Personal Essay: Immigrants To Canada

Founded in 1867, Canada is a country formed by the merging of Anglophone and Francophone territories in the New World. In addition to the English and French, the Native American tribes all over Canada (such as the Metis, Ojibway, Cree, Iroquois…) were a key part in the formation of the country we call home, Canada (If you identify as a Canadian). Canada has a vast amount of habitable land yet it has a very minuscule population in comparison. Therefore, in order to utilize the large amount of land available, immigration was introduced. Immigration has been very successful in fact about 18.07 Million people have immigrated to Canada since 1867 up until 2013 (to put into perspective, the population of Canada in 2013 was 35.16 million!). For the
most part, these immigrants were mainly from Europe looking for land to farm on and from China who came to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway and ended up staying. In the past 30 years, immigrants from countries all around the world have started to come and settle in the barely 149-year-old country of Canada. This leads many people to ponder over what is an average Canadian and what are Canadian values? Although I was born in India, I have done all my education in Canada. When I first started Kindergarten, I was astonished at how diverse Canada was. Fast forward to 2017; I have never experienced racism. I believe this is due to the exposure everyone has had to multiculturalism and it has made us embrace each other’s differences and has made us open minded.
Canada has always been a country which has been welcoming to immigrants of many different cultures and it does not seem this will cease (especially due to the refugee crisis). I believe new cultures will continue to be introduced and only one culture will not be dominant thus we cannot describe an ‘average Canadian’ based on appearances and having a Canadian passport simply does not cut the requirement to be Canadian in my opinion. I believe we can identify a Canadian based on their beliefs and values. I believe that when we think of a key defining trait of a Canadian ‘Open-mindedness’ is the most suitable one and sets us apart from a majority of people in different countries such as our neighbours in the south. Open-mindedness is the key trait to being Canadian because Canada has a variety of culture and as time goes on the exposure to different cultures will only grow. Therefore, we must be welcoming to everyone just like the previous generations of Canadians, we must continue their legacy of being open-minded and be an example to the world. That is what being Canadian is about and that is why I identify as a Canadian despite being born in
India!
Link: http://data2.archives.ca/e/e432/e010779321_s1-v8.jpg , is a poster made for the purpose of attracting people to the Country of Canada by offering them large amounts of land to farm (the prairies in the 19th century)