“Hearty Eating,
Cold Weather and Friendly People”: Perceptions of a Visitor to Canada.
Munish Alagh
“Hearty Eating, Cold Weather and Friendly People”: This sums
up my overall perception of Canada. But for the uninitiated lets start from the
beginning:
Canada is a country in North America consisting of 10
provinces and 3 territories, so says the Wikipedia entry. But in reality when
the Canadian Confederation was officially proclaimed on July 1, 1867, it was
initially with four provinces- Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
Nova Scotia ("New Scotland", is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and
constitutes one of the four Atlantic Canada provinces. Located almost exactly halfway between
the Equator and
the North Pole (44º
39' N Latitude), its provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the second-smallest province in
Canada, with an area of 55,284
square kilometres (21,300 sq mi), includingCape Breton Island and another 3,800 coastal islands. As of 2011, the
population was 921,727, making Nova Scotia the second-most-densely populated province
in Canada.The largest ethnic group in Nova Scotia is Scottish.
North
West Territories were formed with a large aboriginal population, here in 1870
the Red River Rebellion by the Metis created the province of Manitoba. British
Columbia (united with Vancouver island in 1866 joined the confideration in
1871, while Prince Edward Island joined in 1873.
Manitoba is a
Canadian prairieprovince. The province,
with an area of 649,950 square kilometres (250,900 sq mi), has a
largely
continental climate, with thousands of lakes
and many rivers. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and
western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other major
industries are transportation, manufacturing, mining, forestry, energy, and
tourism. The word "Manitoba" comes from the native word
manitou,
meaning spirit.
Lake Manitoba was named earlier, north of
Portage la Prairie.
Manitoba's capital and largest city,
Winnipeg,
is Canada's eighth-largest
Census Metropolitan Area,
and home to 60 percent of the population of the province. Winnipeg is the seat
of government, home to the
Legislative Assembly of Manitoba and the highest court in the
jurisdiction, the
Manitoba Court of Appeal. Four of the
province's five universities, all four of its professional sports teams, and
most of its cultural activities are located in Winnipeg.
The capital of British Columbia is
Victoria, the
15th largest
metropolitan region in
Canada, named for the Queen that created the Colony of British Columbia. The
largest city is
Vancouver,
the third-largest
metropolitan
area in Canada, the
largest in
Western Canada, and the second largest in the
Pacific
Northwest. In 2012, British Columbia had an estimated population of
4,622,573 (about two and a half million of whom were in
Greater
Vancouver).
[6] The province is currently governed by
the
BC Liberal
Party, led by
Premier Christy Clark,
who became leader as a result of the
party
election on February
26, 2011 and who led her party to an election victory on May 14, 2013.
British Columbia's economy is largely
resource-based. It is the endpoint of transcontinental railways and the site of
major Pacific ports, which enable international trade. Though less than five
percent of its vast 944,735 km
2 (364,764 sq mi) land is
arable, the province is agriculturally rich (particularly in the
Fraser and
Okanagan Valleys) because of its mild weather.
Its climate encourages
outdoor recreation and
tourism,
though its economic mainstay has long been
resource extraction, principally logging,
farming, and mining.
Vancouver,
the province's largest city and metropolitan area, also serves as the
headquarters of many of the Western-based natural resource companies. It also
benefits from a strong housing market and a per-capita income well above the
national average. While the coast of BC and certain valleys in the
south-central part of the province have mild weather, the majority of BC's land
mass experiences a cold winter temperate climate similar to the rest of Canada.
The Northeast corner of BC has a
Subarctic
climate with very cold
winters.
Prince Edward Island is a
Canadianprovince consisting of the island itself, as
well as
other islands. It is one
of the three
Maritime provinces and is the smallest province in both
land area and population. The island has several informal names: "Garden
of the Gulf" referring to the pastoral scenery and lush agricultural lands
throughout the province; and "Birthplace of Confederation" or
"Cradle of Confederation",
[4]referring
to the
Charlottetown Conference in 1864, although PEI did not
join Confederation until 1873, when it became the seventh
Canadian province. The backbone of the economy is farming, as it produces 25%
of Canada's potatoes. Historically, PEI is one of Canada's older settlements
and demographically still reflects older immigration to the country, with
Celtic, Anglo Saxon and French last names being overwhelmingly dominant to this
day.
