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Secularism And Multiculturalism In Canada

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The role of religion in the public sphere has been a controversial issue in many Western liberal democracies since religious minorities have raised several issues in order to request for the accommodation of their religious practices. People who support secularism and those who are devoutly religious have two opposing positions in such disputes. In dealing with most of the challenges that have arisen from secularism, the Canadian government provides multiculturalism as the solution. However, is multiculturalism truly capable of bringing solutions to the secular issues? Some argue that it is effective because they believe that people could understand and accept others who have different religious values by letting diversity exist. Yet, others …show more content…

Secularism refers to the removal of religious contents from political, social and economic realms. The reason why secularism separates religion and government into two different spheres is to reduce civic reliance on religious laws and to protect the rights of citizens in practicing any religion that they desire. Even though modern democracies are held to be secular states, not everyone is supportive of secularism. Especially, religious fundamentalists are strongly against the secularization of states. In order to balance the competing interests of each group, many liberal states such as Canada tend to promote multiculturalism as the solution to challenges that arise out secularism. This is because secularism and multiculturalism are closely related concepts that are in an interactive relationship. Secularism and multiculturalism both have the ability to exert influence on democratic concepts such as freedom of religion and modernity. This is why liberals emphasize multiculturalism, as individual freedom and equality are their crucial values. Many liberal politicians claim that the promotion of multiculturalism as their way of showing that they recognize and admit the presence of diverse people with various religious beliefs; which is a process of accommodating the large population of

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Introduction: In the text by Eboo Patel “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation,” Patel focuses on living in a diverse faction full of religious prejudice in a world full of materialistic outlooks. At the same time he intertwines his personal experiences and provides a remarkable account in which he says that growing up in America as a Muslim led him to discover the importance of cultural pluralism, the acceptance of all religions, and his huge account that all Muslims aren’t extremists. He believes in ethnocentrism; religions should be able to coexist without feeling that one religion is superior than the other. In a world where the forces that seek to divide us are strong, Patel thinks the meaning of pluralism is that the differences

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How has Canada maintained a diverse cultural identity? There are many different types of Canadians. There are French Canadians, British Canadians, and Native Canadians. Canada becomes a nation. This happens when gold is found in the Yukon and Yukon Territory is made.

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"Canada is a country built against any common, geographic, historic or cultural sense" (P. Trudeau). In Neil Bissoondath’s “No Place Like Home” and the Canadian Government’s Policy on Multiculturalism, there are strikingly opposing views on multiculturalism in Canada. The policy protects the individual’s rights, to their culture, race, ethnicity, religion and any other means of what defines someone as an individual. As a nation that is renowned for its liberal stance on multiculturalism, I believe that it is a policy that defines us as a country, that welcomes people from every walk of life.

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Secondly, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism brought positive changes across Canada and positive impacts to Canadian identity. It also smoothened the relation between the French and English Canadians during the 1960s. To begin with, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was called upon by André Laurendeau with the fear of the rise of separatism in Québec after 1960: “Prime Minister Pearson responded by creating in 1963 the B&B Commission with Laurendeau and Davidson DUNTON as co-chairmen.” Pearson had made attempts to satisfy Quebec with the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism and stopped the uprise of Quebec wanting to separate from Canada: “The [B&B Commission] respond to the crisis by making room for French

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" Language could be part of the equation, but he says language “invites us but does not force us, to unite”. The United States is a prime example of this, because there are many languages spoken here and while you can choose to learn another language to connect with others, it is by no means required for everyday life. Modern nationhood cannot be based on religion either. In regards to this Renan says “You can be French, English, German, yet Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or practicing no religion.” Similarly to language religion can unite groups of people but

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One of the main reasons why America was established is the pursuit of religious freedom, as every American citizen is given the freedom to practice any or no religion and the right to freedom of speech and expression. Although the pursuit of religious freedom is still true today, discrimination continues in American society. After terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001, discrimination against Muslims religion have increased, which illustrates an incompatibility of multiple cultures and religions in the United

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Another sector of Canadian society which is influenced by religious prejudice and which shows the failure of secularism in Canada are public institutions. In Canada, public schools have pushed toward becoming secular. However, there are still examples of the lack of secularism as well as religious preference. For example, in Quebec, objections to the kirpan’s allowance in schools in an example of secularism not aligning with the rules of public institutions. The kirpan, which is a religious symbol of Sikhs, was banned from public schools in Quebec, as it was seen as a potential weapon.

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The University of Winnipeg has approved a requirement that all undergraduate students complete one Indigenous studies course in order to graduate, which has left some asking whether the University of Manitoba should do the same. The goal of the requirement at the University of Winnipeg is to develop “mutual respect and understanding” (Narine, 2015) between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. The approval came following an article in Maclean’s magazine stating that Winnipeg is where the country’s racism problem is at its worst (Macdonald, 2015) due to the preventable 2008 death of Brian Sinclair, who was left to wait for treatment in a Winnipeg emergency room for 34 hours, and was sparked by the 2014 death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine, one

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Article Summary The article, The Colour of Poverty: A Study of the Poverty of Ethnic and Immigrant Groups in Canada (Kazempiur & Halli, 2000) sets out to answer the question of how different groups of immigrants are performing economically. Taking into account the ethnic origin, period and age at immigration and immigrant’s geographical location within Canada, the authors are able to examine each group individually and compare them. In publishing this article, the authors clear up the issue of why previous research involving immigrants ' economic performance have had mixed results.

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Over the past few years, anyone can tell you that religious importance in our country has become less, and less vital. Recent events like the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, New York, and the attacks on Paris, France, have made the freedom of religion harder and harder to come by. Having the free practice of religion has proved difficult. Christianity has suffered from these issues as the general acceptance of the religion has declined substantially in the few decades. A recent poll there was a sense of discrimination for the Islamic religion, as they have been responsible for the attacks, 8/10 Americans believe Christianity should be practiced freely, while only a mere 6/10 Americans think the Muslims should practice freely (Source #3).

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