Canada's Cultural Diversification

A nation with only one population, all of whom are of the same ancestry and speak the same language, is not diverse. Globalization, trade, immigration, and sports have increased cross-national exchanges at levels where countries share cultures and other defining characteristics (Samuelson & Antony, 2007). Canada is one such country that has opened its doors to some people who wish to enter. Since they share and borrow from the native community, newcomers to the country have critical cultural influences. In general, the nation maintains a dynamic and expansive cultural landscape (Evans, 2013). As a result, elaborating on Canada's origins and sources of cultural diversity is a thoughtful consideration.
Immigration into Canada draws back to the era of colonization when the British and French got into the country in large numbers. In the 18th century, some Americans fled their country during the civil war and settled in Canada (Evans, 2013). According to Evans (2013), another group came from Britain and their allies during and after the world wars. When these people found Canada to be an ideal and peaceful place, they settled, found comfort and called Canada home (Evans, 2013). After these incidences, immigration continued, and people came from several locations around the world, carrying in the same wave their languages and cultures (Stibbe, 2013). The state then drew a plan to protect the diverse cultures in Canada.

Protecting different philosophies meant holding to the practice of the innumerable people from different parts of the world. A policy and a charter in the constitution, enacted in 1971 and 1982 respectively played significant roles in the holding to the cultural practices, as Evans (2013) elaborates. Preserving the cultures remained a duty that the ethnic communities had to complete. They received government funds to fulfill this task. The mission of preserving cultures was achieved in a simple way when the communities built cultural centers for the benefit of the people and working of the society. The numbers, languages, religion and other practices are currently more in Canada to the tune that historians can recognize to be diverse.

The influences of cultural diversification in Canada are vast, numerous and continuous. The effects of the cultural diversity may depend on the ways, needs, wants and more as per the desires of the people. However, the first influence common to them is the flexibility in their interactions. People have identified cultures they belong to and those of others together with their observations and practices (Naiman, 2008). As a result, individuals change easily from one form of culture to another (Samuelson & Antony, 2007). An example is in the case of intermarriage, where one person observes distinct cultures. The continuity of the same idea of culture polishes the society with a rendition of entertainment.

Societies can love the cultural mix until they come to its adversaries. The mixing of people, observing more cultures, the practices from different places leads to confusion. People from Canada and outside can notice this, fail to figure the correct identity of the county. The laws to maintain a cultural diversity was a good move, though it appears not to have limits. Original cultures are swallowed into the new ones, in the name of diversity. Canada may remain without a distinct culture that identifies it (Samuelson & Antony, 2007). This muddle is likely to intensify with time, to the point that reversing may be difficult. The problem increases since it is the mandate of the ethnic groups to manage these cultures, and not the government (Naiman, 2008). It would be better if the state got in, advised on the customs to observe and those to dismiss. For instance, languages and religion can remain. Besides, it becomes a burden for the state to be funding this cultural maintenance every time.

A diversified culture increases knowledge, with people originating from one region sharing information with people from another area. Social satisfaction increases when people share knowledge of their cultures and increase tranquility in the society. With concord in the community, more advantages come in, like economic prosperity (Ishmel, 2012). The problem with sharing cultures is the surety that people lack with others. Sharing cultural practices increases chances of wrong information or training to people. When corrupt cultures get into the society, its disadvantages crop in and cause problems as well. It is better for people to take caution of what they learn by first gauging their consequences to the community.

Education among the immigrants, who form a larger population of diverse communities, increases in Canada. The country gains the image of a knowledge-based society. When comparing to other countries, Canada has a good picture of a friendly country than others. Samuelson and Antony (2007) add that other countries have hindering issues as racism and ethnic animosity triumphing. Canada has an excellent education system that caters for every citizen. Some countries like America had a bad history of racism and discrimination based on color. Their school and other social system favored only the natives, giving a skewed system of learning (Andrew et al., 2009).

On matters of education, Canada had a problem of ensuring the system was favoring everybody. Diverse cultures are not easy to manage when the people had a different style of education in other areas (Naiman, 2008). The state spends much time and money teaching people the language and training them to acclimatize themselves to new education styles. This may not end as more people are changing their locations of stay to Canada. Additionally, the world is becoming globalized, and most of the traditions of education may cease to exist.

