Cultural mosaic

Multi-lingual sign outside the mayor's office in Novi Sad, written in the four official languages of the city: Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Pannonian Rusyn.

"Cultural mosaic" (French: "la mosaïque culturelle") is the mix of ethnic groups, languages, and cultures that coexist within society.^[1]^[2] The idea of a cultural mosaic is intended to suggest a form of multiculturalism, different from other systems such as the melting pot, which is often used to describe the United States' supposed ideal of assimilation.^[3]^[4]

Overview

An ethnocultural profile of Canada prepared by Statistics Canada describes a nation that, at the outset of the 21st Century, has become progressively more and more multi-ethnic and multicultural. The introduction to the report describes this in the following way:

Immigration to Canada over the past 100 years has shaped Canada, with each new wave of immigrants adding to the nation’s ethnic and cultural composition. Half a century ago, most immigrants came from Europe. Now most newcomers are from Asia. As a result, the number of visible minorities in Canada is growing. And, Canadians listed more than 200 ethnic groups in answering the 2001 Census question on ethnic ancestry, reflecting a varied, rich cultural mosaic as the nation started the new millennium.^[5]

Origin and use of the term

Victoria Hayward described the cultural changes of the Canadian Prairies as a "mosaic" as early as the 1920s:

"New Canadians, representing many lands and widely separated sections of Old Europe, have contributed to the Prairie Provinces a variety in the way of Church Architecture. Cupolas and domes distinctly Eastern, almost Turkish, startle one above the tops of Manitoba maples or the bush of the river banks. These architectural figures of the landscape, apart altogether of their religious significance, are centers where, crossing the threshold on Sundays, one has the opportunity of hearing Swedish music, or the rich, deep chanting of the Russian responses; and of viewing at close hand the artistry that goes to make up the interior appointments of these churches transplanted from the East to the West…It is indeed a mosaic of vast dimensions and great breadth, essayed of the Prairie."^[6]

Another early use of the term mosaic to refer to Canadian society was by John Murray Gibbon, in his 1938 book Canadian Mosaic. Gibbon clearly disapproved of the American melting-pot concept. He saw the melting pot as a process by which immigrants and their descendants were encouraged to cut off ties with their countries and cultures of origin so as to assimilate into the American way of life.^[7]

In 1965, John Porter published his influential sociological study, Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada. Porter's book showed that some groups (e.g., those of British origin) were better off with respect to measures of income, education and health than others. For example, groups of eastern and southern European origin tended to fare less well by these measures. The worst off were the First Nations and Inuit. Porter saw this vertical arrangement as being related to power and influence in decision-making. Thus those of British origin tended to be overrepresented among the elites in government, economic and political spheres.^[7]

Porter’s findings have been tested in several studies since 1965 and have been modified slightly. For example, the economic disparity between ethnic groups has narrowed somewhat and Francophones are better represented in politics and government. However, the socio-economic elites in Canada remain dominated by people of British origin.^[7]

Influence on multiculturalism policy

Since the beginning of the 20th century, Canada has been one of the world's major immigrant-receiving societies. Until the 1960s immigrants were expected to assimilate into the mainstream society. Arriving as it did at during a time of social upheaval, Porter's work had a marked influence on Canadian social policy. The view of Canada as a mosaic of cultures became the basis for the Trudeau government's multiculturalism policies in the early 1970s.

The Canadian government established the Official Multiculturalism Act in 1971 and appointed a minister responsible for multiculturalism in 1972. In 1973 a Canadian Multiculturalism Council was established, along with a Multiculturalism Branch within the Department of the Secretary of State.

Criticism

The "cultural mosaic" theory is not without critics. Some pundits, such as the Globe and Mail's Jeffrey Simpson, and Carleton University journalism professor, Andrew Cohen have argued that the entire melting pot/mosaic dynamic is largely an imagined concept, and that there remains little measurable evidence that American or Canadian immigrants as collective groups can be proven to be more or less "assimilated" and a "multicultural" than each other.^[8] Many conservative activists in Canada have likewise remained critical of multiculturalism as an "official" government policy.