According to the 2011 census, the
province of Prince Edward Island has 145,855 residents. It is located about
200 km north of
Halifax, Nova Scotiaand 600 km east
of
Quebec City.
It consists of the main island and 231 minor islands.
Altogether, the entire province has a
land area of 5,685.73 km
2 (2,195.27 sq mi).
Alberta and Sasketschwan became
provinces in 1905.
Alberta is located in western Canada,
bounded by the provinces of
British
Columbia to the west
and Saskatchewan to the east, the
Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of
Montana to the south. Alberta is one of three
Canadian provinces and territories to border only a single U.S. state and is
also one of only two provinces that are landlocked.
Saskatchewan is a
prairie
province in
Canada, which
has a total area of 651,900 square kilometres (251,700 sq mi) and a
land area of 592,534 square kilometres (228,800 sq mi), the remainder
being water area (covered by lakes/ponds, reservoirs and rivers). Saskatchewan
is bordered on the west by the Province of
Alberta,
on the north by the
Northwest Territories, on the east by
Manitoba,
and on the south by the
U.S.states
of
Montana and
North Dakota.
As of July 2012, the population of Saskatchewan was estimated at 1,079,958.
[6] Residents primarily live in the
southern half of the province. Of the total population, 257,300 live in the
province's largest city,
Saskatoon,
while 210,000 live in the provincial capital,
Regina. Other major cities include
Prince Albert,
Moose Jaw,
Yorkton,
Swift Current and
North
Battleford.
[7]
"In 1992, the federal and
provincial governments signed a historic land claim agreement with
Saskatchewan First Nations."
The First Nations received
compensation and were permitted to buy land on the open market for the tribes;
they have acquired about 761,000 acres (3079 kilometres squared), now reserve
lands. Some First Nations have used their settlement to invest in urban areas,
including
Saskatoon.
Some Jottings On The Political
Economy of Canada
As a politically aware and
informed visitor to Canada it is my observation that Canada has many
similarities to India, specially regarding its political economy, pluralism and
multiculturalism are major features of the Cnadian Governments stated policy,
in short, like India, Cnada celebrates diversity. In the
political sphere Pluralism and democracy have been confronted with challenges
in India and Canada not least sucessionism and terrorism, but remain important
foundations on which the two countries depend.
The
Past
We
begin with a quote from Sunil Khilnanis “The Idea of India” where he sees in India’s democratic experience evidence
of something that James Madison and his Federalist colleagues well understood
more than two hundred years ago. “Large republics with diverse and conflicting
interests can be a better home for liberty, a safer haven against tyranny, than
homogenous and exclusive ones. Within them, factions and differences can check
one another, moderating ideological fervour and softening power.” This
statement could hold as true of Canada as of India although many could say that
the changing cycles of Social equilibria in such culturally multi-hued
countries leave nothing to certainty, least of all the certainty of social
peace; as has been seen through time with periods of comparative stability and
inter-communal amity being punctuated with periods where it seems that
Religious Conflict has taken the Driving Seat.
Common
features between India and Canada are many but what stands out are the
adherence to Secularism in India’s
case and Pluralism in Canadas case. In the case ofIndia its emergence as a secular state
despite the native religiosity of its people is significant. Indeed India stands apart from its immediate
neighbours Bangladesh andPakistan specially in having forsaken an ethnic
religion as the basis of its national development. With its large size India
presents a natural case as a country which should be given its due in world
affairs but our case is that its very much for the features that accompany
India’s large size that it should be given importance specifically its
adherence by and large to secularism and its independent chartering out of its
economic path. Despite ambivalence over its federal structure and a strong
centre India continues to have ideologically
contrasting parties at the helm in many cases at the centre and the states.
Despite prophets of doom warning against disintegration regional parties
continue to bloom. It is the democratic structure of India’s nationalist
movement which has bequeathed to us an egalitarian structure of governance, in
these days of abuse of the nationalist movement and its icons specially in
Gujarat (except Sardar Patel) it would serve us well to remember a quote from a
popular book on modern Indian history. “A nationalist movement has to be
disciplined and organizationally strong and united; yet it cannot afford to be
monolithic or authoritarian”2
As Trudeau himself writes in the introduction to the book
“Towards a just society” edited jointly with Thomas Axworthy-
The ideas that animated our efforts from 1968 to 1984 are every
bit as compelling today as they were during our years of power.
