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-- Visible immigrants having trouble identifying with Canada
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quote:

Originally posted by Cosmic Fur WTF? I'm white and I'm the minority pretty much wherever I go (except my monthly KKK meetings).

you are still a fukkin idiot

Some of you have said stuff that's pretty much bang on about what is wrong with Canadian multiculturalism.

Canada is so accepting that it doesn't force many immigrants out of their 'comfort zone', to integrate with rest of the Canadian society.

Likewise, many Canadians, esp. those living in rural areas and more older generations may live their lives never interacting with a visible minority. Sure, there may be an odd Chinese or a black family, but how many of these rural folks will have daily interaction with a visible minority and learn about their daily lives? What they know will most likely from some sort of media.

This lack of integration and interaction will only cause more polarity, because both native born Canadians and immigrants stick to their own. More than happens, easier it is to fall victim to stereotypes and what the media says, because ignorance breeds distrust, even fear if negatives keep adding up.

For example, take Muslim extremists. The media is full of stories of suicide bombing and beheading and whatnot perpetrated by a small fraction of fuckwads who think dying for their 'jihad' will earn them entrance to heaven where they get to fuck a lot of virgins. (They must be losers if they can't get women in life and have to rely on afterlife to get sex)

So, avg joe rural Canadian hears and reads about these stories, esp. if these stories are about stuff being done against Canadians, he's going to start having negative opinions about Muslims. Intellectually, he may realize that it is only a minority of Muslims that are like this, but without a good source of info to counteract the negatives, he'll slowly think Muslims are bad.

Best way to solve this is to know Muslims who does live a productive life and show this joe Canadian that not all Muslims are bad.

For example, my parents own a convenience store in rural Ontario in middle of Buttfuck, Nowhere. Pop. of about 800. There are 2 convenience stores in the village, one owned by a Canadian and the other by my parents. Now this Canadian dude's store is rather small and from the outside, it looks shitty. My parents took over a building that's 110yrs old and renovated it. It looks pretty damn good compared to the Canadian one.
My parents also work their asses off. The store is open even on X Mas and New Years. But a lot of people still go to the Canadian dude's store because he's been in the community for longer and he's Canadian. Only after 3 yrs I think my parents are starting to make some decent profit because the people are starting to realize that these Korean people actually know what the hell they are doing and they provide good service.
Only by having interaction with my parents do these rural Canadians realize that minority people aren't bad after all.

Having said that, immigrants also need to work on integrating with the Canadian society.

To use my parents as example again, they have lived in Canada for a long time. My dad about 16 yrs and my mom about 20 and she went to university here. Sure, they speak English with horrible accent, and while their social life (what little they have) revolve around people from their Korean church, but they know what Canada is about.
They admire the most about Canadians is their sense independence, meaning, people not relying on parents to do everything for them. They kicked my ass to get me motivated to find a part time job during high school yrs and I hated them for it, but it made living on my own and going to university so much easier.
They also don't like certain aspects of Canadians like they think Canadians lack manners in some areas, but that's more of a cultural perspective. And they'd kill me if I marry a non Korean girl.

My parents made the effort to integrate themselves into the Canadian society. But others haven't.

I think a big problem is that Canadians do not present a society that others really want to belong to, esp. the older generation of immigrants.

Partially problem to that is that Canadians do not know their history, and what little that is taught is about portraying the negative stuff that the Canadians did and too much emphasis on minorities and other issues like that and not enough about the accomplishments and achivements of Canadians throughout history.

For example, IIRC in Grade 10 history, I learned about Louis Riel. For those of you that don't know him, he was a Metis (half European, half Native descendants) leader in mid 1800s and he lead 2 rebellions over Canadian govt treatment of Metis. Essentially, he's a traitor and a villain. (He also killed a person in a kangaroo court).
Yet many Canadian history texts used portray Riel as some sort of hero and a martyr, and that the Canadian govt was wrong to execute this deranged man, like he was the victim and raise sympathy for him.
Another is treatment of Japanese Canadians during WW2. I don't condone the internmentment camps and confiscation of Japanese Canadian properties or other bad actions done in the name of national security, but I recall spending like weeks on this issue, reading books about it. Fine, it is good to know about this stuff because it is important, but more emphasis on the good stuff Canadians did, please!

Like Canadian military history for example. I recall barely few periods spent about learning about Canadian military history during WW1 and WW2. Definitely didn't know about how much Canadians kicked Nazi ass and took their names and then kicked some more asses.
It took me 2 courses in university to get a proper appreciation of Canadian asskicking military history and I'm a history buff even as a kid. How many people would actually bother to take Canadian military history courses in university? By that time, it is too late to teach these people about Canadian history.

This attitude prevails even today. If you go ask an avg Joe Canada about Canadian military today and it'd most likely be something negative, like how they suck or we're just peacekeepers and whatnot.
If you ask an avg Yank about their military, they might say something about American war machine kicks ass, because they know a little bit about American history.

This loser attitude shown to immigrants and the immigrants will be like, 'why the fuck would I want to integrate with this loser civilization?' Who wants to keep playing for a losing team that shows little motivation to try to win?
The immigrant kids learn about loser Canada history in junior high and high school and they'd be like, I'd rather be Indian or Iranian or Chinese first, rather than I want to be Canadian first.
If you want to win, you want a winning attitude. You can have the best of everything like best social services, good economy and whatnot, but if you don't have the winning attitude and pride in yourself, you will most likely will not win. Just ask Real Madrid or New York Yankees. They spent millions of dollars buying the best team, but they don't win everytime.

