Canadian Ethnic Studies in the Changing Context of Immigration: Looking Back, Looking Forward.

Wong, Lloyd ; Guo, Shibao

The year 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Canadian Ethnic Studies I Etudes Ethniques au Canada! The journal started fifty years ago as an interdisciplinary publication devoted to the study of ethnicity, immigration, inter-group relations, and the history and cultural life of ethnic groups in Canada. As we celebrate this important milestone, it is important to look back at its history by reflecting on the following questions: How has immigration contributed to the transformation of Canada into an ethno-culturally diverse nation? How has past immigration, settlement, and integration policy in Canada affected and shaped ethnic studies in Canada? What are the future directions for immigration, and racial and ethnic studies in Canada?

CANADIAN IMMIGRATION AND NATION-BUILDING

Prior to Confederation in 1867, for the territory that was eventually to be included in Canada, there was principally a free-entry period for immigrants. Moreover, even immediately after 1867 there was essentially a free-entry period for three decades until the late 1890s when the first coherent immigration policy was introduced--the Immigration Act of 1896. When a formal state policy is established by a nation state that encourages and sets the parameters for immigration then it becomes formally recognized as an immigration society. Some of the tenets of an immigration society are that they: 1) employ a principled framework to regulate admission; 2) generate programs to facilitate the integration and settlement of immigrants; 3) entitle immigrants to all rights, including the right to permanent residency and citizenship; and 4) see immigration and immigrants as society-building assets and central to national identity (Fleras 2015, 79).

Immediately after WWI the Canadian Government passed legislation under the Immigration Act to define a prohibited class of undesirable people while concurrently creating a list of preferred nations from which immigrants would be welcome. Essentially ethnocentrism and racism were the underpinnings in the creation of prohibited classes of people who were deemed undesirable because of their perceived inability to integrate into Canadian society. Hence a list of preferred countries, that in effect included the United States and European countries, was created so there could be prohibition by reason of nationality and citizenship. In this time period there was virtually no immigration from non-white countries and this included those in Africa, Asia, and South America. It was not until after WWII that Canada's immigration policy slowly started to become non-racist, at least in terms of its language. However, the political discourse was still very exclusionary and racist. In postWWII Canada during the 1950s and 1960s, there was a tremendous amount of industrialization in Central Canada and a return to the notion of nation-building via immigration policy. This economic boom was one factor in bringing to an end a fifty-year period of an overtly ethnocentric and racist immigration policy. Another factor was increased international pressure on Canada, and other countries, to change their immigration policy as it was now a changing world where racism could not be applied as openly as before and racism was in retreat from public discourse.

By 1967 the Canadian government established an overtly non-racist immigration policy through regulations that established three basic classes of immigrants. These included the following: i) Family Class; ii) Independent Class; and iii) Refugee Class (using the United Nations definition of refugee). These classes of immigrants remain basically the same today with only changes in terminology.

When the Points System was introduced in 1967, it established universalistic criteria based on human capital to determine the potential eligibility of people wanting to immigrate to Canada to work under the independent class (now referred to as the economic class). These included factors such as their level of education, job skills, occupation, work experience, age, and knowledge of an official language. Over the past fifty years this Points System has undergone minor modifications over the years with adjustment to the points allocated to each factor and the minimum pass level. While on the surface these apparently universalistic criteria appear to be neutral it can be argued that they still perpetuate certain forms of racism or quasiracism (Richmond 1994, 155) and ethnocentrism. For example, during Stephen Harper's recent tenure as Prime Minister, knowledge of the official languages of English and French gained importance with increased point allocation relative to other factors and an establishment of new minimum language requirements. Previously, there were no minimum language requirement skills but a new requirement was introduced requiting intermediate level language skills in listening, writing, speaking and reading English or French. Thus, the Points System favours a form of human capital that is culturally determined (language). This requirement is a form of cultural fundamentalism and cultural racism. Further, there were changes in the family class and family reunification. Regardless of whether the term racist or quasi-racist should or could be used to describe current Canadian immigration policy, it is undoubtedly a policy that appeals to a cultural fundamentalism in defining who potentially belongs or does not belong to Canada.