References

↑ Douglas, Allan (2004). Understanding military culture: a Canadian perspective. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 111–115. ISBN 0-7735-2664-1. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
↑ Kalman, Bobbie (2010). Canada: The Culture. Crabtree Pub. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7787-9284-0. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
↑ Burgess, Ann Carroll; Burgess, Tom (2005). Guide to Western Canada (7th ed.). Globe Pequot Press. p. 31. ISBN 0-7627-2987-2. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
↑ Levine, Randy and Gifty Serbeh-Dunn (Spring 1999). "Mosaic vs. Melting Pot Voices, Volume 1, Number 4. Retrieved on: June 13, 2008.
↑ Statistics Canada. Canada’s ethnocultural portrait: The changing mosaic.
↑ Day, Richard J.F. (2000). Multiculturalism and the History of Canadian Diversity. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 149-150.
1 2 3 Valee, F. Vertical Mosaic. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion. Retrieved on: 2011-09-22.
↑ Gardner, D. (September 24, 2008). "We're often more like Americans than we're like other Canadians." Canwest.com Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved on: 2009-11-20.

External links

Canadian identity

Canadians Constitutional debate in Canada Culture of Canada Canadian cultural protectionism Demographics of Canada Multiculturalism in Canada

National identities in Canada	Annexationism Canadian nationalism Quebec nationalism Western alienation Alberta separatism

Relations between English and French Canada	Acadian movement Anti-Quebec sentiment National question (Quebec) Federalism Sovereigntism Distinct society État québécois Two Solitudes Notable events: Manitoba Schools Question (1890–96) Regulation 17 (1912) Conscription Crisis of 1917 Conscription Crisis of 1944 Quiet Revolution Vive le Québec libre speech (1967) October Crisis (1970) Quebec referendum, 1980 Quebec referendum, 1995 Unity Rally Québécois nation motion (2006)

Multicultural politics	Canadian Multiculturalism Act Cultural mosaic Section Twenty-seven of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Reasonable accommodation Global Centre for Pluralism Multicultural media in Canada 1976 separate schools case 1985 and 1986 Sunday shopping cases 1985 day-of-rest case 1986 separate schools case 1986 homeschooling case 1990 RCMP turban controversy 2001 religious university case 2004 succah case 2006 Kirpan case 2006 school etiquette case Quebec Charter of Values (2013) 2015 niqab case

Language politics	Official bilingualism in Canada Gendron Commission Language policies of Canada's provinces and territories Legal dispute over Quebec's language policy Official bilingualism in the public service of Canada Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism Timeline of official languages policy in Canada

Immigration to Canada	Canadian nationality law Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Economic impact of immigration to Canada History of immigration to Canada Permanent residency see also :Template:Canadian citizenship

Race and ethnicity	Canadian Anti-racism Education and Research Society Canadian Race Relations Foundation Ethnic origins of people in Canada List of ethnic interest groups in Canada Visible minority Racism cases 1899 coalminers' case 1903 voting rights case 1914 employment case 1939 tavern case 1946 Japanese deportation case 1951 housing case 1970 liquor law case Quebec historical anti-Semitism controversy

Aboriginal politics	National organizations Métis Red River Rebellion (1869) North-West Rebellion (1885) Indian Act (1876-present) Indian Register 1969 White Paper Oka Crisis (1990) Self-Government Inuit territories Inuvialuit (1984) NunatuKavut claimed Nunavik (no final agreement) Nunavut agreement 1993 establishment 1999 First Nations territories Eeyou Istchee James Bay Nitassinan claimed Royal Commission (1991–96) Kelowna Accord (2005) Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2008–) Idle No More protest movement (2012–) see also Template:Canadian Aboriginal case law

Federal–Provincial– Territorial relations	Province building Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations (1937–40) Royal Commission of Inquiry on Constitutional Problems (1953–56) Patriation debate (1960s to 1982) Fulton–Favreau formula (to 1965) Canada Act 1982 and Constitution Act, 1982 Canada Health Act (1984) Victoria Charter (1971) Meech Lake Accord (1987–90) Citizen's Forum on National Unity (1990–91) Charlottetown Accord (1992) Calgary Declaration (1997) See also template:Constitution of Canada, Category:Federalism in Canada, and Category:Canadian federalism case law

Symbols in Canada	National Provincial and territorial Royal Flags Heraldry Debates and legislation: Name (1867) Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 Great Canadian Flag Debate (1963–64) National Anthem Act (1980) Debate on the monarchy in Canada (Monarchism in Canada and Republicanism in Canada)

Culture

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