Multiculturalism in Canada

Examine the below quotes and choose three to think and write (at least 100 words) about. Tell me what your thoughts are around each quote. Have you witnessed or experienced something related? Is the statement true?.......untrue? Does this statement reflect positively or negatively on multiculturalism? Does the statement reflect Canada as you recognize it to be?...as you think it should (or shouldn't) be?

1. "Canada is a peculiar country. We are a nation full of immigrantsthat hates immigrants." Irving Abella, author and history professor at York University in Toronto
2. "[Toronto's population is] a mixed race, neither amalgamated in manners, customs nor habits."

Toronto Mayor William Lyon Mackenzie, 1828

1. "Immigration goes to the core of our values and aspirations. . . . It speaks to who we are as Canadians, and what sort of society our children will inherit."

Lucienne Robillard, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

1. "Someone recently called me a 'banana,' yellow on the outside, white on the inside. I told him I'm Canadian on the outside and Canadian on the inside. I'm just one piece of the mosaic. In this country, we don't all look alike."

a second-generation Chinese-Canadian

1. "You see it when you walk into stores, you see that the security is heightened. You see it on the subway. When I get on in the morning to go to work, there aren't too many people. Gradually, the car fills up, but often nobody sits next to me."

Jules Elder, managing editor of the weekly West Indian newspaper

1. "In the face of claims of accelerated racism, my research shows that, since the 1970s, there has been a decrease in prejudice in all regions of the country."

Reginald Bibby, sociology professor at the University of Lethbridge

1. "We're living side by side but not together."

Tim Reese, co-ordinator of Toronto's Access and Equity Centre