RECENT LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY INITIATIVES

Since the liberalization of immigration policy in 1967 racial and ethnic diversity has increased significantly in Canada, particularly in the larger cities, and it can be argued that Canada has moved toward equality with greater protections at the individual level. The move toward legislating equality began in 1969 with the passing of the Official Languages Act declaring official bilingualism in Canada and the equality of English and French in Parliament, the Government of Canada and federal administration and institutions. As well this legislation provided provisions for the preservation and development of official language communities in Canada to establish the equality of English and French languages in Canadian society. In 1971 the Canadian government formally adopted a Multiculturalism Policy which was subsequently enacted into legislation in 1988 as the Canadian Multiculturalism Act (1985). This Act clearly defined and outlined multiculturalism as corporate public policy for Canada and several sections of the policy cited the goal of equality, such as: (c) promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society and assist them in the elimination of any barrier to that participation; (e) ensure that all individuals receive equal treatment and equal protection under the law, while respecting and valuing their diversity.

This Act, the first one of its kind by a nation state in the world, increased Canadian prestige internationally, which up to that time rested on its reputation as an international peace keeper. The scholarly literature on multiculturalism in Canada is abundant and recently Canadian multiculturalism has been revisited in terms of theories, policies and debates (Guo and Wong 2015). Then in 1977 the Canadian Government passed the Canadian Human Rights Act with the provinces subsequently following suit by passing their own acts or human rights codes. Then, with the repatriation of the constitution in 1981, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) was instituted. Very significantly there were sections in the Charter covering official languages, minority language rights and equality rights. Section 15(1) under Equality Rights, provided individual equality without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. Moreover, section 15(2) provided for the legality of equity programs or regulations that would ameliorate existing conditions of disadvantaged peoples because of their race, national or ethnic origin, colour, and religion amongst other factors and characteristics. Since the implementation of the Charter its largest impact on race and ethnicity has been in the areas of linguistic rights for francophones outside of Quebec and strengthened aboriginal rights (Schwartz 2012) while overall it can be argued that the Charter has had minimal impact on racial injustice in Canada because of those who argue and interpret it and not the act itself (Tanovich 2008). It should also be noted that the Criminal Code of Canada offers at the individual level some protections against racism if the behaviour is deemed a hate crime. Further, in 1995 the Employment Equity Act identified employer obligations for four disadvantaged groups which included visible minorities along with women, persons with disabilities, and aboriginal peoples.

With respect to some other past and significant government actions of racism, there have been apologies and/or redress provided after lobbying efforts by affected groups. In 1988 Prime Minister Brian Mulroney provided an apology and redress for the wrongful internment of the Japanese during WWII. In 2006 Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized and offered token redress for the Chinese Head Tax and in 2016 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau provided an apology for the laws in place that permitted the Komagata Maru incident.

ENDURING RACIAL AND ETHNIC CONFLICTS

In contemporary times the scant cross-national comparative literature generally puts Canada in a very favourable light compared to other countries. For example Marger (2015, 471) argues that today Canada "...has become extraordinarily diverse, levels of prejudice and discrimination are comparatively low" and he feels that basically Canadians are tolerant of people who are racially and culturally differentfrom themselves. Further, multiculturalism is mostly celebrated within Canada and generally looked upon favourably by other countries.

However, in spite of these laudable assessments the Canadian state's efforts to legislate equality, to apologize and provide redress for past racist practices, and to provide a more universalistic immigration policy, racism and ethnic discrimination still persists. As Satzewich and Liodakus (2013, x) have noted in the preface of their book: "In fact, it seems like the more we celebrate diversity and equality, the more allegations of racism in Canadian society creep to the surface" (x). Racism and ethnic discrimination still persists at the institutional and systemic level, albeit less so than a century ago, and it is more subtle and couched more in terms of new racism that is cultural and ideological (Henry and Tator 2010,45). It also still persists at the individual level as recent Canadian research on microaggressions reveal (Baker 2017; Fleras 2016; Houshmand, Spanierman and Tafarodi 2014). In many ways contemporary racism in Canada is formulated and invoked as a defense of Canadian and western values and is profoundly a form of cultural fundamentalism that is racist in nature. The 2007 Islamophobic Herouxville Code of Conduct, the 2013 proposed Quebec Charter of Values bill, the former Conservative Government's ban on wearing niqabs at Citizenship ceremonies (struck down by the courts during the 2015 federal election campaign), and Quebec's current Bill 62 requiring people to uncover their faces when receiving or giving public services are recent examples. At the individual level there has been a significant rise of reported hate crimes perpetrated against Muslims in Canada in the decade and a half since 9-11.

