Multiculturalism in the basis for the Canadian identity.

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Multiculturalism in the basis for the Canadian identity

Canada has been declared by the UN to be one of the best countries in the world in which to live – yet to define our identity is like trying to nail smoke to the wall.  Canada is a nation of many cultures.  There are Canadians from nearly every ethnic background imaginable, be they French or English, or descendent from immigrants from all corners of the world.  In 1971, the Trudeau government adopted a policy of multiculturalism within a bilingual framework.  Multiculturalism is here to stay, but is it beneficial to the formation of the Canadian identity?

The policy can be observed in a very negative light.  Canadians are a rag-tag assortment of people from every nationality imaginable.  As a result, its relatively small population, spread over a large area, shares no unifying traits or customs.  Immigrants are encouraged to maintain their distinctiveness from the rest of the Canadian population, and even those Canadians who are descended from the original colonists share no identity of their own.  Thanks to bilingualism, many Canadians do not even understand one another, let alone feel a common bond or share distinctive characteristics.  Canada’s policy of multiculturalism within a bilingual framework has lent it a confused and feeble national identity.

        This is not at all the case.  Canada began with the fusing of two cultures, traditionally enemies.  The cautious tolerance that arose with the beginnings of Canadian history endured through to the dawn of the 20th century, when immigrants from other nations began to incorporate themselves into Canada’s population.  The many cultures that comprise the Canadian population are united in their acceptance of one another.  Multiculturalism strengthens rather than weakens the Canadian identity, because it allows Canadians to see past their differences to the basic values that unite them.  Multiculturalism has been Canadian from the start, and to deny its role would be to deny our identity in itself.

        A people’s history is arguably the key factor in the development of its identity, and bilingualism is very deeply embedded in our heritage.  Canada began as a French colony.  Samuel de Champlain founded the first permanent settlements in what is today Canada.  Port Royal was established in Nova Scotia in 1604, followed by the city of Quebec in 1608.  France remained the dominant force in the region for over one hundred years.

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However, France gradually began to lose its land in the new world to the British Empire.  As a result of the Treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713 concluding the War of Spanish succession, France gave up its claims to Newfoundland, Acadia and the Hudson Bay area.  In the 1756, the Seven Years War between Britain and France began, fought simultaneously in Europe and in North America.  Strategic English attacks on major French strongholds in the New World forced the French into retreat.  The city of Quebec fell to the British in 1759 after the battle of the Plains of ...

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