Good post, here's my analysis.
Which is what we see in Canada.
Canada is a British nation, but we've been to busy pissing that identity, our identity, away to appease the false idol of multi-culturalism. So our society is a mosaic? Well guess what, when you have a society made up of different pieces you're left with no unifying culture at all.
Bottom line? It's time Canada rediscovered what it is, and embraced that. It's not unreasonable to expect immigrants to learn the history and culture of their new home, and to adapt to that culture. If they want to move to Canada, great. But they need to become Canadians. Not Syrian-Canadians, or Croatian-Canadians, just Canadians. Respect the society of the country you're moving to and adapt. Don't expect us to change how we do things to appease you.
But wait I-C, isn't it true though that even the British are immigrants to Canada, I mean what about the Quebecois, are they different or what?
My thoughts on the "Europeans are immigrants too" argument when discussing immigration, cultural assimilation, etc...
It's similar to the Israeli/Palestinian crisis. There are some who are constantly bitching about how things could have been done better 1948, or how Israel doesn't have a right to exist anyway.
Here's the thing. Regardless of what mistakes were made in 1948, regardless of what you think about Israel today, the fact remains that you're never going to get every Jew in Israel to pack up and move. It's not happening. The State of Israel is here to stay. So rather then focusing on what could have been done better in 1948, or discussing the validity of Israel's existence as a nation, you need to refocus your energy into two streams of thought....1) Israel isn't going anywhere and 2) given that, how can we best resolve the situation we're in now, rather then the situation you wish we were in?
So lets refocus on Canada (and most of the Americas for that matter). Yes, colonization in regards to the Natives could have gone better, but it's a waste of time to think about that. Rather we need to realize that all the people of European decent aren't going to get to pack up and leave the western hemisphere, and that the nations these European settlers founded are here to stay.
So given that, no those of British and French decent in Canada aren't immigrants. Why? Because their ancestors founded this nation, the Dominion of Canada, as a primarily British nation, with a strong French minority. Therefore this land is just as much Canada's as it is the Natives'. So no, I don't buy the "you're an immigrant to" argument.
As for the French Canadians, I'll get to them latter.
Quebecois, are they different or what?
We spend too much time sitting here and saying that if you move to Canada, you have to become Canadian and not remain what you are. But even in Canada, we divide ourselves with the idea of being English Canadian and French Canadian aka Quebecois (always liked that name) Before we can tell someone who comes to Canada to become Canadian and not Syrian-Canadian or Italian-Canadian, we first must look at ourselves and say we are Canadian.
The French Canadians are part of a three-part formula of what makes Canada "Canadian."
G-China said that when cultures form they barrow favourable aspects from other cultures. The same happened in Canada. Canadian culture is a combination of British, French, and Native cultures. As such the Quebecois are just as much Canadian as the British or Natives because they provided one of the three "ingredients" to Canadian culture and society.
When I say Canada is a British nation I'm referring to the fact that of those three founding cultures, the British is the most prevalent, and I would dare say the most important. Why? We were created as a Self-governing nation of the British Empire, and we remain one today (substitute "Empire" with "Commonwealth").
Look around. Our road signs have the Crown on them, as do most of our provincial arms and our national coat of arms. We have a changing of the guard at Parliament. Our military uses the prefix "Royal." Our head of state in the British monarch. We're not only Canadian subjects, but British subjects, and that goes for the Quebecois as well. The Union Jack even as official status in Canada as our "second official flag."
We celebrate Victoria Day and play
G-d Save the Queen at the appropriate moments. The RCMP even retains the uniforms of British soldiers long since abandoned by both the British and Canadian armies. Heck, during the 1998 Olympics Princes William and Harry wore Canadian gear while in attendance rather then that of the British national team.
Of the three founding cultures, non is more prevalent nation-wide then the British aspect, and in that regard we are a British nation, even the Quebecois. The Quebec coat of arms even contains an English lion and the crown of the monarch.
