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Is Canada Exceptional Notes?

- It was agreed upon that moving forward from the Cold War, Canada would adopt an

immigration policy that aims to accept immigrants based off a points system that ranks key

factors such as, employment history, family, and income

- In 1967 legislation was introduced to make Canada’s immigration policy more open as a way to

promote multicultural values in the country and in the government

- It was said that Canada only having two official languages does not help its case of trying to

become multicultural, and that it may actively turn potential immigrants away who may believe

that it is a sign they are not welcome, or that it may be harder to adjust

- Unlike the US, Canada, at least on the surface does not try to be a “melting pot” of cultures but

rather a “fruit salad”, where one's place of origin is still something that they hold near to

themselves

- Statistics indicate that of all the provinces in Canada, Quebec tends to be the most racist as

people of colour are discriminated at higher rates than in other areas, as well as this muslims face

a more discrimination than those from different religions

- Canada’s history of racial and religious prejudice runs deep as in the post war era, the

population had largely only had to settle the differences between white Canadians and
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indigenous Canadians, but after large scale immigration from south and east Asia the dynamics

between the racial groups have soured

- Michael Donelly argues that “forms of discrimination that violate a key normative premise of

Canadian multiculturalism is common in Canada”, and that Canada is not exceptionally different

from the US

- Multiculturalism up until now has largely been used as a symbol, or in other words a facade to

gain respect and credit in the international community, something which Canada has longed for

but does not want to achieve through military force

- Generally Canada’s immigration policies has been far more relaxed than the US policies

through the 1990s and 2000s, but considering the US finds itself in far more conflicts than

Canada, one would expect that the difference in their policies would be more drastic than it is

- There has been a general trend in American and British politics of immigration becoming a

highly contested issue over the past few decades, whereas in Canada that does not appear to be a

sizeable issue on the surface, but rather something boiling underneath the surface

- One major aspect for any society that aims to be multicultural is to have a policy that does not

discriminate against racial or religious groups, something which Canada has done for centuries
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- Donnelly argues that on most political issues people do not have fully developed opinions and

that they tend to follow what they see on the media, or what seems to be the status quo at that

particular point in time

- The data collected also shows that people do support forms of racial discrimination but less so

religious discrimination, the two are not linked, otherwise there are roughly the same amount of

people that support racial but not muslim discrimination and the reverse

- According to the data, most Canadians will discriminate when given the chance to, Syrian and

Sudanese people suffer the most on average, suggesting that both ethnic and religious

discrimination play a role. The greatest beneficiaries when put in a given scenario were white

people suggesting that there is still a stigma in society against ethnic and religious minorities in

Canada