Ethnocentrism In Canada Essay

Both boast a very high immigration population from all over the globe. A well-known name for the concept of multiculturalism in Canada is the “cultural mosaic”. In America, multiculturalism is frequently called a “melting pot”. The metaphor of the cultural mosaic implies a mix of different religious and ethnic groups who live harmoniously in a society. In the United States, the situation is quite different.

Indigenous peoples of Canada have been considered inferior to all other citizens, and have been abused and neglected through European history, and can be seen as a form of genocide. In Canadian residential schools, children were removed from the home, sexually assaulted, beaten, deprived of basic human necessities, and over 3 500 women and girls were sterilized, and this went on well into the 1980 's (Nicoll 2015). The dehumanization of Indigenous peoples over the generations has left a significant impact on society today; the generational trauma has left many Indigenous peoples heavily dependent of drugs and alcohol, and the vulnerability of Indigenous women has led to extremely high rates of violent crime towards these women. A report that

Canada is often regarded as multicultural country with a high human development, great education, high life expectancy and extraordinary healthcare, proving it is an over all exceptional place to live. Although this might be the case, a fraction of Canadians who are “Indians” believe their native culture is being compromised and quality of life does not reflect that of the over all population. In the Globe and Mail article , To be Indian in Canada Today… by Richard Wagamese’s the author argues the pros and cons to granting Métis and non-status Indians status under the Constitution Act. As well as, when it comes to nationalism how are Indians regarded and what role do the first nations play in the construction of Canadian culture (Wagamese,

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

One claim Appiah continuously brings up is the fact that this topic of culture focuses too much on the importance of preserving traditions rather than supporting the people, this can be seen in the following quote, “This same Unesco document is careful to affirm the importance of the free flow of ideas, the freedom of thought and expression and human rights -- values that, we know, will become universal only if we make them so. What 's really important, then, cultures or people?” , while he does have a point that it is important to support the individual, ultimately, by supporting the culture, you are not only supporting the individual, but by preserving and putting an importance of the culture, you simultaneously reinforce the foundation of the cultural which in turn reinforces the individual’s family and future generations to come. This support of the culture will allow the mass amount of individuals to be able to express their opinions and cultural norms in a safe and progressive environment where their social norms are accepted and encouraged, while focusing on the individual and their own culture can have negative effects. In an educational study conducted by Mary C. Hayden & Cynthia S. D. Wong, it was observed that the focus of individuals and their culture in education had to be used with caution, “In terms, however, of its claims to promote international understanding and to

Canada’s strength is in its diversity as Canada tells everyone to be proud of their background. Perhaps in other parts of the world, different people don’t get along with each due to their different

Canada is known globally for diversity and acceptance of different

Everyone is treated equally under the law despite their gender, race, beliefs, traditions, etc. Anyone is allowed to maintain their own ethnic beliefs and still be able to freely participate in Canadian events and traditions with no restrictions. The country has established rights for everyone guaranteeing them freedom of speech, equality, and more. According to the National Post, “…Twitter was alive with self-congratulation this week, with news that Canada had been ranked the second-best place in the world to live.” Because of this, Canada is the epitome for other countries as it shows how people of diverse racial backgrounds can work and live together under the law in peace.

There has long been significant historiographical and popular controversy about the conditions experienced by students in the residential schools. While day schools for First Nations, Metis and Inuit children always far outnumbered residential schools, a new consensus emerged in the early 21st century that the latter schools did significant harm to Aboriginal children who attended them by removing them from their families, depriving them of their ancestral languages, through sterilization, and by exposing many of them to physicalleading to sexual abuse by staff members, and other students, andenfranchising them forcibly.

Canada can be seen as a civic nation because Canadians come from many different backgrounds but choose to live together under similar political beliefs and values. This has allowed Canadian culture to be very diverse. In spite of this diverseness majority of the culture comes from the U.S. Most movies, T.V. shows, magazines, and radio content was made in the

The immigration issues facing Vancouver and Montreal are more similar than they seem. Despite the obvious differences in location and ethnic groups, the two problems are comparable to each other. In Vancouver, they face issues of Asian immigration, more specifically, Hong Kong. The clash of ideals and culture lend themselves to a struggle between native Canadians and Asian immigrants. When immigrants from Hong Kong come to Canada, they bring with them a specific set of ideals, backed with money to simulate the economy.

Residential Schools was an enormous lengthening event in our history. Residential schools were to assimilate and integrate white people’s viewpoints and values to First Nations children. The schools were ran by white nuns and white priests to get rid of the “inner Indian” in the children. In residential schools, the children suffered immensely from physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual abuse. Although the many tragedies, language was a huge loss by the First Nations children.

One way that the Indigenous studies requirement would aid in combating racism is through diminishing harmful stereotypes that surround Indigenous peoples. According to Maclean’s, “one in three prairie residents believe that many racial stereotypes are accurate” and that 52% of prairie residents also agree that “Aboriginals’ economic problems are mainly their fault” (Macdonald, 2015) in a poll conducted by the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration. Canada has had a long history of racism against and the dehumanization of Indigenous peoples, including but not limited to the residential school system and the more recent issue of the high rates of Indigenous children in Child and Family Services (CFS). It is estimated that 150,000 Indigenous children were placed into residential schools from 1874 to 1996 (Fee, 2012) and it is believed 6,000 of these children died while attending, although this number is difficult to determine due to the government ceasing recordings of deaths in residential schools around 1920. Indigenous children were taken from their homes, from their parents and from their way of life to be put into schools that were meant to rid them of their Indigenous culture and assimilate

Culture is defined as behaviours, values and beliefs shared by a group of people and passed on from one generation to another. Canada is a bilingual and a multicultural country. Canada is also known as a cultural mosaic as it allows people of many cultures to coalesce into one. Immigrates are coaxed to keep their culture and teach others about their cultures. Canada was established in 1867 by British North America act.

Ethnocentrism and its prevalence in U.S culture Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one’s own culture. Individuals who are ethnocentric judge other groups in relation to their own ethnic group or culture. I think The United States likes to refer to themselves as the “big mixing pot” of cultures. I would agree, we do have a wide range of different cultures, but that does not mean that we do not “evaluate and judge other cultures based on how they compare to our own cultural norms.” I think us as Americans feel this way, because we are too scared to change what we have learned and known since birth.