Racism in Canadian Society: Historical Expressions and Progression in the Late 20th Century

In this report we will discuss about racism & candian society and below are the summaries point:- Racism has long been prevalent in Canadian society, with a history of discrimination and prejudice dating back to before 1867. The paper explores the various expressions of racism in post-Confederation Canada and the reasons behind its existence. It also discusses the extent to which the influence of racism diminished in the late 20th century.

Running head: RACISM AND CANADIAN SOCIETY
RACISM AND CANADIAN SOCIETY
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Racism and intolerance of ethnic differentness have marked Canadian society and
government since before 1867. In what ways was racism expressed and demonstrated in
post-Confederation Canada, and why? To what extent was its influence diminished in the
late 20th century?
Although Canada is making effort to create the country a mosaic of peoples and culture,
the long history of prejudice and discrimination still remains vital 1. In Canada, racism has been
prominent since decades marking Canadian society since before 1867. Canada has been a
difficult place to govern physically to govern and conceive. Canada presents enormous as well as
large challenges in regard to culture. The paper aims to discuss the ways racism and was
expressed a demonstrated in post-confederation Canada and the reasons for it. Also, the paper
will discuss the extent and the reasons due to which its influence diminished in the late 20th
century.
Post-confederation Canada (1867) is the history of a new nation that begins at its
formation till World War I broke out in 1914. Canada consisted of 3.5 million populations that
resided in large expansion from Cape Breton to beyond the great lake near to the Canada-US
border. The French population was high during that period, counting almost one French in every
three Canadian. About 100,000 were aboriginals residing in those areas. The largest city was
Montreal followed by Toronto and Quebec at about 60000. Overall a culture mix was found
during the post-confederation. The mix culture was tied and linked together by the common
thread of emerging national identity. However, there were several false steps along the way that
included the struggles of aboriginal people and over federal unity, the ever-present tensions.
1Stevens, Joyce West. "African American female adolescent identity development: A three-dimensional
perspective." Serving African American Children. Routledge, 2018. 141-168.

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It was during the long 19th century when the ideals of democracy were spreading across Europe
and Atlantic. The process was seen to be occurring a decade sooner in Canada along with the
influences of the development of colonial culture. The French revolution’s three major ideal
Liberte, egalite, fraternity made it possible to question practices such as slavery, religion and
related. These concepts have provided a vocabulary with which one could challenges oligarchies
and exploitative employers in the period of industrialization. It was the set of beliefs that became
the foundation of the 19th-century philosophy of liberalism. Liberalism gave the idea of
fundamental rights that human should have as human. Such concepts of human rights were hard
to imagine before the 1780s however it was still found in around the time of Confederation.
Looking at the history of colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries, the biological language of
settlement is the only pattern, population and sustenance.
Racism was perceived along with the changes that were taking places. The racism began
along with immigration and industrialization. There are several bilingual countries however they
are much smaller countries. During the end of 19th century, the number of people in Canada
remained small when the immigrants arrived setting mainly in the west. The non-British and
non-French immigration were seen by English speaking Canadians as a way of growing
economic development. It was during this time when most English speaking Canadians Shared
prejudices in regard to comparative desirability of immigrant group.
Racism was demonstrated to a great manner during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The
belief in white superiority and progress was taken for granted across the western world.
According to many English speaking Canadians, the Anglo-Saxon people and british principles
of the government were the apex of biological evolution. They believed they were the Canada’s
greatness relied on its Anglo-Saxon heritage. This was one of the underlining factor of racism

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building in Canada. the most desirable people were the British and American immigrant
followed by western and northern Europeans, Jews and southern European. Gradually social
isolation was becoming wider and larger speculating the aboriginals. The last people in the
ranking order were the blacks and Asian immigrants such as Chinese, Canadians, Japanese and
south Asian. They were considered as the inferior group who were unable to be assimilated into
the Canadian society. Demonstration of racism began to take a prominent feature during this
time in Canada. The black Canadians encountered major prejudice in the pre-confederation
certainly revolted in protest for the racism. Despite several opposition, slavery existed in areas
such as New France and British North America.
Asians in the Canada were regarded unwanted, alien and inferior. According to organized
labour groups the jobs were taken away by the Asians and they were the cause of lowered living
standards for all the workers as they were willing to work in minimum wages. Asians were faced
with isolation from most unions, and Asians were certainly paid less than other workers. Due to
discrimination in legislation and social practices the Asians were not excluded from voting,
practicing law and pharmacy. They could not serve on juries, be elected to public services or
build careers in education, public works or civil services. On several occasions in violent anti-
Chinese and anti-Asian riots the public opinion on Asian immigration. In order to exclude the
Asian from public schools various attempts were made by the anti-Asian groups. Black
Canadians were faced with similar discriminations in areas such as housing employment and
access to public services during the 19th century as well as mid-20th century2.
2 Backhouse, Constance. Colour-coded: A legal history of racism in Canada, 1900-1950.
University of Toronto Press, 1999.

