Multiculturalism has been the spirit of Canada. Till 1971 the migration policies generally emphasized on aspects such as culture and language. But with the arrival of more immigrants in to the nation, this focus was shifted to anti-racist immigrant policies.
In 1982, Multiculturalism was fused as an essential part of the Canadian constitution. Each person was equal under the law regardless of what’s his/her race, religion, color, ethnic origin, any kind of disability, age etc. bias of any person based on his race was a punishable offense. In due course the Multiculturalism Act was introduced for the nation in 1988.
But the problems start with the introduction of reservations/quotas for the freshly immigrated individuals. This angered and even got the old citizens unconfident on their status as a Canadian citizen. From the previous special preference for the French speaking Canadians the focus was now shifted to immigrants and women. The Canadian nationals of British descent together with the French speaking Canadians felt quite left out from the recently introduced special policies.
Increasingly people were immigrating to Canada, result of which there was a fast change in the Canadian population and culture. The adaptation to a variety of cultures of the world was not easy for the Canadians. The addition of immigrants beneath one roof i.e. the Canadian culture was a challenge for the immigrants in addition to the existing citizens. The aptitude of the immigrants to understand the democratic structure that was the foundation of Canadian politics was tested. The francophone inhabitants speculate if the immigrants would study French or adapt their own culture.
Multiculturalism has led to a unclear sense of patriotism in some people’s mind. Cities like Vancouver, Toronto and Montréal though unwillingly have accepted multiculturalism as a fraction of the Canadian culture. The truth is Canada requires immigrants, and therefore no one turns their backs to immigration.
The immigrants just want to be documented as Canadian citizens. Not a deviant name of some ethno groups.
