected peacekeeper now a disgrace to its past. Canada was once the primary contributor to the United Nations for peacekeeping. Now Canada is not even close to being regarded as a contributor. Even the people in Canada do not think that Canada has any involvement in the peacekeeping business. Many people looked at Canada as a symbol of peace which many still do, but most do not know that Canada has fled from its old ways and now is just an image of the past. Canada is no longer presented as a peacekeeping country. Therefore Canada is not the peace keeping country it used to be because of its lack of support to the United Nations, Canada’s opinion on its duty as a peacekeeper, and the loss of influence as a peacekeeper.

The Suez Crisis, about 60 years ago, was the world’s first designated UN peacekeeping mission. It was a significant advance within the United Nations and

Canada has been actively involved with the United Nations since its creation in 1945. Since then, Canadian peacekeepers have participated in almost every single peacekeeping mission. The role of Canadian peacekeeping was to bring peace and stability between countries. However, Canada’s role is slowly starting to diminish because of its failure to prevent conflict in peacekeeping missions. Examples of this instance include the mass genocide in Rwanda, the civil war in Somalia and Yugoslavian crisis.

Ever since the 1950’s more of the American culture has been known to influence Canadian ways of living through the media.

There are always many differences and similarities between two countries, even they are in close geographical area. Both United States and Canada are on the America continental, therefore the United States and Canada are in close geographical location and in the neighborhoods, most people think that culturally they are same .But this is not true. Despite all similarities between these two countries, there are many differences between them.

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.

As the 20th century comes to an end, Canada is a transcontinental nation whose interests and representatives span the face of the globe and extend into every sphere of human behaviour. However this was not always the case. When the four colonies of British North America united to create Canada on July 1, 1867, the new country's future was by no means secure. Canada was a small country, with unsettled borders, vast empty spaces, and a large powerful neighbour, the United States. Confronting these challenges was difficult for the young country. Though Canada was independent in domestic matters, Britain retained control over its foreign policy. Over the next fifty or so years, Canada's leaders and its

Canadian and American cultural views were different which was proved because one is multicultural and the other is not. Canada was known as “mosaic” which means immigrants from any ethnic group were accepted here and were allowed to practice their religion. Therefore, they have a double identity ,meaning they are their ethnic group before a Canadian citizen as in Japanese-Canadian, Asian Canadian and so on . Whereas ,American culture was known as the “melting pot “, where they accept other cultures however they encouraged their citizens to give up their original culture ( Wells ,10 and 11 ). Canadian’s usually describe themselves as “NOT AMERICAN“(Wells,35) . Many Americans view Canada as a positive nation and as a better environment to live in then the United States . A legal sectary from Gastonia ,North Carolina said “Canada’s such a terrific place, I’d move there tomorrow if I could” (Wells, 35). This proves that Americans want to come to Canada since it is a safer environment due to it’s unique culture. Canadians are recognized as more modest, less aggressive and more down to earth then their southern neighbors (Wells,35).