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It is difficult to escape this specific kind of liberalism when one is looking at Canada
from the year 1867-1914. The loyalty towards their monarchy is difficult to shake, and there is
significant continuity there however Parliament in Ottawa and Westminster is sovereign. Also, it
becomes sovereign when the electorate gives their will. Canada’s landscape and its addition are
conceived within the context of a language of individual rights, such as individual voter’s rights,
land rights and the freedom to believe and protection sources. It is due to this specific reason
several conflicts were undertaken from 1850 to 1918. These are conceptualized as battles for
freedom and the protection of liberty3. The precise form of language is associated with the
United States however it resonates around the Atlantic rim as well as across Canada in 1914. It is
from the United States that the Canadian version incorporates the notion of freedom. During
1869-70, the aspect was invoked when talk of American Canadian imperialism in the west was
catalyzed annexation of Rupert’s Land. The situation was invoked one more time in 1885 while
Louis Riel returned from exile in the United States in order to lead further resistance to Canadian
authority. In this point, several and collective identities were seen including aboriginals being
invoked by the event of Riel and others as concepts. The concepts that were even if not greater,
they are equivalent to the individual. The royal commission has played a major role in policy
making and as a governing instrument4. Therefore, the victory of Canada in the North-west
Rebellion is interpreted by the Canadians themselves considering the triumph of individual
values and democratic values over something that is close to “tribal”. The concept that was
considered to be less progressive since it is an older form.
3 Shaked, Haim. The literacy myth: Cultural integration and social structure in the nineteenth century. Routledge,
2017.
4 Smith, Malinda S. "Commissioning" founding races" and settler colonial narratives." Canadian Ethnic Studies 46.2
(2014): 141-149.

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Racism went through processes during the progress and the modernity in Canada. The
progress in the 19th and 20th century cannot be measured and defined in order to explain the
process entirely. The process involved during this period could not be controlled when the notion
of modernity is considered. Although there were social changes occurring in the pre-19th
century, it was much more profound when it was combined with scientific and philosophical
development5. This led to a widespread belief that the past was largely static while the present
was the age of transformation. It was the scientific knowledge that was seen to be playing a key
role in progress and development. There were attempts to improve social conditions and human
life however, the actual change was through scientific knowledge that the process began to
accelerate. As society began progressing, individuals began changing too. Progress was the all-
consuming force, a tide of change moving towards only one direction of continuous
improvement that has been called as towards positivism6.
The change of on-wards and upward change was viewed by the historical writers as being
embodied by the Whig School. They reflected upon their past for evidence of material, human
and social progress interpreting it as improvement of the world. Certainly, this was the
presentation of a powerful and persistent way of viewing past events and peoples. The concept
that dominates is the fact that in any case if this current situation was the product of progress
then certainly the previous people was in disadvantage. A concept that does not easily
accommodate disadvantages but advantages including democracy, reasons, science, equality,
rights, technological advancement, greater human population, the conquest of nature.
5 Iriye, Akira, and Pierre Saunier, eds. The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History: From the mid-19th
century to the present day. Springer, 2016.
6Domb, Cyril. The critical point: a historical introduction to the modern theory of critical phenomena. CRC Press,
2014.

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The entire perception of the society came as ‘modernity’ and the modern world was
marked by a break known as pre-modern in Canada. Modernity involved a revolution of its own,
it rejected the ancient norms and prioritizing the reasons and logic. Canada in its modern version
was something that could have expected to create in the forges of modernity. The previous age
values and norms were engraved within the constitutions that were embraced and advocated by
the new notions and social phenomenon. The advocates of the new nation-state dominion were
opposing and fighting the old day’s values. Through this specific perception, since 1867 the
history of Canada is the story of an idea called modernity. There were many more things that
happened during the phase in Canada however, in the intellectual context, this specific part of
modernity cannot be ignored. This was advanced as well as shared by more than 150 years’
worth of educational institution and media.
Contrary wind: The 19th-century modernism had several contradictions onto its
framework. The most profound and outstanding of these are race, gender and class. While human
being began looking at self as a self-defining and free-acting agent of his destiny, it necessarily
did not mean that the modern mind was openly accepting the notion of collectivities and
categories. The most common racial categories were commonsensical was the racial categories
such as were scientific, commonsensical, and essentially immutable were widely accepted bin
Canada7. The following categories were extending to the things that are at present termed as
ethnicities or visible minorities in a culture dominated largely by the ‘Caucasian’. The majority
of the white people were from the French and British. The working class emerged during the
industrialization produced a collective response in regard to working condition8. These working
conditions involve poor compensation for labour, political oppression and the overall working
7Evans, Eric J. The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783-c. 1870. Routledge, 2018.
8Bayly, Christopher Alan. Imperial Meridian: The British Empire and the World 1780-1830. Routledge, 2016.

