During the time period of 1867 to 1945 the immigrant experience in Canada was different from today. There were many groups such as the Chinese and Jews that were no accepted by the Canadian people by 1945 the rules had changed and there was acceptance towards immigrants.
In 1900 there were only 23,000 Chinese people in Canada today there are 1,487,000 which makes up for 3.9% of the Canadian population. This was because before 1923 Chinese immigrants were not welcome in Canada for a Chinese Immigrant to live in Canada they would need to pay a fifty dollar head tax. In 1900 the head tax was raised to five hundred dollars. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the reason for the head tax and the rules about Chinese immigrants. This act was signed
…show more content…
Some of the main reason that the Jews were having a hard time in Canada was because at that time 98% of Canadians were Christian. Today there are 375,000 Jews in Canada. From 1900 to 1920 138,000 Jews came to Canada from Russia and Eastern Europe the came because they were being persecuted by the czarist government of Russia. The Jews were not always not welcomed before 1930 but they were able helped the Canadian agriculture along. In the 1930 the great depression hit Canada the unemployment rate went up wages were very low. A particularly important factor in the plight of Jewish refugees was the widespread presence of Anti-Semitism in Canada4 .Thus, even when Jews would have had the means to support themselves in Canada, they were often refused entry.5. After Kristallnacht the Canadian Jewish Congress sponsored 10,000 Jews but the Canadian government turned them down. The Jews became very unpopular in Canada there was a lot of Anti-Semitism. The Jewish community in Canada had no power or say in what the government did or couldn’t do. The Jewish community The Jews much like the Chinese were not accepted and had to work hard jobs for lower wages then other races or religions. The Jewish were treated a lot like the Chinese by the Canadians and the
Lastly, the Multiculturalism Policy of 1971 has impacted the evolution of the social-cultural identity overtime for Canada. Multiculturalism was first introduced to Canada after the second world war when two key European ethnic groups, the British and the French, joined the aboriginal peoples in Canada. This caused Canada to rethink the role of other ethnicities within the society and became the start of multiculturalism. The Multiculturalism Policy was a way for Canada to no longer be a white country, but to be more diverse, with different ethnicities within the society. Canada’s laws and policies recognize Canada’s diversity by race, cultural heritage, ethnicity, religion and place of origin as well as guarantee to all men and women complete
However, with the government of Mackenzie King’s decision to undergo these interments between 1941 and 1949, it is exceptionally clear that this reputation had been shattered, especially with his decision to deport many citizens to occupied Japan starting in 1946. Rao also notes, “The novel in fact problematizes the discourses of ‘official multiculturalism’ which sanctioned Canada as a 'cultural mosaic,' and underscores how in actual fact such policy glossed over the centrality of race in multicultural Canada. Multiculturalism simply ignored ethnicity and it was used to strengthen the dominance of Canada's two major cultures.” (Rao 2004) Basically, Canada’s multicultural society
During the mid 19th century and the early 20th century ethnic and racial groups such as Chinese and African Americans suffered through the indignities and laws opposed by white settlers/citizens of America. African Americans given the right of freedom and citizenship during 1865 and 1868, were still being looked down with hatred and anger by whites of the south, and being tolerated by the white people of the North. The immigration wave of the Chinese to the west during the Gold Rush and the building of the railroad only brought fear to the citizens that Chinese population would increase, ending in white citizens looking for ways to diminish Chinese immigration and progression. Even with the lack of physical and political protection towards
This meant that they had to leave their wives or their parents back home. The Chinese head tax was made with the intent of preventing new immigrants from coming to Canada, as they expected most to be poor. The head tax partly
Another defining moment for Canada was the shameful Japanese internment in 1942. When the Japanese bombed pearl harbour in December 1941 it started a massive outbreak of racism against The Japanese. Unfortunately this included the Japanese Canadians who had nothing to do with the attack on pearl harbour, and were legally Canadian citizens,some of which even born in Canada. Anyone who was Japanese or Japanese Canadian was sent to one of the many Internment camps inland British Columbia. These internment camps were in ghost towns, or old fairgrounds that were nowhere close to even decent living conditions.
