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Post by ckennedy on Nov 29, 2010 10:50:34 GMT -5
Canada took on the part of having a "open door" policy for the immigrants. But as we learn on, we study that there was no actual open door. Canada had many strict rules on who could enter the country. Now in my question is is this racism or is it not. Canada only wanted farmers, for the land to create more grains; they did not want urban workers. Soon the population was firing up to the millions, this made people unhappy because so many were not able to speak french. This feared the french that their heritage would no longer stand. Soon later the act was changed to be very selective with who entered the country. Blacks, Asians, Jews.. etc, were not wanted to enter the country. Except the only way the Chinese/Japanese could enter would be with a head tax, and to work on the railway with very low pay. The entering of the immagrants was limited to eventually 400 a year could enter. See now why would we as a country want to limit the number of people that could come into our country. Was the point of a new country not to increase in people. Yes they were all from different origins, but was it not worth learning new things about?
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Post by Mr. Delainey on Nov 30, 2010 11:58:38 GMT -5
"...worth learning things about."
Your words there are from a person in 2010. In 1880, your attitude would be the exception not the rule.
The thinking behind limiting the immigrants coming into the country was the following: the government was trying to preserve the white, Anglo-Saxon, Christian character of Canada. If you allow unrestricted entry of people that do not fit into any of these categories you end up changing your society.
Arguably, Canada is a nation of immigrants. Canada is a very different place in 2010 than it was in 1880. In fact, we're quite different than we were in the 1950s. Following World War II we had a significant influx of Eastern Europeans into the country. In the 1960s, Asian immigration increased. And I think in the 1970s African immigration increased. By the late 1970s, the demography (the "look" of Canada's population) was virtually unrecognizable.
I think in 2010 that Canadians of European descent only make up 49% of our country's population now. I suppose the "closed door" policy was an attempt to prevent this from happening...
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