Racism in Canada: Understanding the Sociological Issues

This essay discusses the sociological issue of racism in Canada, its history, and current condition. The paper explores the roots of the problem and probable solutions. It also highlights the different sections of Canadian society and their cultural and linguistic heritage.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The purpose of the following essay is to develop an understanding about the different
sociological issues that are taking place in Canada. The sociological issue that has been chosen
here is the racism issues within the country (Roman, 2013). This problem has been raising
everyday and the roots of the problem have to be identified indeed. It is very evident to find the
various issues that will are associated with this problem. This problem can be interpreted as one
of the biggest problems in all over the world. The cause of this problem and the probable
solutions to this problem will have to be discussed in this paper.
Racism in Canada
Racism has been one of the biggest social evils in the Canadian society. It has been
observed that the racial atmosphere in Canada is very much complicated. The Canadian society
is divided into many sections as per the color lines and on the basis of the language as well
(Roman, 2013). The Canadian society has been a major victim of racism over the years. The
racism victims in Canada have been increasing over the years. The language of the people of
Canada has been different on certain occasions as well. The two major divisions of people in this
country are the French- Canadian population and the Anglo-European population. The ethnic
minorities are very much present in the Canadian society as well. The people who immigrate to
Canada become an essential part of the country as well (Allan & Smylie, 2015).
This is when they face the racial problems as well. The diversity in the population of the
country is immense. The diversity in the population in the country has proved to be one of the
biggest issues for the increase in the French society as well. Many people come from various
other countries and settle here. This is why it is very rich in culture yet the cultural clashes are

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very much prominent in the country. The indigenous people in the country have expanded into
this country indeed (Allan & Smylie, 2015). The immigration base of this country is historically
very much important. There are aboriginal people in Canada as well. The experts have argued
that some of the Canadian people have thought themselves to be the people of the post-racial
Canada. However, two types of racism are very much there in the Canadian society. These are
the institutional racism and subtle racism. Some laws were being enforced in the 1990s. These
laws have strengthened the prevention of the minority population from being discriminated
within the society (Cannon & Sunseri, 2017). The laws had been enforced to make sure that the
minority people in the society did not get deprived of any of their primary facilities. The
discriminations had been made over the years and the minority group people were being tortured
as well. This is why it was time to save them. The people and the Federal Government in Canada
are of the opinion that these discriminations should be stopped immediately. Then only the
nation can progress towards betterment (Cannon & Sunseri, 2017).
The history of racism in Canada
Canada has been a nation where the racism factor has always been much prominent
indeed. It has been observed in the studies of various scholars that the small incidents of the
minority harassments and incidents of discrimination and violence takes place in the recent times
as well (Racism, 2014). The different sections who are considered to be the residents of Canada
are the First Nations, Francophones, New Canadians and the Visible Minority section. The First
Nations people of the country are generally the aboriginal people who are neither Inuit nor Metis.
The Francophones are generally the people whose first language is always French. The New
Canadians are the people who had come to Canada to settle in there from the different regions of
Europe like Eastern, Central and Southern. The cultural and linguistic heritage of Canada has

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been noted as one of the most significant things. The people from Europe came to live in this
country and the number was very large indeed (Racism, 2014).
The aboriginal people were in large number as well. This had been a very significant
issue since the clash of cultures between the Europeans and the aboriginals has been very
interesting indeed (Currie et al., 2013). The indigenous groups in Canada were the possessors of
the vast land in Canada for thousands of years. When the Europeans came to this country and
established their supremacy, the clash began. They became the minority and the Great Britain
came to dominate and possess the French Canada. Canada became free from the Great Britain
and they established the independent confederation of the five provinces. However, the province
of Quebec had gained their control in case of the cultural affairs and their education system. The
non-British population and the New Canadians were also there in the mix (Currie et al., 2013).
This had been the main reason for the clash between these powers (Friesen, 2012).
The condition of racism in Canada today
Racism has been a very evident factor in the modern day Canada as well. In the years
after 2000, Canada used to grow as a post-racial nation as well. This had been the indication that
the country was slowly beginning to get rid of the issues related to racism. However, in the
Canadian society the incidents of violence were very much predominant indeed on the minority
section of the country (Friesen, 2012). It has been an important factor to notice that the region of
British Columbia the incidents of hate activities on the people had been on the increase. A very
important thing could be noticed in this situation that after the incident of World Trade Centre
attacks on September 11, 2001 the hatred against the Muslims also began to grow indeed (Khan
& Ecklund, 2013). The racial issues began to grow in the United States from the year 2015.

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This had seriously impacted on the society of Canada as well. One of the significant
things that occurred in this context was that of the Nova Scotia citizens in Canada revolted
against the supremacy of the White people. They also demanded that the confederate flag was
the symbol of racial oppression (Cannon, 2013). This is why the selling of the confederate flag
should be stopped immediately. This had been stopped by the Flag Shop based at Vancouver.
However, some instances could be given in this section related to the fact of racism in Canada
that the aboriginal Canadians were completely deprived of the employment facilities. This is why
a large portion of the Canadian aboriginal people suffers from different issues like
unemployment, poverty and lack of shelter all over the country (Kubota, 2015).
Over thousands of aboriginal women had been abducted and most of them had been even
killed (Van Dijk, 2015). Most of these cases have not been solved yet. The reasons for these
incidents have definitely been the division between the racial and non-racial citizens in Canada.
This is why both the US and Canada governments are trying to resolve these racism issues
actively.
Conclusion
The essay can be concluded by saying that the racism had been a huge issue in the earlier
years in Canada. In the recent times some separate events have been noticed in this country. The
division between the racial and non racial people had been very much clear in some of the most
recent incidents as well. The US and Canada Governments are trying to find out of the way outs
from these issues. It would be better for the country if the people from different cultures and
ethnic backgrounds can begin to live in peace and harmony.

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References
Allan, B., & Smylie, J. (2015). First Peoples, second class treatment: The role of racism in the
health and well-being of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Wellesley Institute.
Cannon, M. J. (2013). Changing the subject in teacher education: Centering Indigenous,
diasporic, and settler colonial relations. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, 4(2).
Cannon, M. J., & Sunseri, L. (Eds.). (2017). Racism, colonialism, and indigeneity in Canada: A
reader. Oxford University Press.
Currie, C. L., Wild, T. C., Schopflocher, D. P., Laing, L., Veugelers, P., & Parlee, B. (2013).
Racial discrimination, post traumatic stress, and gambling problems among urban
Aboriginal adults in Canada. Journal of gambling studies, 29(3), 393-415.
Friesen, J. W. (2012). Racism, Colonialism, and Indigeneity in Canada. Canadian Ethnic
Studies, 44(3), 152.
Khan, M., & Ecklund, K. (2013). Attitudes Toward Muslim Americans Post-9/11. Journal of
Muslim Mental Health, 7(1).
Kubota, R. (2015). Race and language learning in multicultural Canada: Towards critical
antiracism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 36(1), 3-12.
Racism, A. (2014). Policies, programs and strategies to address aboriginal racism: A Canadian
perspective.
Roman, L. G. (2013). Empires, Emigrés, and Aliens: Young People’s Negotiations of Official
and Popular Racism in Canada. Dangerous territories: Struggles for difference and
equality in education, 205.

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Van Dijk, T. A. (2015). Racism and the Press. Routledge.