Charley Xi and Lucas Lu Canadian Identity Revolution • Canadian Identity has never been certified 。 Canadians have always been trying to create new icons through the United Nations, the CPR, and multiculturalism, trying to discover a representation that symbolizes Canada. Unfortunately, Canadians’ identity is still, to this day, very vague. But one thing that people associate Canada with is the country’s multicultralism, something achieved through decades of hard work and compromises.
Transcript
Charley Xi and Lucas Lu
Canadian Identity Revolution
• Canadian Identity has never been certified 。 Canadians have always been trying to create new icons through the United Nations, the CPR, and multiculturalism, trying to discover a representation that symbolizes Canada. Unfortunately, Canadians’ identity is still, to this day, very vague. But one thing that people associate Canada with is the country’s multicultralism, something achieved through decades of hard work and compromises.
Question: What is an Canadian stereotype?
Brief History of People in Canada
• As far as the 16th century, the conflicts among the English, the French and the Natives have never been settled.
Aboriginals• Aboriginals were known to be the first to settle on this
continent. With little modern knowledge, they were soon taken advantage by the later settlers such as the British. Fur trade have changed the Natives lives as the grew dependent on solely hunting for furs and addicted to rum.
French• French created new France in 1604 at Quebec and Montreal.• The settlers of New France were uneducated, vibrant, mostly
lower class citizens whom are willing to take any chance for a better life.
• Granted acres of land and a few farming tools, they came to New France with no farming experience, and few survived the first winter.
British• The British first came to Canada in 1610. As they
found fur trading exceptionally profitable, they traded cheap rums to attain high quality furs.
• Many young crew members on fur trading boats decided to settle in Canada as they found Canada a better place to live. (Fur traders were lower class citizens, with only few educated, whom work for fur trading companies.)
The Conflicts Have Never Ceased
• Seven Years War (French and Natives)• Land Disputes (British and Natives)• War of 1812 (French and English)• Confederation (Most joined for benefits--
territorialized)• Aboriginal Schools (Canadians and Natives)• White Paper (Canadians and Natives)• Bill 101 (French and English)
Natives:1.Argues for Land Ownership2.Wants Special Status
French (Eastern):1.Wants their language to be official and widely spoken 2.Wants to become a separate Country
English (Western):1.Don’t want to be left out of the game2.Wants Canada to recognize their importance
Question:1.Canadian Identity?2.Stereotype : Complaining?3.Where is “us”
Canadian Achievements Become Identities
• After Confederation, Canadians have worked hard to create symbols and icons that can represent Canada, and to have something in common. Although we had created many representations, only few are successful.
French VS EnglishOfficial Languages Act
• Although it is a step towards unity, the creation of the Official Languages Act met many difficulties as the westerners would not tolerate the fact that French will become an official language.
• Finally, despite many oppositions, French became an official language
• The creation of the act manifested the not very indulging nature of Canadians. The Creation of the Official Languages Act will not, and did not hamper any English-speaking Canadians from their daily activities nor did it become an obstacle, but why not tolerate something that can further unite Canada and provide convenience to French-speaking Canadians, that is, if any wants unity.
•In P227 in the text book, the answer to the Question “What does Quebec want?”is: They want to be recognized as Canadians. Canada should feel like their home country. However, if they cannot speak nor understand their countries official language, what “home” is there to say? The special status is simply making them feel more “homelike” instead of feeling like foreigners within a colony.
The White Paper• Same as the French, the aboriginals only wanted to
preserve their culture in order to feel like their home country. However, the Natives have more right to acquire special status than the French because the soil that Canadians are habiting originally belonged to the Natives. Taking their land, we should not deplete them further more from their culture.
• The white paper was passed in 1969
Western Alienation• Westerners wanted more as they saw the
Québécois acquire the same status as the westerners.
• The westerners saw the Official Languages Act, and the freeze of oil price to be losses in the competition of for authority.
Comparing Canada to other Countries
Canadians
Natives
French
Canada Other Countries
French: Why don’t we separate? This way we will all get what we always wantedEnglish: Sure, if your people agrees.French: Yes! No!
Are we a United Country?
The Canadian Pacific Railway• The CPR was found in 1881 by the federal
government as one of the first major constructions to create links and further relations between the east and west of Canada.
• I has always been something that Canadians are proud of, no matter if they are English, Natives, or French
The United Nations• The UN is found in 1945 after WW2 to replace the League of
Nations. • The founder was a Canadian whose name is Franklin Roosevelt. • Although Canada is not one of the Big Five, the creation of UN
manifests the peaceful intentions and initiative to create changes for the benefit of the world
• However, Canada has not been the most influential nation in the UN and some peacekeeping missions failed to represent the peaceful nature of Canadians.
Multiculturalism • Multiculturalism is an advantage that
Canada gained naturally. Since the 19th century, people started to immigrate to Canada from all over the world. Immigration significantly increased in the beginning of the 20th century and steadily grew since mid 20th century.But , is multiculturalism good or bad for the Canadian society?
Pro of Multiculturalism • Multiculturalism can be considered as DNA.
The more variety one has, the healthier and stronger one can become. This concept also applies to a country; the more people from different backgrounds, the more perspectives we will have towards a political or international problem, and thus the better our solutions would be.
Con of Multiculturalism
• Multiculturalism can be bad to a country as the country needs to fulfill and respect the needs of the many minorities. A country should not be too separated because people within a country should have more in common so that uniformity can be seen. Otherwise, the country cannot be seen as a collective group.
Enduring/Tolerating or Praising Multiculturalism?
• Multiculturalism is something that cannot be changed in Canada. However, are we simply tolerating each others existence or proud to be a multicultural nation?
• Everyone’s answer is different, however, if we want to form more identities as Canadians as a whole, we must see multiculturalism as something to be proud of.
• To create Identity, we must create Unity first.
Will unity ever be achieved?
• With today’s advance transportation skills, anyone can get to any place of the world within a day.
http://archives.cbc.ca/for_teachers/7• Fitton, Avis, Robert Kenyon, Rick MacDonald, and Larry Parker. Canadian identity . Toronto: Thomson
Nelson, 2006. Print.• Taylor, Rupert J., and Linda E. Taylor. Canadian identity . Waterloo, ON: R/L Taylor Publishing, 2009. Print.• "White paper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar.
2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_paper• Carpenter, Scott. "THE GREAT CANADIAN IDENTITY CRISIS."Le Québécois Libre :: liberté individuelle,
économie de marché et coopération volontaire depuis 1998. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2011. <http://www.quebecoislibre.org/000108-11.htm>.
• "Confederation - The Canadian Encyclopedia." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2011. <http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=a1ARTA000>
