Racism in Canada

Question: What is the Issue of racism ? Answer: Introducation The issue of racism has been a matter of concern in all over the world for centuries now. The difference between people has been created based on various matters. Developed countries have been an active practitioner in this curse. American countries have suffered a lot because of this practice as many people used to come from Africa in search of work because there was not much available in those African countries. Canada has been a country of diverse religions and linguistic heritage since ages. The impact of racism has always been of a substantial amount in the past but recently there have been some improvements in this issue. First Nations, Francophones, New Canadians and the Visible Minority are the four divisions by which people of Canada are distinguished. The first aspect that has to be highlighted regarding this topic is about the people living in Canada. Various types of people have come to Canada and assimilated in the country. The social history of Canada is different from other countries. A vast population consists of various indigenous communities and the aboriginal people and people settling in from various parts of Europe. Educated and high society people dominate different cities of the country like Quebec, Montreal, Ontario and they are generally from European countries. The aboriginal people and the First Nations people were tortured throughout the country. British tried to influence the whole country with their culture and education and other spheres. It can be argued that in a place like Canada where many types of people live settling in should possess a multifarious and diverse outlook towards cultural, sociological and economical aspects to develop the resources of the country. In contrast to that, the only thing happen ed there, was the spreading of racial activities. It was extremely unwanted there. Later, when it gained freedom from the British the number of people settling in from French provinces began to grow more. They were termed as Francophones (Imbeault et al.). These people were the main targets of racism in the country. One very important aspect of Canadian racism was not only dependent on the skin color but also on the different linguistic background (Currie et al.). The history of Canada is full of many immigrant cases. It is very pertinent that there have been clashes between them to establish supremacy over one another. The racism is mainly committed based on skin color as we have seen in the case of Troy Maxson in the novel Fences (Menson-Furr). The diversity in Canada based on various kinds of people belonging from various linguistic backgrounds is so immense that the acts of racism have been and seen in the past few centuries. Quebec had stayed firm in holding their grounds when the British powers were running rampage to conquer the entire Canadian territory. They could not outnumber the people in Quebec as they still believed in their language, their ethnicity, and their Roman Catholic beliefs. The city was then observing the lights of development and the process had begun for its modernizat ion (Senese and Kathi). The poor people were not given their prior rights and were oppressed by the local clergymen. The people were deprived of important services and their growth rate in accordance to the economic change perspective was very slow. They did not get opportunities in the high earning employments. This kind of racial discrimination that was prevalent in those days was not something very desirable as it stood in the way of the countrys development. Naturally, other powerful European countries would set their eyes on that particular region and attempt to dominate Canada and establish their supremacy over the other people. The situation was like stabbing their own people on the back to gain power and rise to prominence. Racism, as a topic of argument, is very controversial because it involves many topics. It is a significant note that there was a very bitter relationship between the French-aboriginals and the British-aboriginals. There was a very tough environment to live in Canada because of these problems. Later the evolving of the fur trade improved the situations and the mutual relationship between the colonizing British and the local people (Palmer, Howard and Driedger). The development based on technology began in Canada because of the two forces the aboriginals and the settlers. The influx of the immigrants was from areas like South Asia and China and Japan (Rahim). The black immigrants were supposed to be a threat to the native people. These black people were oppressed and faced the pangs of social discrimination. They were captured and the white skinned people in Canada had made them slaves. Later on the African Canadians, Asian Canadians and the First Nations people felt this injustice as well. The visible minorities were the victims of racism activities as the slavery systems persisted. Besides, the visible minorities, the Muslim communities were also barred from enter the country after the terrorist attacks in USA in 2001 (Nagra and Ito). One can surely argue from the fact even in recent times America is not free from racial discrimination be it based on skin color or religion. Canada is surely going to have an impact of these incidents, as they are close neighbors of USA. This is not a good advertisement for the Western world because they are the forbearers of development. Racism has diminished in the recent times. The recent reports say that Canada has become one of the safest places in the world to live in (Mullings and Delores). The issue is the racism has killed thousands of men and women through ages and made many people homeless. The argument lies in the fact that for many decades the Canadian people have committed racist activities by depriving the immigrants of basic facilities. The practice of slavery existed in regions like New France and British North America. Thousands of black people suffered due to this inequality. This was a hammer blow to the humanitarian rights of a person. It is simply a way of diminishing the reputation of ones own country. The people with British accent got jobs in the uppermost posts and the other people had to do only very trivial jobs. During the First World War, people belonging from Germany were victimized badly. This level of intolerance cannot be expected from a country with various multilinguistic, multicult ural kinds of people living in it. The multicultural history of Canada was laid waste by the curse of racism (Fleras and Augie). In the defense of these criticisms, it can be said the native Canadians considered the black immigrants as people who were criminals and a threat to their economic progress (Knowles and Valerie). This was not at all a perfect idea to deal with immigrants because the people have immigrated to another land after facing some troubles in their own land. No people are born criminals as circumstances pave the way to how a person should be. A practice that takes lives of people or renders them homeless has no point to be supported for the welfare of the society. The conclusion can be drawn from this essay based on arguments that racism is a social evil and it has no place in the modern society. However, Canada is now one of the safest places to live in the modern world; the evils of racial activities may still not have been abolished at some places. It is the duty of the citizens to build a world where every person will be treated as equal. References Currie, Cheryl L., et al. 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