·
We fought for a Canada where individual rights including
linguistic rights, would be accepted across the land.
·
We fought for a strong federal government capable of initiating
programs that would equalize opportunities for Canadians wherever they happened
to live.
·
We fought for an independent Canadian economy and foreign policy
so that we would have the ability to create and maintain a distinctive way of
life in our part of North
America.
·
We fought for a fairer, more humane Canada, in which the power of
government was a necessary instrument in the quest for a more just society.
The period when Trudeau was in the driving seat in Canada saw a
lot of conflict, because conflict does arise when a leader who espouses strong
humane ideas emerges and drives his point home quite forcefully to the
discomfort of elements inimical to Individual freedom. As we see below these
ideas which remain a force in Canada today emerged during a period when they
were even more forcefully contested then they are today in Canada.
Pierre
Elliot Trudeau-The man and his ideas-
Rather
than discuss personalities and events it is our aim in this project to discuss
ideas, but behind these ideas lie certain events, and in the case of Trudeau
these include events like the October Crisis and the Quebec Referendum. The
ideas that lie behind these events include Multi-Culturalism, Federalism and
Canadian Nationalism.
October
Crisis:3 During the October
Crisis of 1970, the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ)
kidnapped British Trade Consul James
Cross at his residence on the sixth of October. Five days later,
Quebec Labour Minister Pierre
Laporte was also kidnapped (and was later murdered, on October
17). Trudeau responded by invoking the War
Measures Act, which gave the government sweeping powers of arrest and
detention without trial. Although this response is still controversial and was
opposed as excessive by parliamentarians like Tommy
Douglas and David Lewis, it
was met with only limited objections from the public. Trudeau presented a
determined public stance during the crisis, answering the question of how far
he would go to stop the terrorists with "Just
watch me". Five of the FLQ terrorists were flown to Cuba in 1970 as
part of a deal in exchange for James Cross' life, although they eventually
returned to Canada years later, where they served time in prison.
Trudeau’s
credo was to strengthen individual rights over groups. Notwithstanding his
approach of individual freedom being paramount, or perhaps, because of it,
during the crisis of October 1970 Trudeau while initially making some
concessions dealt with terror with a heavy hand. In this he showed that whereas
he was all for individual freedom the legitimacy and the authority of the State
was to be upheld. As Trudeau explained ‘Freedom and personal security are
safeguarded by laws; those laws must be respected in order to be effective.’
He
emphasized ‘This government is not acting out of fear. It is acting to prevent
fear from spreading..it is acting to make clear to kidnappers and
revolutionaries and assassins that in this country laws are made and changed by
the elected representatives of all Canadians-not by a handful of self selected
dictators.’
Trudeau
it was claimed was acting during this crisis to discredit the PQ, but this is
clearly contradicted by his statements and that of his Ministers at this time.
Thus Trudeau’s record as a democrat is enhanced not weakened by the events of
October 1970.
Defeat
of the referendum on Quebec sovereignty4,
called by the Parti Québécois government
of René Lévesque, which was held on May 20,
1980 was another landmark event in Trudeaus career. In the debates between
Trudeau and Lévesque, Canadians were treated to a contest between two highly
intelligent, articulate and bilingual politicians who, despite being bitterly
opposed, were each committed to the democratic process. Trudeau promised a new
constitutional agreement with Quebec should it decide to stay in Canada, and
the "No" side (that is, No to sovereignty) ended up receiving nearly
60% of the vote.
Federalism:
With regard to federal –provincial relations and constitutional reform too
Trudeau’s steps mirrored his credo of individual rights over groups. However
his governments overall record was mixed with regard to this ‘bold in approach,
but often enfeebled and infirm in withstanding the provinces political
demands.’4This credo was however put to test in the crisis of Autumn
1970. Trudeau was definitely not one ‘to put Quebec in its place’ unlike what
some commentators noted, instead his efforts was always for cultural and social
accommodation following his credo.