The increase of Asian immigrants and Asian international students to Canada over the past three to four decades has created an ongoing anti-Asian discourse regarding the perception that there are too many Asian students attending Canadian universities. This controversy first began in 1979 when CTV's W5 had a program entitled "Campus Giveaway" which mobilized the Chinese community in Canada to protest its anti-Asian premise. This issue was resolved when an apology from CTV was given in 1980. More recently in 2010 Maclean's magazine had an article entitled "The enrollment controversy" (Findlay and Kohler 2010) that discussed the concern about the disproportional representation of Asian students on some Canadian university campuses. The original title of this article was "Too Asian" and then it was changed to "Too Asian?" and finally to "The enrollment controversy" which speaks to an attempt to soften an anti-Asian tone.

The weight of colonialism and racism on aboriginal peoples in Canada is extremely heavy and also complex. However, the resistance of Idle No More and the promises in the recent Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada Report in 2015, along with some recent legal victories, such as the recent 2013 Supreme Court ruling on a large Metis land claim in Manitoba and the Canadian Government's 2016 signing of a memorandum to honour this claim, provide a glimmer of hope for decolonization and equality.

The weight of historical racism on Blacks in Canada is not publicized as much, nor part of public discourse, as it is for Aboriginal Peoples. There is a strong legacy of anti-Black racism in Canada that dates back to the era of slavery and it is still deeply entrenched in Canadian society today. The Human Rights Council of the United Nations, who had a working group doing research in four major Canadian cities, has recently stated the following in their Report of the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent on its Mission to Canada: It is important to underline that the experience of African Canadians is unique because of the particular history of anti-Black racism in Canada, which is traceable to slavery and its legacy, through specific laws and practices enforcing segregations in education, resi dential accommodation, employment and other economic opportunities. History informs anti-Black racism and racial stereotypes that are so deeply entrenched in institutions, policies and practices, that its institutional and systemic forms are either functionally normalized or rendered invisible, especially to the dominant group. (UN Human Rights Council 2017,7)

What was also noted in this Report was the prevalence of racial profiling against Blacks by Canadian law enforcement and the dramatic rise in Black incarceration from 2005 to 2015 (8, 10). The issue of racial profiling in Toronto has been examined from a critical theory perspective by Francis Henry and Carol Tator (Henry and Tator 2006). While the Black Lives Matter movement, that fights for equality and justice for Blacks, is usually associated with the United States, there are chapters in Canada, as well as Australia and the United Kingdom. The Toronto chapter has been particularly active in recent years sponsoring demonstrations protesting against police violence.

Microaggressions motivated by race, ethnicity, and religion are fairly prevalent in Canada. Data on police-reported hate crimes in Canada reveal a total of 892 hate crimes in 2006 and almost a decade later there were 1,362 in 2015. In a relative sense the rate of hate crimes increased when comparing the two years, from 3.1 per 100,000 in 2006 to 3.8 per 100,000 in 2015 (Leber 2017, 3; Walsh and Dauvergne 2007, 7). In general hate crimes are relatively low compared to other crimes in Canada and constitute less than 1% of all crimes. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that these data reflect only those incidents that were reported to the police and thus are likely an underestimation. Approximately one-half of all hate crimes were motivated by "race" or ethnicity in both 2006 and 2015 (Leber 2017, 7; Walsh and Dauvergne 2007, 10) with Blacks being the largest targeted group in both 2006 and 2015 followed by South Asians in 2006 (Walsh and Dauvergne 2007, 11) and by Arab and West Asians in 2015 (Leber 2017, 6). Hate crimes that were motivated by religion constituted 25% of all hate crimes in 2006 and 35% in 2015, an increase of 10% in comparing the two years. In 2006, of all religion-motivated hate crimes, Jews were the most targeted at 62% followed by Muslims who were a very distant second at 21% (Walsh and Dauvergne 2007, 15). However in 2015 Jews again were still the most targeted at 38% followed now very closely by Muslims at 34% (Leber 2017,17). Overall these data indicate that police-reported religiously motivated hate crimes against Muslims have increased dramatically over the past decade verifying increasing Islamophobia in Canada.

Thus the prospect for the future is one of a continuation and persistence of racial and ethnic conflict, ethnic discrimination, and racism but with some glimmer of hope for change.

