In this lesson I say that it should be clear that the discourse on nationalism is also about ethnicity and ideologies of “race.” If you trace the historical overview of nationalism in Canada in the CanLit guide, you will find many examples of state legislation and policies that excluded and discriminated against certain peoples based on ideas about racial inferiority and capacities to assimilate. – and in turn, state legislation and policies that worked to try to rectify early policies of exclusion and racial discrimination. As the guide points out, the nation is an imagined community, whereas the state is a “governed group of people.” For this blog assignment, I would like you to research and summarize one of the state or governing activities, such as The Royal Proclamation 1763, the Indian Act 1876, Immigration Act 1910, or the Multiculturalism Act 1989 – you choose the legislation or policy or commission you find most interesting. Write a blog about your findings and in your conclusion comment on whether or not your findings support Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility.
The Multiculturalism Act of 1989 is a formalized policy, declaring commitment by the Canadian government to “preserve” and “enhance” multiculturalism in Canada (Justice Laws website). A copy of the legislation can be found here, if you are interested in familiarizing yourself with its details.
It seems that the Multiculturalism Act is a measure that was born largely out of many surrounding issues at the time. Some of these matters include increased rates of immigration, and several revolutionary movements. The civil rights movements fought against racial discrimination, the women’s movement allowed women to participate in office and opposed stereotypical gender norms of the time, the Quiet Revolution in Quebec, and broader civil revolutions, all had the common purpose of liberating oppressed and marginalized minority groups from the previously accepted limitations that had confined them. Immigration played a major role simultaneously with these events, as the Immigration Act of 1967 shifted admission criteria away from ethnicity, and immigration rates from non-European countries were the highest the country had seen thus far. All of these political affairs served to shatter the “unified vision of a culturally homogeneous nation run by elite white men” (CanLit guide), promoting a “diversity that was not seen as divisive but as a greater celebration of its (the nation’s) cultural richness” (CanLit guide), and thus, create a sense of urgency within the country to create the proper language, discourse, and political action to encompass the needs of a “multicultural” Canada.
The word “multiculturalism” can mean and refer to many things, especially in Canada. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, although it is a controversial concept, with just as many in support of as against, the term itself is used in at least three different ways:
to refer to a society that is characterized by ethnic or cultural heterogeneity; to refer to an ideal of equality and mutual respect among a population’s ethnic or cultural groups; and to refer to policies implemented by the federal government in 1971 and subsequently by a number of provinces.
So then, with respect to these three elements, is Canada truly a multicultural nation?
My answer to this is that Canada has taken steps towards multiculturalism – that is, we as a country are familiar with the popular word, and for example, even within Vancouver, we have such a diverse population of citizens from a great many ethnic groups. Multiculturalism can take many different meanings in different individuals’ lives. For those who are for it, it can mean nothing more than having an abundance of culturally different, yet equally delicious, restaurants to choose from, and for some others, it can be about celebrating the diversity of our nation’s identity by observing different religious and cultural traditions. Critics of multiculturalism see the concept as a threat to “Canadian Identity.” But, as Omar Alghabra puts it, we must not “lose sight of multiculturalism’s foundation and its most powerful element: Humanity.” Indeed, the core of multiculturalism is that, although we may choose to express our beliefs, traditions, and identities in a vast many ways, at the center of who we are, we are all humans. We love, we feel, and we live.