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environment. Often the ultimate response collectively would be forming of a labour union. This
labour organization was viewed as the Canadian’s middle-class and the upper-class. The
collective response of these people was perceived to be corrosive of individual values. In the
beginning, an individual’s language rights were challenged directly calling for women’s rights.
For the time when the definition of the individual was inherently male, women would lead the
movement, specifically the middle-class women, calling for electoral reforms, social reforms and
general equality for women. This was often viewed as problematic by the male establishment9.
The contradiction lies here when the generations calling for the individual rights denied
the group rights that were described as collectiveness belonging to the outside of the
individualism paradigm. This was the main and the first contradiction. Several other groups such
as Individual Indigenous people, individual Asian immigrants, and women belonging from any
quadrant of Canadian society were refused for equality and their individual rights. Also, the
Chinese and the First Nation were racialized by White Canada. Also, the condition of women as
a population who were lacking their individual rights, the intellectual, physical and moral ability
to participate in civic life with the men population was the picture that was shown in front of the
male population.
The Great War challenged these perspectives in various ways, it changed the perception
of modernity10. Voluntarism was common before conscription, where individual male selected to
serve their nation and king. Women’s suffrage was rejected repeatedly alike the demands of the
working class. With the war, women gained the vote and the relationship between labour and
state became revisited. The introduction of conscription that was an overriding individual choice
in order to force males of the Canada to fight for their liberty.
9Coquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine. African women: A modern history. Routledge, 2018.
10Pietsch, Tamson. "Empire of scholars: Universities, networks and the British academic world 1850–1939." (2015).

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The 20th century: The 20th century was unexpectedly short which ended in 1991
including events such as the treaty of Versailles and the Great War. The collapse of Europe’s old
rules, norms and values gave way to a century of modern nation-building. The rise of the two
conflicting ideologies and after 1945 two superpowers is main concerns11. 20th century for
Canadian began unexpectedly, the economy had fallen down before the Great War and it barely
recovered during the Interwar Period. Canada was a different place than it was in 1867. Racism
and xenophobia were common practices during World War I. Beginning from the aboriginals
and the women, the discrimination scenario was different in the old days, and it became different
in the 20th century.
The history of racism is different in Canada than any other places. There are only a few
countries that can be cited as an example from the developed countries considering the internal
division between communities. While some were bloody and lethal in the 20th century, Canada’s
was much less severe. Although Canada has been implementing policies in order to build a
multicultural society, the history of long years on racism and discriminations are still seen as the
existing racism in Canada.
11 Roy, Patricia E. A white man's province: British Columbia politicians and Chinese and Japanese immigrants,
1858-1914. UBC Press, 1990.

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References:
Backhouse, Constance. Colour-coded: A legal history of racism in Canada, 1900-1950.
University of Toronto Press, 1999.
Bayly, Christopher Alan. Imperial Meridian: The British Empire and the World 1780-1830.
Routledge, 2016.
Coquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine. African women: A modern history. Routledge, 2018.
Domb, Cyril. The critical point: a historical introduction to the modern theory of critical
phenomena. CRC Press, 2014.
Evans, Eric J. The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain, 1783-c. 1870.
Routledge, 2018.
Iriye, Akira, and Pierre Saunier, eds. The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History: From
the mid-19th century to the present day. Springer, 2016.
Pietsch, Tamson. "Empire of scholars: Universities, networks and the British academic world
1850–1939." (2015).
Roy, Patricia E. A white man's province: British Columbia politicians and Chinese and Japanese
immigrants, 1858-1914. UBC Press, 1990.
Shaked, Haim. The literacy myth: Cultural integration and social structure in the nineteenth
century. Routledge, 2017.
Smith, Malinda S. "Commissioning" founding races" and settler colonial narratives." Canadian
Ethnic Studies 46.2 (2014): 141-149.

10RACISM AND CANADIAN SOCIETY
Stevens, Joyce West. "African American female adolescent identity development: A three-
dimensional perspective." Serving African American Children. Routledge, 2018. 141-168.