Multiculturalism in Canada

As a multi-ethnic, multilingual and multicultural country, Canadian multiculturalism plays an important role in its formation and development.Multiculturalism has experienced three development stages which from budding to formation, to the institutionalization ,and its time span is semicentury that it is about from the 1940s to 1990s. Pluralism culture embodies in various aspects such as language, education, employment, which makes many immigrants obtain real rights, in turn helping the wave of immigrants. The result is that improves the stable development of the Canadian politic and economy,and the sustainable development of social culture, making Canadian society culture more inclusive and open which gives priority to the British and French culture,and it’s a virtuous circle for the development of whole society.

Before and after the Second World War, assimilationism and Anglo consistent theory is very popular in most Canadian authorities, and it regulates that immigrants must give up the original cultural customs if they want to be in Canada,and live with Anglo Canadian life way. Only in this way, can they become a real Canadian. These policies may be revolutionaries’ wishful thinking, however, most of the migrants are not willing to accept the assimilation fact, especially in Quebec.To quell the Quebec doctrine,the government formulated and passed the Official Languages Act in 1969, that English and French is the two official language of Canada. Actually, bilingualism has not solve the problem fundamentally, but added many burdens to the French Canadian, as Stephen Dean said: "it is completely impossible to implement bilingual system , because when the two languages are within a regional competition, the dominant language will replace another language." In 1971, the prime minister of the federal government, Trudeau, announced that the government would accept all advice and opinions of the royal commission about two languages and two cultures. Cultural pluralism at this time was aimed at ethnic minorities, ethnic groups and cultural groups, and then expanded to all ethnic groups. After 1982, the Canadian government successively promulgated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,the Multicultural Culture Law and so on.These measures make multiculturalism institutionalization and legalization.

In a word, multiculturalism accelerates the immigrants into the mainstream society, provides abundant resources and opportunities for the development of economy, politics and culture , also makes an indelible contribution for pluralistic world. On the one hand, multiculturalism allows Canada to absorb foreign cultures. On the other hand, Canada's multiculturalism has also been brought to the world and it is a beautiful and unique part of the world's cultural family.There is no doubt that it is a innocent process of bringing in and going out for Canadian multiculturalism.So,It also has important implications for the cultural development of our country.

加拿大多元文化主义

作为一个多民族、多语言、多文化的国家，加拿大多元文化在其形成和发展中起着重要的作用。多元文化主义经历了三个发展阶段，从萌芽到形成，再到制度化，它的时间跨度是半个世纪，即从1940年（代）到1990年（代）。多元文化体现在各个方面，如语言、教育、就业，这使得许多移民获得权益，进而推动移民的浪潮。结果就是提高了加拿大政治和经济的稳定发展，社会文化的可持续发展，使得以英国和法国的文化为主的加拿大社会文化更加包容和开放，这对于整个社会发展是良性循环。

第二次世界大战前后，同化主义和盎格鲁一致论在多数加拿大当政者中是非常受欢迎的，它规定移民必须放弃原来的文化习俗，如果他们想要在加拿大,以及用盎格鲁加拿大人的生活方式生活。只有这样,他们才能成为一个真正的加拿大人。这些政策可能是改革者的一厢情愿的想法，然而，大部分的移民不愿意接受同化的事实,尤其是魁北克，为了平息魁北克主义，政府在1969年制定和通过了官方语言法案,规定英语和法语是加拿大的两种官方语言。事实上，双语制并没有从根本上解决这个问题，但增加许多负担给法裔加拿大人，如斯蒂芬·迪恩说：“这是完全不可能实现双语系统,因为当两种语言在区域竞争时,占主导地位的语言将取代另一种语言。”在1971年,联邦政府总理特鲁多,宣布政府将接受所有关于两种语言和两种文化的皇家委员会建议和意见。文化多元主义在这个时候针对的是少数民族,民族团体和文化团体,然后扩展到全部民族。1982年以后,加拿大政府先后颁布了《加拿大权利和自由宪章》、多元文化法律等等。这些措施使多元文化主义制度化和合法化。

总之,多元文化主义加速移民进入主流社会,为经济政治和文化的发展提供了丰富的资源和机会，也为多元世界作出不可磨灭的贡献。一方面,多元文化主义允许加拿大吸收外国文化。另一方面,加拿大的多元文化主义也被带进世界,是世界文化大家庭中一个美丽而独特的部分。毫无疑问，对于加拿大多元主义文化是一个引进来和走出去的过程。所以，也对我国的文化发展有着重要的影响。

Reference:

[1]Wang Junfang.Canadian multiculturalism policy[M].Beijing:China Social Sciences Press,2013.

[2]Liang Haohan(writer),Chen Yaozu(interpreter),21st century Canadian multiculturalism: challenges and arguments,[D].Nanning:the original is on the Canadian Ethnic Studie,Vol.43 No17-39.Journal of Guangxi Minzu University (philosophical social science edition),Vol.37 No.2 Mar 2015.

[3]Liu Xingshu,Intercultural and multiculturalism - Canada's case analysis[D].Beijing:the World Nationalities,No.5,2014.

[4]Chen Xiaojiao,Exploring the multicuralism in Canada[C].Ji’nan:Shandong University master’s thesis,2010.

加拿大多元文化主义