Differences In Canada In The 21st Century

Beginning in the 20th century, Canada was encouraging immigration to take place, and for people to migrate to this country that promised free land and exemption to follow whatever religion they desired to follow. However, there were many disputes that arose when attempts to bring people in began. Our past reality was portrayed a certain way however, Canada currently in the 21st century has evolved immensely. Despite this, a variety of our feelings toward immigration have also remained the same since then. Overall, the Canadian government as well as the general population’s feelings toward immigration in the 20th and 21st century possess several differences and similarities as our past differs from what our current reality is yet, a great deal

Back then, they were extremely unwelcoming towards certain groups entering Canada such as Chinese immigrants, Japanese immigrants and Black immigrants. An example of them being unwelcoming included when the ship entitled the Komagata Maru, holding 376 passengers, arrived to Canada in 1914 after a month of sailing, but were forced to return back to India after two months of standing off. This was a display of Canada’s strict immigration policies, and illustrated the assumption that Canada is a one-race country, which is a huge difference to what Canada is seen as now. Another condition of the past that is non-existent in Canada today is placing restrictions for the amount of people who migrate to Canada. This was taking place for the Chinese immigrants as well as the Japanese immigrants. The Chinese immigrants had to face head taxes that began at $50 ($5,000 today) which escalated to $500 ($50,000 today). When that didn’t prevent the Chinese from entering Canada, they completely banned Chinese people from coming to Canada which stayed in place for 24 years. With the Japanese immigrants, they placed a limit to only 450 Japanese people being allowed to come to Canada per year. Another example of Canada attempting to place restrictions on certain races settling into Canada was when there was governance being prepared to ban Black people from entering Canada, which wasn’t able to

To this day, Canadian’s feel that there are too many immigrants entering Canada as many immigrants are taking their jobs, and they also feel that there are outweighing the original Canadians. The feeling of too many immigrants was also felt back in the 20th century when the government had to create a ban on Chinese immigrants. One of the largest and most unfortunate similarities we possess between the 20th and 21st century in terms of our feelings toward immigration is the ethnocentrism/racism that Canadians portray. In the 20th century there was an absence of a legitimate reasoning for why Canada didn’t prefer Chinese, Japanese, Asian or Black immigrants other than the underlying truth that they were performing discrimination towards these groups of people. Now, although we are considered a multicultural country there is obviously discrimination that many non-Canadians still experience, even if it is not to the same extent as it was in the 20th century. These racial incidents are in the forms of everyday incidents that don’t typically make it to the news. Some incidents include a Muslim woman being attacked and being told to “go back to her own country” as she picked up her children from school, a Somali-Canadian man in Waterloo being told by an employer that he wasn’t suited for a certain job position as his cultural background was known to have resistance to