A BRIEF RETROSPECTIVE OF CANADIAN ETHNIC STUDIES

Early conceptualizations of ethnicity in Canada, such as the work of Hughes (1943) and Porter (1965, 1975) were essentially static. Jean Burnet's critique and early work fostered in a more dynamic notion of ethnicity and conceptualized it in terms of social relations. In a special issue of the journal Sociological Focus, which examined studies in Canada, Burnet (1976) used a dynamic lens to look at the policy of multiculturalism contextualized within a bilingual framework. It should be noted that this special issue also featured many other prominent sociologists who examined topics related to immigration, race and ethnicity and these included Crysdale (1976), Clairmont and Wien (1976), and Anthony Richmond (1976). That same year Howard Palmer (1976), one of the early editors of Canadian Ethnic Studies I Etudes Ethniques au Canada, provided a comparative analysis of immigration and ethnicity in Canada and the United States. After this the floodgates were opened and the substantive area of ethnic studies started to flourish in Canada with a generation of scholars, most of whom were American and British trained, coming to Canada to study 'race', ethnicity, and immigration and to train a new generation of Canadian students. At the same time the journal Canadian Ethnic Studies I Etudes Ethniques au Canada was born in 1968 followed very shortly by the establishment of the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association. In the following decades of the 80s, 90s, and 2000s the literature in these areas exploded as scholars' wrote about immigration, ethnicity, 'race', and the dynamics of racial and ethnic groups' experiences in Canadian society which included the general themes of inequality, pluralism, and integration. Over the past several decades there has been a continual literature that examines race and ethnicity in Canada from a more general and critical perspective and recently these include the summarizing work of Henry and Tator (2010), Hier and Bolaria (2012), Satzewich and Liodakis (2013) and Fleras (2017).

In looking forward to the trajectory of ethnic studies in Canada inevitably research will continue to examine ethnic and racial conflict, ethnic discrimination, and racism given their continuation and persistence in Canadian society as we noted above. Complementing these substantive areas ethnic studies research in Canada will also continue to examine immigration and immigrant/refugee settlement and integration. As well, in the past decade and a half ethnic studies in Canada has increasingly included work on ethno-religious issues and this trend will likely continue. For example, increasing anti-Muslim sentiments and hostility in Canada has been reflected in the fact that the topic of Islamophobia has been addressed in several articles over the past decade or so in the journal Canadian Ethnic Studies I Etudes Ethniques au Canada. Finally, since the early 2000s the older and traditional notions of ethnicity as a nationally bounded, localized, and essentialized concept has increasingly been challenged by the transnationalism and diasporas paradigms and associated empirical studies. This challenge will likely continue in the ethnic studies research going forward. At the time of writing, in early 2018, the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association is planning its 25th conference in Banff, Alberta in the fall, with the theme of Immigration, Ethnic Mobilities, and Diasporic Communities in a Transnational World. Accordingly, as the field of ethnic studies in Canada moves forward, there is a profusion of topics and issues to be explored, which bodes well for the Canadian Ethnic Studies I Etudes Ethniques au Canada journal as it moves toward the next fifty years.

NOTES

(1.) These scholars, from a variety of disciplines, include, among many others, some of the following: Alan Anderson, Pierre Anctil, Natalia Aponiuk, Baha Abu-Laban, Yasmeen Abu-Laban, John Berry, Jerome Black, Monica Boyd, Rita Bienvenue, Raymond Breton, B. Singh Bolaria, Jean Burnet, Sarah Carter, Jorgen Dahlie, Cecille De Pass, Ann Denis, Leo Driedger, Noel Dyck, lean Elliot, Augie Fleras, James Frideres, John Friesen, Jay Goldstein, Basran Gurcharn, Denise Helly, Shiva Halli, Robert Harney, Yvonne Hebert, Francis Henry, Wsevolod Isajiw, Nancy Jabbra, Cornelius Jaenen, Clifford Jansen, Madeline Kalbach, Warren Kalbach, Evelyn Kallen, Audrey Kobayashi, Micheline Labelle, John Lehr, Peter S. Li, Alexander Malycky, Marie McAndrew, Floward Palmer, Rick Ponting, Anthony Rasporich, Jeffry Reitz, Anthony H. Richmond, Vic Satzewich, Tamara Seiler, Willian Shaffir, Evangelia Tastsoglou, Carol Tator, Victor Ujimoto, Morton Weinfeld, Lori Wilkinson, and Nelson Wiseman.

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