The future of cultural diversity is likely to increase with the growing population, which is shifting to urban centers. People are moving to different countries, now and then. Their cultures may not remain intact with this movement (Evans, 2013). As a result, the world will end up having more cultures to handle. In such situations, it becomes difficult for people to share and gather more like in the past. Problems of insecurity in countries are becoming difficult for others to handle, leading to the barring of more people migrating to other nations. Canada may join the same league and end the social promotion.

In conclusion, the origin of cultural diversity draws back to colonial periods and immigration and has great influences in Canada. The British, the French and the Americans who were escaping civil wars went to Canada to seek refuge. The increasing number led to the passing of law by the government of Canada to promote the multiculturalism. The influences after this are the increased number of diverse languages, their education, borrowing and flexibility in their country. There are problems as well, like confusion, lacking national identity and controlling any negative cultural sharing. The future may look unpredictable with the changing issues brought by globalization.

 



Annotated Bibliography

Andrew, C., Biles, J., Tolley, E., Syemiatiscky, M. (2009). Electing a Diverse Canada: The Representation of Immigrants, Minorities, and Women. Vancouver, BC. UBC Press.

Andrew is a political science researcher and understands the problems most countries passed before being diversified. He knows the reasons why counties need this diversification to prosper. The book they published records the needs of a political representation in Canada and a full group of people working on the advantages of having minority groups in positions of power. For this research, one can figure the information from this source to clarify the demands of people in such a country. The future of the state is also in question, as to whether they will handle the challenges of diversity.

Evans, L. (2013, June 4). Diversity in Canada: An overview. Retrieved from http://canadianimmigrant.ca/guides/moving-to-canada/diversity-in-canada-an-overview

Evans is an author with the department of immigration in Canada. He has a lot of information about the coming of immigrants into Canada. In this article, he records the origin of the diversification of Canada from the times the colonialists arrived in the country, the civil war in America and the world wars. As a result, the country constructed laws to promote the cultures. For the paper, it improves the understanding of the origin of the communities to Canada.

Ishmel, J. (2012). Diversity Vs. Racism: A challenge to mankind. Bloomington. Xlibris Corporation.

Ishmael Henry is a social scientist with information on racism and diversity, a concept he observed for long. He deliberates on some of these experiences from the societies he observes for a length of time. His book highlights the challenges people have in their societies to live in a diversified fashion. Canada experienced this issue and poses as a best case study for the people who need the idea. For the research, it outlines the difficulties they may face in staying together if thy come from different races.

Naiman, J. (2008). How societies work: Class, power and change in a Canadian context. Victoria, Canada: Fernwood Pub.

The experience of Naiman as an accomplished sociologist gives her the credibility amongst the readers. Her extensive research on this article draws from several perspectives. Naiman presents information on the social fabric about Canada, including their organization to achieve their fitting in the current world. She shows the changes a Canadian Society had and made useful for the people to know of the handling during diversification matters. This helps in drawing information for the article to discuss the importance of the modern situation of the people in Canada.

Samuelson, L. & Antony, W. (2007). Power & Resistance: Critical Thinking about Canadian Social Issues. Victoria, Canada. Fernhood Pub.

When he published this book, Samuelson was a solicitor general in Canada and understood the roles diversity played in the country. His position presented credibility to readers on information he published. Problems in societies come when they have a diverse people to handle their issues. In this case, Samuelson and co-author identifies the problems that a diversified society faces in Canada and the possible changes to their system of government. For Canada, it is important for the reader and for this research because it assists in explaining the strain the state goes through to remain with the universal image of a diversified society.

Stibbe, M. (2013).Captivity, forced labor and forced migration in Europe during the First World War. New York, NY. Routledge.

Mathew Stibbe analyses the history from the world war. His experience allows a reader to understand the sentiments and draw facts from the book. In his research, he establishes the reasons for the mass movement out of Britain. This confirms the claims in the research that migration was true. Coupled with the information from History books of Canada, they stress on the point about the mass movement that led to diversity.