David Ley, a geography professor at the University of British Columbia, explained in his geography 122 class about Geography, Modernity and Globalisation, that multiculturalism is often a term used by governments as an umbrella which potentially prevents national cohesion by asserting cultural difference.
Ley joins the larger conversation discussing the approaches governments can take towards integrating different ethnicities and the consequences of such policies. In Allan Gregg’s article “Identity Crisis” he uses examples of riots, terrorist attacks and assaults to illustrate different countries immigration policies and the consequences of such policies. Gregg states that the 2007 London bombings exemplified the failed “process of acculturation”, whilst the riots in Paris the same year was the result of immigrants feeling “alienated” and they were protesting their “sense of isolation and disenfranchisement”.
In comparison to France and Britain, Allan Gregg elaborates on Canada’s approach. He informs readers that multiculturalism is instilled into Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms “by promoting policies of inclusion”, however, he continues to point out that in fact many Canadians are not as willing to accept hyphenated citizenship and hope that immigrants “integrate and become part of the Canadian culture”. As a result of these opinions and policies “ethnic enclaves” form and this segregation prevents interaction between cultures, which according to Gregg “invariable perpetuates cultural divisions, breeds ignorance, and leads to stereotyping and prejudice”. Similarly, in his article “Debating Multiculturalism”, Jan Rath explains that through the dominant Judeo-Christian viewpoint in which immigrants are seen in Europe portrays the ethnic “other” instilling often incorrect, hurtful and offensive qualities.
With this perception created through the segregation and lack of interaction between different ethnicities, Rath and Gregg clarify that it perpetuates stereotypes in both first generation immigrants and generations that follow. These stereotypes and the reduced understanding of different ethnicities that accompanies them could encourage discrimination and increase the feeling of isolation that individuals who are not the dominant ethnicity feel.
I want to now link this idea to the lack of identity that Sarah De Vries experienced throughout her life. In the memoir “Missing Sarah: a memoir of loss” written by Sarah De Vries sister Maggie, she illustrates a chronological account of Sarah’s life. The memoir explores themes of identity, belonging and marginalization among others, which primarily stem from Sarah’s ethnicity. Sarah is “Aboriginal and Mexican Indian as well as white” (De Vries, 1) and she was adopted into an all white family. Maggie details Sarah’s sense of lack of belonging as she isn’t the same ethnicity as her family, Maggie includes one of Sarah’s diary entries where she speaks of her struggle to fit in. Sarah writes “I don’t understand how the adoption agency could let a couple that are both of the opposite colour as the child become this child’s legal guardians”, she feels stuck in the middle of multiple ethnicities. Her final line of the entry is “I have no nation and I am alone” (69) which demonstrates the sense of “alienation” Gregg describes. This emphasizes the “isolation” (De Vries, 69) that Sarah felt, through being unable to identify where her family members and “white world of West Point Grey (De Vries, 53) in which she grew up. It exemplifies the segregation between different ethnicities that was present in Canada during the time in which Sarah grew up. By using the term “nation” it shows that for Sarah nation is still defined by ethnicity and despite being a Canadian citizen she still does not feel that she is culturally or physically able to identify with her place of citizenship.
Instead Sarah finds comfort in the Downtown Eastside where there was an array of backgrounds, ethnicities and troubles, however, it was a multicultural community. There is a possibility that the true integration of different people from all over the world in this community (which Maggie De Vries explains truly was a cohesive community despite the stereotypes) helped Sarah, and others who had similar feelings regarding identity, find a sense of belonging. Whilst globally there are a variety of attempts to integrate different cultures, ethnicities and religions in nations it is evident that there is still a huge issue with identity. Many feel unable to identify with their citizenship, perhaps due to the “ethnic enclaves” creating segregation and fossilizing stereotypes. Therefore it is essential that, instead of using the term multiculturalism to suggest national cohesion governments establish methods of integration which don’t assert cultural difference.
