Blog #8: Does Canada boast a white or multicultural identity?
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 1988 – 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.
All my life, I have been proud to say, that Canada has become the home of my Indian family. Due to such a sentiment, I will be writing about the Multiculturalism Act of 1988.
Canada’s Multiculturalism Act of 1988 passed on July 21, 1988, under the Progressive Conservative Government of Brian Mulroney (Burnet and Driedger). It was created “out of a 1987 report… which stated the existing policy of multiculturalism no longer adequately met the needs of Canada’s multicultural society” as the original policy “focused on cultural preservation, primarily reflecting the interests of European-born immigrants” (“Canadian Multiculturalism Act, 1988.”).
The Multiculturalism Act established the following year then, was a piece of legislation aimed to “protect ethnic, racial, linguistic, and religious diversity within Canadian society” (Burnet and Driedger), and encouraged “intercultural exchange and interaction… to foster a greater appreciation and awareness of Canada’s cultural diversity” (“Canadian Multiculturalism Act, 1988.”). Acknowledging multiculturalism as a “fundamental characteristic of Canadian society,” Canada became “the first country to pass a national multiculturalism law” (“Canadian Multiculturalism Act, 1988.”).
Relating this legislation to Coleman’s concept, “white civility” is essentially a quest to “formulate and elaborate a specific form of [Canadian] whiteness based on the British model of civility” (5) which Coleman believes has been entrenched into the collective Canadian identity and consciousness. Additionally, this white civility, according to Coleman, marks a “fictive ethnicity” where we must forget about the uncivil realities of nation-building and colonialism, while simultaneously contributing to a white and civil Canadian identity that “continues in the present” (45).
Through my findings of the 1988 Canadian Multiculturalism Act, I would definitely say that this legislation both supports and serves as an obstacle to Coleman’s prior argument.
As the history of Canada’s 1988 Multiculturalism Act reveals, our nation did not always pride itself on being a host to a variety of ethnicities, religions, and peoples from all walks of life. Rather, it was the opposite – Canada as a nation boasted about its high level of white immigration, and had immigration policies prior that actually exercised overt approval of white immigration, and discriminated against non-white immigrants entering the country. For example, from 1896-1905, western Canada actively searched for any kind of white immigrant (e.g. British, Italian, Greek, etc.) for agricultural purposes and even offered free homesteads, but rejected Black and Asian immigration.
While I acknowledge that Canada has advocated for white civility in its past, I believe that Canada’s Multiculturalism Act (1988) is a step away from white civility, a step towards the right direction. Through its power as a government policy, it has attempted to rectify prior legislations and laws, rooted in racism and exclusion. I cannot say with certainty how effective it has been, but by looking around me on a daily basis, I feel confident that my country no longer encourages a white collective identity.
However, I am well aware that not everyone feels the same way. My question for my classmates then is, do you see Canada as having a white identity, or a multicultural one?
Works Cited
Burnet, Jean, and Leo Driedger. “Multiculturalism.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 27 June 2011, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/multiculturalism.
“Canadian Multiculturalism Act, 1988.” Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, https://pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/canadian-multiculturalism-act-1988.
“Canadian Multiculturalism Act.” Justice Laws Website, 1988, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-18.7/page-1.html.
Coleman, Daniel. White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2006. Print.
Décoste, Rachel. “The Racist Truth About Canadian Immigration.” Huffington Post Canada, 7 February 2014, https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/rachel-decoste/canada-immigration_b_4747612.html.
Hawkins, N.H. “The same act which Excludes Orientals Should Open Wide the Portals of British Columbia to White Immigrants.” Wikipedia, 24 August 1907, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Demand-oriental-exclusion-1907-Vancouver.jpg.
Van Horn, Tim. “Canadian Mosaic Wall.” CanLit Guides, http://canlitguides.ca/brendan-mccormack/official-multiculturalisms-funding-of-canadian-literature-the-writing-and-publications-program/.
Hi Simran,
Thank you for sharing your experience while clearly summarizing Canada’s Multiculturalism Act of 1988 and relating it to Coleman. If I were to answer your question, “do you see Canada as having a white identity, or a multicultural one?” when I first moved to Canada, I would have answered, “white identity.” At that time, I lived in a town called Coldstream. The name says it all (small, conservative, backwards). The town was white. Uncomfortably white. And I’m saying that as a white man. In high school, I moved to a slightly larger town next to it. My high school often bragged about all the different nationalities in our school, and we did have a diverse group of students compared to the other high schools in Vernon. 9/10 teachers were still white though. Vernon feels slightly less racist than it used to be towards expats, but the amount of racism towards Native people is still disheartening.
Now that I live in Vancouver, I would answer, “multicultural,” especially when compared to other places around the world. When I travelled to metropolises around Europe, the US, and South America, I also saw many multicultural cities, but I also met a lot more racist people and overheard more racist discussions occur than in Vancouver. I think places like Toronto and Montreal are probably similar to Vancouver in that sense, but I haven’t spent much time there, so I don’t know for certain. What I do know, is that small town Canada is not usually very accepting of various cultures.
As far as all of Canada goes, I’ll quote my favourite Canadian Writer, Will Ferguson. “The natural habitat of Canadians is the shopping mall. Indeed, some shopping malls even have cities attached for extra convenience. The Food Court at the mall represents Canadian multiculturalism at its purest: it’s clean and climate-controlled, and all the cultures of the world are reduced to fast food.”
Hi Nolan,
Thank you so much for your comment and for sharing your personal life story. I completely did not realize that I have been using Vancouver’s multicultural presence as a lens to see the rest of Canada, but experiences like yours remind me that this is not the case in a lot of places in Canada. Living in Vancouver for my entire life and not travelling anywhere else besides Toronto and Calgary really, has made me think of Canada has multicultural entirely. However, this is wrong and thank you for assisting me in coming to this conclusion!
& I totally love Ferguson’s quote! It clearly expresses the realities of today’s multiculturalism in Canada.
Hi Nolan,
I just had to stop and comment (this is why evaluation takes so very long, but I enjoy and learn from the process). Thank you for the quote from Ferguson – excellent context creation. I am going to share my comments to Simran with you:
“I enjoyed this post very much because I was prompted to re-think my old ideas, thank you for your question:
“ However, I am well aware that not everyone feels the same way. My question for my classmates then is, do you see Canada as having a white identity, or a multicultural one?”
I think Canada is a leader in terms of nations of the world in context with acceptance of differences among peoples who share this land, in general. But, the situation is more complex than general popular acceptance and legislated tolerance. Look at the people of wealth and power. Nolan’s comment prompts me to ask, how many of the professors you work with are not-white, in contrast to the student body. In my experience, I studied for 10 years at three different universities between, 1989 – 1999 while earning a Ph.D. In that time, I had one and only one female professor. Something to think about. And, isn’t it strange to use a category called ‘not-white’; like a huge giant nice clean white “us” and everyone else is “them” . – crazy.
Hi Professor Paterson and Simran,
Thank you for telling me to check out the responses. I reflected on “how many of the professors are not-white, in contrast to the student body” and I think approximately 1/4th of my professors were not from an Anglo-Saxon or Western European background. That definitely does not reflect the student body. As for my English courses, almost all the professors I had were white. There seemed to be more diversity in the sciences, but this is just my observation. I don’t know if that reflects the statistics.