Multi
Culturalism: On October 8, 1971, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau announced in the House of
Commons that, after much deliberation, the policies of bilingualism and multiculturalism would be
implemented in Canada. When the Canadian constitution was patriated by
Prime Minister Trudeau in 1982, one of its constituent documents was the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and
section 27 of the Charter stipulates that the rights laid out in the document
are to be interpreted in a manner consistent with the spirit of
multiculturalism.
Trudeau
‘represented a legitimate strand of Quebec thought or opinion, often overlooked
both inside the province and in the rest of Canada.’5 That opinion was of providing
the rights of French-Canadian people within Canada. His approach ‘urged French
speaking Quebeckers to seek their future in a larger Canada than a narrower
Quebec; it stressed safeguards for individual rights rather than the collective
responsibilities of a beleaguered French-Canadian people.’6
This
was similar to Henri Bourassa who represented a strand of Quebec thought which
was unique in Canada in the late nineteenth century another thought or
opinion-Indian nationalism was inaugurated in the same time period. This phrase
Indian nationalism is somewhat misleading; “Infact a sense of region and nation
emerged together through parallel self definitions-and this point is essential
to any understanding of the distinctive layered character of Indianness”7
The
commonness in Bourassa’s thesis of a federal security to French Canadians and
Jinnah’s initial project to protect the interests of the Muslim minority
in provinces is noticeable.
This
need for a federal balance in population is reflected in Bourassa’s thinking as
well when he claims “we do not have the right to make Canada an exclusively
French country any more than the Anglo-Canadians have the right to make it an
English country.”
But
indeed Bourassa had strong roots, he had a conviction that the church and
the French culture were coexistential. In this respect he was close to Maulana
Azad who had deep roots in Islamic tradition and simultaneously in Indian
tradition. Bourassa had deep roots in the church and in French Language and
culture but even so had an unshakeable belief in Canadian unity.
It is
interesting to note that Trudeau moved from supporting Quebecois Nationalism in
his early years to being a Canadian Nationalist through most of his political
life speciually with regard to the constitutional and federal stand which he
took.
Canada has always attempted for
equal partnership between the two founding races, taking into account the
contribution made by the other ethnic groups to the cultural enrichment of
Canada and the measures that should be taken to safeguard that contribution.
Canadians have used the term
"multiculturalism" both descriptively (as a matter of fact) and
normatively (as an ideal). In the first sense "multiculturalism" is a
description of the many different religious traditions and cultural influences that
in their unity and coexistence in Canada make upCanadian culture. The
nation consists of people from a multitude of racial, religious and cultural
backgrounds and is open to cultural
pluralism. Canada has experienced differentwaves of immigration since the nineteenth century, and by the
1980s almost 40 percent of the population were of neitherBritish nor French origins (the two largest groups, and among the
oldest).[4] In the past, the relationship between the
British and the French has been given a lot of importance inCanada's history. By the
early twenty-first century, people from outside British and French heritage
composed the majority of the population, with an increasing percentage of
individuals who self identify as a "visible minorities".
Interculturalism refers to support for cross-cultural
dialogue and
challenging self-segregationtendencies
within cultures.[1] Interculturalism involves moving beyond mere
passive acceptance of a multicultural fact of multiple cultures effectively
existing in a society and instead promotes dialogue and interaction between
cultures.[2] Interculturalism has arisen in response to
criticisms of existing policies of multiculturalism, such as
criticisms that such policies had failed to create inclusion of different
cultures within society, but instead have divided society by legitimizing
segregated separate communities that have isolated themselves and accentuated
their specificity.[3] It is based on the recognition of both
differences and similarities between cultures.[4]It has
addressed the risk of the creation of absolute relativism within postmodernity and in multiculturalism.[5] Philosopher Martha Nussbaum in her work Cultivating
city, describes interculturalism as involving "the recognition of
common human needs across cultures and of dissonance and critical dialogue
within cultures" and that interculturalists "reject the claim ofidentity politics that only members of a particular group have
the ability to understand the perceptive of that group".[6]
Interculturalism has both
supporters and opponents amongst people who endorse multiculturalism.[7] Gerald Delanty views interculturalism as
capable of incorporating multiculturalism within it.[8] In contrast Nussbaum views interculturalism
as distinct from multiculturalism and notes that several humanities professors
have preferred interculturalism over multiculturalism because they view
multiculturalism as being "associated with relativism and and identity
politics"