The Quebecois are simply a founding people unique from the British, and as such have retained their unique culture within a British nation. Just as the Natives, an other unique founding people, have kept their culture in the same circumstance.
We have the Western Canadians who are underrepresented and yet they embody many things that are Canadian,
Western underrepresentation in Parliament is a shame, but luckily something that can can be fixed with a slight tweaking of the electoral system.
then you have the slowly-Americanizing Ontarians,
This trend has really slowed down.
the proud independent-minded Quebecois, who are what makes Canada unique in North America,
See above
the recent addition Newfies and then the Maritimes who hold on to their English, Scottish, and Irish culture.
Considering that Scottish, Irish, and English cultures make up the British culture, and it was Britain's culture that has dominated Canadian culture, I would say those retaining their Scottish, English, and Irish roots are very much Canadian.
Take for example the Quebecois, couldn't it be that the reason they want independence is because the rest of Canada has pushed away from what it means to be Canadian.
I would say that that the Quebec separatist movement was (and is) fuelled by a greedy power grab of the likes of the Bloc and Parti Québécois, who used the distinctiveness of the Quebecois culture to further their own personal political gains, at the expense of Confederation. Look at the Arcadians, an other French minority, mostly in New Brunswick. They've managed to retain their culture in a mostly British nation without referendums, bombings, or kidnappings.
Our grandfathers were different Canadians than us, because they lived, fought and died for the Empire. We don't have the Empire anymore, but we still ahve to hold on to the fact that we are unique in North America and even in the Empire when it was around. We can't ask someone to change themselves when we cannot hold on to what is Canadian.
I'm not asking them to abandon everything about their old culture, they're free to practise whatever sacred or traditional celebrations that might have (I would never ask an immigrant from Syria to abandon practising Ramadan for example). I just think they should work to integrate themselves into Canadian society, to adopt the practises and learn the history that makes Canada Canada.
I immigrated to America three years ago and I will say that it is really hard to give up customs and traditions that you ahve lived with your entire life. My mother and I still have Thanksgiving in October, we still celebrate Canada Day and Victoria Day.
So we ahve to ask ourselves, if we moved to the States or to France or anywhere else, would we like someone to tell us that everything we have learned and grown up with is wrong where we are going and we have to change that. I have been in the immigrant shoes and I say that we can't tell someone something unless we have gone through it ourselves.
Yes, but do you force say, the school board, to make Canadian Thanksgiving off? Do you force American history teachers to give equal footing to the formation of the Confederation when they should be focusing the reconstruction of the South following the Civil War?
It's one thing to keep the traditions you grew up with, as you have. It's an other to force the society you've moved into to conform to your traditions at the expense of their national identity.
But I do respect what you are saying, if you asked any Canadian who the second Prime Minister of Canada is, they won't know, but we can tell you who the second President of the United States is. Hardly any Canadians know that we whipped America's ass not once but twice. Ask them what we did in World War One and Two. How many Canadians know how important Vimy Ridge is to Canada. We went down in history as the first colonial army to force a major Euorpean power to retreat it's army. How many people know that Canada was the fourth most powerful nation on earth after the Second World War, how many people know that we were on the doorstep of the ascension to superpower status in 1946. Few people know that Canada could've been the fourth superpower in the early stages of the Cold War and if we did enter superpower status back then, Canada would have replaced Great Britain as the champion for monarchies, as the US was for democracies and the USSR was for communisms. How many Canadians know that Canada is a monarchy. So we need to first reconnect with our history and our culture, we need to know that we are not America's little brother. We are America's cousin. We are different.
These are the things I'm simply asking to be emphasized. I don't care if an immigrant retains his or her old traditions, I'm simply asking they learn the history and the culture. Heck, some Canadians could use to learn it, probably more so then some immigrants.
BTW the answer is Alexander Mackenzie, Liberal
