| .............. |
.
.
.
| Canadians
have been proud of their multi-cultural society having a policy of the
cultural mosaic. |
.
| This
they contrasted with the American policy of the melting pot. |
.
| Each
of them apply to our approaches to the assimilation of immigrants and to
respect for cultural differences. |
.
| In
the mosaic policy, everybody is expected to respect each others’ cultures
of origin and, apart from learning enough mainstream language and culture
so as to operate in Canada, maintain and respect each of our various cultural
origins. |
.
| Variety
is appreciated more than homogeneity and the idea that we should all be
the same. |
.
| Here
we must refer to the concept of ideal culture in contrast to real culture. |
.
| Canada
has more melting and America has more mosaic that the different ideals
would lead us to expect. |
.
| Stanford
Lyman’s studies of different assimilation rates of Chinese and Japanese
immigrants in Canada and the USA, for example, found that Japanese families
assimilated faster than Chinese families in both Canada and the USA. |
.
| He
concluded that rates of assimilation were more a function of the cultures
of origin that functions of the differing policies of Canada and the USA. |
.
| It
was a Canadian sociologist in Toronto, John Porter, in the nineteen fifties,
who turned the mosaic concept up on end. |
.
| After
describing the various categories of cultures in Canada, he wrote that
there were inequalities in power, prestige and wealth associated between
the different ethnic groups. |
.
| Although
respect and tolerance for each others’ cultures implies a sort of equalitarian
ideology, “separate but equal,” the facts show disparities between
each of the ethnic categories. |
.
| During
the sixties, many Canadians were proud that racism was not practiced in
Canada, in contrast to the Freedom Rides, and conflicts over integration
in the USA. |
.
| This
was blind cultural idealism on the part of Canadians, who practised overt
racism in colonial times, when slavery was permitted and practised, trying
to eliminate First Nations communities with gifts of blankets laced with
small pox, and laws forbidding inter racial marriage or cohabitation up
to mid twentieth century. |
.
| Racism
is alive and kicking still in Canada. |
.
| At
the top of the vertical mosaic are persons descended from those in the
British Isles and Northern Europe, and at the bottom were, and continue
to be, First Nations peoples. |
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