After the war, a multicultural society was developing, and values, attitudes and principles were being created that made Canada progress as a country. Canada gained a
This essay will be about the Irish immigration to Canada between the years of 1840 and 1869. I believe the Irish successfully immigrated to Canada because they successfully integrated themselves into Canadian society. There were many challenges and some followed the Irish to Canada. The timing of the group’s migration to Canada
1941 was the year where WW2, japan and the U.S fought canada’s population. For 70 years prior to WW2 there was an anti-asian sentiment which meant that we were unwanted in canada which was devastating. Asians were paid lower wages but worked longer hours, that meant that there were fewer jobs for us and it made life harder to live in canada. The reason behind the interment was because Japan attacked pearl harbor on December 7th, 1941 hawaii on december 18th and lastly they attacked hong kong, 2000 canadian soldiers died. This impacted japanese-canadians because they were put on a “protected area” that was 100 miles inland from pacific ocean.
They were migrated mostly to Canada because the King of Britain owned it during those American revolutionary war. They also faced the harsh feelings of being doubt by the Americans. They soon felt that they are losing the on well- being a person stepping on the lands of Americans because of being loyal to the king. They may not great decision in life, but they still managed to live their own life as a citizen who could not put disloyal to the King that once promised about their freedom and peaceful life in the new nation.
Multiple sources have published statistics that show that anti-Semitism was a big deal back then, but now it is not as bad. Anti-Semitism had filled into the upper Canadian government’s levels. The immigration of Jews would "pollute" Canada's bloodstream was a thought that originated from Prime Minister King who was worrying about the possibility. The government under Prime Minister King was making sure that no Holocaust survivors were entering. Anti-Semitism has been on a big decrease in Canada since WWII.
Canada has a little piece of almost every culture in the world, shown through the large amount of people moving to Canada from every continent in the world. The multitude of cultures is displayed through the plethora of festivals held throughout the country every year, such as the Folk Fest, Edmonton Food Festival, Heritage Festival and the International Film Festival, all bringing in various cultures and traditions from around the world. Canada has all of these festivals due to the large amount of immigration that was even shown in Anita Rau Badami’s essay my Canada, when she and her husband had moved from India to Vancouver. Canada is one if not the most desirable countries to immigrate to, not only for the living conditions but because of the ability to keep your culture and not have to assimilate to a “Canadian” culture. Thanks to immigration Canada has become a great model country to look at for cultural diversity and cultural acceptance that any country can look at and try to model in their own
It is pretty undisputable that the Canadians did hold prejudice and was racist towards the Japanese people. Many believe this to be the driving reason to the Japanese’ internment. Pre-Pearl Harbor, racism was not as intense, but still was real. There was some level of racism ever since the first Japanese people entered Canada in 1877 ("The Internment of the Japanese during World War II.").
The improvement of the rights of the Canadian Immigrants Canada, as one of the biggest immigration countries, welcomes people from all over the the world and forms a representative multicultural atmosphere in today’s society. Over these few decays, the country has always been consummating the laws to provide immigrants equal rights and freedoms, and better treatments they could receive. However, Canadian immigration laws were not unprejudiced and it eventually caused a “legal discrimination” before 1976. The legal rights of the immigrant groups have improved significantly because of the demands of developing the country, the influences of the wars, and the globalization of the world. Since 1880s, more immigrants and foreigners came to Canada because of the railway construction project.
Immigration has been and will continue to happen all around the world. There are so many reasons for people who come from different countries and ethnicities to move from country to country. The reasons why these people immigrate is either they are simply forced to, due to violence and hostility or that they are in search of a better life for them, and or their family etc. Canada being rated number one in quality of life has been a goal for people wanting to immigrate. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act ( IRPA) was established by the Canadian government in the year 2002.
Although their numbers were small, they got negative attention from inordinate Canadians. This was prompted by cultural, racial, prejudice and labor fears of economic competition (Johnston,Komagata Maru). There were already Anti-Asian lobbies in Canada who opposed Chinese and Japanese immigrants and they started to dislike on the Punjabi and South Asians. As a result, Canada placed a law on immigrants from India in 1908 with regulations which had to be followed when coming to Canada. Ali Kazimi, who wrote a documentary on the Komagata Maru told the Toronto Star, “that Canada for the first 100 years of its existence had what was effectively a ‘white man's’ policy” ( Tharoor, Trudeau's apology).