Canadian Identity History Isu
Multiculturalism is a part of any country. There are Jews in Germany, Indians in Canada, Asians in Turkey and so on. The idea of multiculturalism is rapidly gaining popularity in all parts of the world. This idea not only promotes the coming together of different cultures, but also helps discriminate against difference races. Over the past century, Canada has grown and changed as a country in several ways. The people of Canada have gone through experiences that have shaped the country, and moved it in the right direction. There have been some good and bad times, but overall these experiences are truly what represent Canada. They have helped shaped Canada to become the strong independent country it is today. Throughout the 20th and 21st century, Canada’s treatment of minorities has changed greatly. Canada started off treating minorities terribly, but as time has gone by, the management of minorities has gotten better and better. Some situations that show a change in Canada’s treatment of minorities are Residential schools, Japanese-Canadian Internment camps and the Immigration Policy. These are a few of the situations that Canada has learned from, and are why the treatment of minorities has changed so drastically.

In the late 1800s to 1980s more than 100 00 First Nations children in Canada attended Residential Schools. Residential schools were boarding schools funded by the Canadian government for American Indian and Inuit communities(www.oxforddictionaries.com). Ideally, they would pass their adopted lifestyles on to their children, and native traditions would diminish, or be completely abolished in a few generations (www.thestar.com). The Canadian government developed a policy called “aggressive assimilation” to be taught at a church-run, government funded industrial schools, later called residential schools (www.thestar.com). The government felt children were easier to mould than adults, and the idea of boarding school was the best way to prepare them for life in mainstream society (www.thestar.com). It was believed that native children could be successful if they assimilated into mainstream Canadian society by adopting Christianity and speaking English or French. (www.thestar.com). Children were sent to these schools from ages seven to eighteen (www.thestar.com). A main issue in residential schools was that the students didn’t have many of the necessities like food, water and proper clothing