1. Of Human Diversity By Shannon Lawrence

2. According to our textbook race is defined as A category of people who are believed to share DISTINCT physical characteristics that are deemed socially significant (Linda A. Mooney, 2013) 3. An argument that states that a society should embrace ALL racial and ethnic groups in that society IS CANADA VIEWED AS A MULTICULTURAL NATION? (Linda A. Mooney, 2013) 4. YES!Canada is seen as a nation that embraces the melting pot mentality. They have all cultures working together in order to help build a new culture that all can be proud of. HOWEVER there are still some issues that arise for those who are not from Canada and even for those that are but have different ethnic backgrounds. 5. Although Canada is now known as the nation that accepts all, it was not always so. According to the conflict theory there is a huge competition by ways of economics. Bringing in cultures by the droves was not helping the Canadian economic system at all because they were then taking away from the jobs that were here for Canadians to have. So what was the governments solution? In 1885 a head tax was given to every Chinese individual who came into Canada. At first the head tax per Chinese person was $50, then in 1900 it was increased to $100 and then in 1903 it was increased to $500!! This was their attempt to stop the amount of Chinese and Asian people coming into Canada Acceptance? Maybe not. (Linda A. Mooney, 2013) 6. Some might think that this was just something that was just back then, but even though (According to the Government of Canada) in 2011 Canada welcomed almost 250,000 immigrants to Canada there are still some underlying issues that occur that people who are not born bred Canadians have to deal with. (Government of Canada, 2014) 7. Not everything has to do with economic dealings. Even the way that people are spoken to and referred to when they arrive might show a different light than the one that we are trying to shed as a country. After reading an article from VICE Canada, disrespect towards other cultures is still very evident within Canada. The article speaks of a young person who grew up in Brampton Ontario who was originally from Pakistan who went through a lot of racial troubles, from being called Paki which can be seen and viewed as a very derogatory term, to attempting to go to an arts school and being sneered at because he wasnt the typical art student. THESE THINGS STILL EXIST IN CANADA?! (Mistry, 2013) 8. Sadly, Yes Not only do people coming to Canada have to deal with people not accepting their cultures, but they not also have to deal with people forcing their Canadian cultures on them sometimes making them feel as though they cannot be who they are within such a so called DIVERSE country. According to our textbook, and one of the journal entries that we were asked to do people who come here are limited to what we ALLOW them to do. After an assessment was done by a researcher by the name of Jasmin Zine, she found that schools within Canada have special days that are given to other cultures in order to give them the sense that they do matter within a culture that is not their own. However when they are given these days they are only seen as one day celebrations where they dance and showcase instead of actual knowledge taking place (Linda A. Mooney, 2013) 9. One on going problem that immigrants of Muslim culture have with coming to Canada and having he freedom to be themselves but having to give up their culture is the issue of them being allowed to wear their hijabs when they go to vote. Or even being allowed to wear their burqas in general. VOTE "BARE-FACE" Canada is however better than France where the President has completely banned Veils and Burqas. This is said to have been done in order to help Muslim women be accepted by and integrate better into society. Burqa's and Veils BANNED in France 10. However, its not only those who are coming into Canada that are suffering but also those who are from here, that were actually here first that are suffering and have suffered the most. First Nations have done a lot for this country as a whole but were treated horribly and now the governments are trying to make amends for the damage done. The government thought that they were responsible for educating the First Nations children and people . This is how residential schools came about. These schools were said to have been used in order to teach aboriginals the Canadian Christian way. When in actuality they were abused and taught that their culture was not the right culture to abide by. The reason why the government went with schools was because they felt that children were a lot easier to mold than adults were. These children were stripped of their culture and beliefs in order to adapt faster to the Canadian culture. We Were Children (CBC News Canada, 2008) 11. . First Nations and Chinese werent the only ones who endured hard times here in Canada when it came to being treated horribly because of race and or race and how it could affect the economy. In an article that we read in session 10 we see that there were tree-planters that lived in deplorable conditions in British Columbia that were discriminated against because their employer didnt like black people. Black workers were forced to work harder on the field than non- black workers simply because they were black. They were given undercooked and sometimes expired foods to eat. They were made to go to rivers and streams (that could or could not have been safe) in order to drink water. This can be tied back to the Structural- Functionalist Perspective of race and ethnicity. According to our textbook, inequality between races was functional for some societies. In the US, the belief that there was superiority of certain races was justifiable grounds for slavery. This meant that in EVERYTHING black would be dependent on their white masters for any and everything that they needed. Food, shelter, consistency. No matter how demeaning it was. (Luk, 2013) 12. Not only Not only were they told to give up their culturebut their names as well (TVO, 2010) 13. Let us not think that the way that we treat cultures are not being passed down to our children because in actuality, children not only develop their identity through their parents but through society as well 14. So now we understand that we dont treat insiders any better than we treat outsiders, we also understand what people have to go through once they get into Canada. But after reading the Self and Society section in Chapter 8, I realized that the things we expect immigrants to know when they arrive here is ridiculous. Half of these things Im pretty sure Canadians dont know to begin with For Example: When did the British North America Act (BNAA) come into effect? From whom are the Metis descended? RIDICULOUS RIGHT? 15. Canada is a country that is thriving in its immigrant levels, and of that we should be proud, but there are also things about what we do once they get here that we need to fix and change. We need to make sure that we are as welcoming and accepting as we say we are. We need to ensure that we are not only imposing our culture onto them but also intermixing the cultures together. That is how we are going to be able to thrive. Ill leave you with a quote from Joss Whedon: Equality is not a concept. It's not something we should be striving for. It's a necessity. Equality is like gravity. We need it to stand on this earth as men and women 16. Works Cited CBC News Canada. (2008). A history of residential school in Canada. Retrieved 2014, from CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-history-of-residential- schools-in-canada-1.702280 CTV News. (2006). Veiled Voting in Canada. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Government of Canada. (2014). Backgrounder 2014 Immigration Levels Planning: Public and Stakeholder Consultations. Retrieved 2014, from Government of Canada: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/backgrounders/2013/2013 -06-21.asp IDFA. (2012). We were Children. Alberta. Luk, V. (2013). Tree-Planters endured slave like conditions. Retrieved 2014, from CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/tree-planters-endured-slave-like- conditions-lawyers-tells-b-c-rights-body-1.1476275 Linda A. Mooney, M. H. (2013). Understanding Social Problems Custom Edition. Toronto: Nelson Education. Mehta, D. (2012). Aboriginal Candians face racism, stereotyping in urban health care. Retrieved 2014, from CTV News: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/aboriginal- canadians-face-racism-stereotyping-in-urban-health-care-report-1.1074444 Mistry, A. (2013). Canada is Still Racist. Retrieved 2014, from Vice: http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/canada-is-still-racist RT News. (2011). Burqa Ban: Muslim full-face cover now a crime in France. TVO. (2010). Afua Cooper on Slavery in Canada. Toronto.