So, Canada is a heaven for immigrants to come and take advantage of Canada. They want what is good for themselves, yet offer little in return to Canada, because they do not identify themselves with Canada. Even having a Canadian citizenship is just a ticket for more benefits, and take the responsibilities of citizenship seriously.
As Robert A. Heinlein wrote, 'Citizenship is an attitude, that the greater whole is more important than the individual.' (something like that.

I'm a proud Korean Canadian. Unfortunately, many other immigrants do not share my attitude.

quote:

Originally posted by bluE_Neon According to this article, the whites are least discriminated? This statement is absurd. Canada is filling up with Asians and the percentage of whites has been diminishing.

Yeah. Thanks for stereotypes.

Outside of major urban cities, probably just Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, there are still helluva a lot of white folks, and I know those 3 cities don't take up huge chunks of Canadian land.

My focus addresses a different matter.
They don't take up a huge chunk of land but seriously that's where 85% of the population is at this very state. Cities are more fragile than farms. Sure there is lots of white folks outside the cities but that is a fairly small percent.
Theres nothing wrong with immigration from Asian countries.

quote:

Originally posted by ChemEnhanced I think one of the problems is peoples failure to embrace the canadian way of life (if there is such a thing). Many want to have the best of both worlds....and you can't always have that.

Surprisingly well put, Liberal.

lol @ people feeling discriminated against. what a crock.

some good points already in this thread. we are to lax when it comes to immigrants. We need to find a better balance.

quote:

Originally posted by dEsidEL

Great post Emz. You said it well - i agree.

quote:

Originally posted by Pett (I'm white for those that dont know)

Definitely lol

quote:

Originally posted by Cosmic Fur Exactly, my coworker is Portuguese, she's moved here since she was very young, and I think her family has been here for like 15 years. Now here's the shocking part, her parents don't speak A WORD of English. Portuguese only. When they just came here they moved to a Portuguese area where everyone spoke Portuguese, and when she grew up, she would do the speaking of English for them (like whenever they have to use the phone, she talks for them, or when they go to the bank she goes with them and translates). That just isn't right.

My friend Flavia who lives in Kitchener told me that pretty much if your Romanian and you live in the KW area, you can get by and live your whole life w/o having to really know English.

I was utterly shocked when she told me that.

quote:

Originally posted by jchung52 i think white people are the visible minority in Guv

LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Cosmic Fur Exactly, my coworker is Portuguese, she's moved here since she was very young, and I think her family has been here for like 15 years. Now here's the shocking part, her parents don't speak A WORD of English. Portuguese only.

Judging by that, chances are also pretty high that her parents wanted her to start working asap and forget university/college.

quote:

Originally posted by DigiNut Surprisingly well put, Liberal.

There's still hope for me yet

quote:

Originally posted by Swamper Judging by that, chances are also pretty high that her parents wanted her to start working asap and forget university/college.

I'm surprised you didn't link to that Portugeuse-Canadian study we've seen.

quote:

Originally posted by dallastar you are still a fukkin idiot

I'll see you at our next KKK meeting hun.

quote:

Originally posted by Swamper Judging by that, chances are also pretty high that her parents wanted her to start working asap and forget university/college.

Well, no. While she does say that most of the Portuguese people she knew went to construction right after (or even instead of) high school, she herself went into UofT, doing a comp sci major, and is working at an internship position now. Smart girl. Now there's something you don't see from a Porkchop everyday (hi Del! ).

White visible minority here.

quote:

Originally posted by E*Master Good thing My Parents and I never had the chance to move into a "German" neighborhood since we did not want to move to Kitchener so that was never a problem. I think knowing English should be a pure requirement when Immigrating to Canada. Although I think it is now (so I heard). Someone told me when she did her Canadian Citizenship exam they had to tell people not to open the workbook until they were told to. Half the room opened it up and they all did not speak a word of English. Made her shake her head that is just wrong. The funny thing is these people pass somehow and I totally do not get that. But as controversial as it is I do believe when immigrating to Canada one should "fit in" and not appear like they have just gotten off the boat. There are time where I do want to tell people "Hey! This ain't !!!! Fit in for god's sake or go home!". You don;t see me walking around in a white shirt and Lederhosen with my Alpenhorn just because I want to feel like I am home or something. I left West Germany for a reason and appreciate being here by fitting in and celebrating all the traditions Canada has. I still do celebrate the things and the culture I came from but I always keep in mind that this is Canada and not Germany.

Hey gruesti!

on another note - if everyone who immigrates to Canada already knows English, I'm out of a job. ... Besides it really shouldn't be that big of a problem. English is by far one of the easiest languages to acquire. And yes to whomever said that immigrants integrate and assimilate much faster when living in less urban areas. I, for instance, grew up on the southern Manitoban plains in a Mennonite community when we first emigrated from Bavaria so I had no choice but to learn to communicate in English. Within a year I spoke like a true Canadian country bumpkin.

also - how do these people who don't speak a word of English get by? Don't they need to work or don't their kids want to go to university/ college? Every student whose first language is not English must pass a standardized TOEFL test.

quote:

Originally posted by disko-kandi also - how do these people who don't speak a word of English get by?

this is why many Tim Hortons, gas stations, and Taco Bells fail to get your order right on the first try..

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