michael sylvester wrote: > > OK,I agree to Canada's positive spin on immigration.However in the > late fifties and early sixties,a group of Caribbean students staged a > demonstration at Sir George Williams University in Montreal protesting > attitudes and discrimination against the established academic > community.All of those who protested were deported back to the islands > by Canadian authorities.
No one's perfect. Canada certainly isn't. Immigrants from the Caribbean have a "tradition" of not bothering to acquire Canadian citizenship (we're all in the "Commonwealth," you know), and the Canadian gov't periodically takes advantage of this to ship those they regard as "undesirable" back to the countries of their birth. It still happens from time to time, though not so much with simple protesters as with gang leaders and drug dealers. This might seem reasonable to many of you ("If they aren't Canadian, why should Canada put up with their bad behavior?), but the "rub" is that many of these deportees have lived in Canada since they were very small children, and simply dumping them on the mean streets of Jamaica, where they know no one, is often effectively a death sentence. Until the 1960s or so, Canada's immigration history more or less tracked that of the US. A huge wave of Irish and Germans in the late 1840 and early 1850s (actually, on a proportional basis, the Irish immigration to Canada's cities was much greater than it was to New York and Boston). Then Chinese, primarily on the west coast. in the 1860s and 1870s. Then and even "huger" immigration of Italians, Greeks, and East Europeans (many Jewish) starting in the 1880s and continuing on until the 1920s (when the first real immigration laws started to close the borders). In the 1960s, the first sizable immigration from the Caribbean came to Canada -- largely (though not entirely) Hatians to Montreal, Jamaicans to Toronto. As with previous large immigrations, things were not entirely smooth. There were culture clashes, misunderstandings, and simple racism. Canada was never immune to these things. (On the other hand, Montrealers are still proud of the fact that, when Branch Rickey decided to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, he picked the Montreal Royals as a club where he could get ready with minimal harrassment from the general public.) Canada still has its share of these racial/ethnic kerfuffles. There are a few differences in the way these matters play out in Canada though. First, race does not hold quite the unique "electrical" status in Canada that it does in the US. It is *an* issue, but not *the* issue. No doubt this is because Canada does not have the same history of slavery as the US. There were slaves in early Canada, but not nearly as many and not nearly as late. Slavery was abolished in Upper Canada (present-day southern Ontario) in the 1790s; in Quebec somewhat later; and I'm not sure about the Maritimes (where the destruction of Halifax's historic "Africville" in the 1960s is still an issue of some sensitivity). In any case, slavery was abolished (at least officially) across the entire British Empire in the 1830s. The US held on for another generation-and-a-half. (Indeed, if you recall your American history class, you may remember that as long as the Civil War was officially about "union," the British sided with the South (for the cotton). It was only when the British threatened to run Union blockades of Confederate ports that Lincoln issued the Emancipation Declaration, converting the war into one officially about slavery. The British would not take the side of slavers in a war over slavery. Second, Canada does not have a massive, impoverished country of potential immigrants on its southern border. Third, although Canada by no means has a perfect record on social equity issues, on balance it is much easier to live in Canada than it is in the US. Taxes are higher (though not as high as in Europe), but social services are much better. It is much less likely that you or your kids are going to starve and/or die of a preventable disease if you lose your job in Canada than in the US. (Which is why Canada has lower infant mortality, better education outcomes, and higher life expectancy than the US.) Less desperate times also call for less desperate measures. And so the violent crime rate in Canada is much lower than in the US as well. But, Canada is not the land of "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" It is the land of "Peace, Order, and Good Government" (or, more recently, "Life, Liberty, and Security of the Person"). :-) Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=6533 or send a blank email to leave-6533-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu