History of Racism in the Canadian Immigration System
Unfortunately, Canada has a long history of discrimination, prejudice and racism in immigration. Canada's immigration laws from 1885-1962 included explicitly racist language and due to this non-european immigration was discouraged. In 1885, the Chinese Immigration Act implemented a head tax on Chinese Immigration (Taylor.1991;2) Immigration from India was controlled by the "single continuous journey" clause with basically stopped all immigration from those regions (Taylor.1991;2). Around 1947, racism was reduced in the laws when the Chinese Immigration act was lifted and the "single continuous journey" clause was removed. Even with the removal of the explicit language the rate and reasons of deportations show that racism was present up until the 1970’s; “the non-white non-Europeans were excluded and deported for not complying at a rate 30% higher than white Europeans,” (Taylor 1991; 7).
1962 saw regulations introduced that required immigrants from all over the world to be treated fairly and equally and later in 1967 it was changed into the points system (Taylor. 1991;3). According to Baldwin, Cameron and Kobayashi in their article Where is the Great White North, Specializing History, Historicizing Whiteness they employ the whiteness studies discourse by stating “Notwithstanding the fact that since the adoption of a multiculturalism policy in 1971 there is at least nominal recognition of Canada as a diverse society; the normative vision of Canada as a white man’s country is still pervasive,” (Baldwin.Cameron.Kobayashi.2011; 3). However, by the 1980’s racism in immigration had begun to decline “where all explicit racist restrictions have been removed, white European immigrants decline from 2/3 to less than 1/3 of all immigrants,” (Taylor 1991; 6).
Today, Canada’s system has begun to move away from racism and towards a focus on skills and work experience. There are currently six factors that determine eligibility to be admitted to Canada as a skilled worker. They are as follows, education, abilities in either of the national languages, work experience, age, employment status, and adaptability within the country such as family connections, race does not factor into these selection criteria, which shows progress. (CIC) Of course, there is always going to be some subjectivity towards who gets let in and who gets rejected due to the nature of the system; Dr. Veronica Strong Boag, author of Painting the Maple: Essays on Race, Gender and the Construction of Canada states “The primary purpose of immigration policy is to deny Canadian citizenship to the majority of the world’s inhabitants. Thus, by its very existence, immigration policy – that is, the regulation of the movement and settlement of people – is about excluding.” (Strong-Boag 1998; 70) However, today’s policy shows strong improvements towards less racism than was previously present throughout Canada’s Immigration Policy History.
Sources:
Strong-Boag. Veronica. 1998. Painting the Maple: Essays on Race Gender and the Construction of Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia. UBC Press. March 14, 2013 (http://books.google.ca/books?id=k6yFGEno1poC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Taylor, K.W. 1991. “Racism in Canadian Immigration Policy” Canadian Ethnic Studies 23 (1): 1-20. (Retrieved from Queen’s University Library Database on March 14, 2013)
Baldwin, A. L. Cameron and A. Kobayashi “Introduction: Where is the Great White North? Spatializing History, Historicizing Whiteness” in Rethinking the Great White North: Race, Nature, and the Historical Geographies of Whiteness in Canada, pp. 3. September 21, 2011 Vancouver: UBC Press.
1962 saw regulations introduced that required immigrants from all over the world to be treated fairly and equally and later in 1967 it was changed into the points system (Taylor. 1991;3). According to Baldwin, Cameron and Kobayashi in their article Where is the Great White North, Specializing History, Historicizing Whiteness they employ the whiteness studies discourse by stating “Notwithstanding the fact that since the adoption of a multiculturalism policy in 1971 there is at least nominal recognition of Canada as a diverse society; the normative vision of Canada as a white man’s country is still pervasive,” (Baldwin.Cameron.Kobayashi.2011; 3). However, by the 1980’s racism in immigration had begun to decline “where all explicit racist restrictions have been removed, white European immigrants decline from 2/3 to less than 1/3 of all immigrants,” (Taylor 1991; 6).
Today, Canada’s system has begun to move away from racism and towards a focus on skills and work experience. There are currently six factors that determine eligibility to be admitted to Canada as a skilled worker. They are as follows, education, abilities in either of the national languages, work experience, age, employment status, and adaptability within the country such as family connections, race does not factor into these selection criteria, which shows progress. (CIC) Of course, there is always going to be some subjectivity towards who gets let in and who gets rejected due to the nature of the system; Dr. Veronica Strong Boag, author of Painting the Maple: Essays on Race, Gender and the Construction of Canada states “The primary purpose of immigration policy is to deny Canadian citizenship to the majority of the world’s inhabitants. Thus, by its very existence, immigration policy – that is, the regulation of the movement and settlement of people – is about excluding.” (Strong-Boag 1998; 70) However, today’s policy shows strong improvements towards less racism than was previously present throughout Canada’s Immigration Policy History.
Sources:
Strong-Boag. Veronica. 1998. Painting the Maple: Essays on Race Gender and the Construction of Canada. Vancouver, British Columbia. UBC Press. March 14, 2013 (http://books.google.ca/books?id=k6yFGEno1poC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false)
Taylor, K.W. 1991. “Racism in Canadian Immigration Policy” Canadian Ethnic Studies 23 (1): 1-20. (Retrieved from Queen’s University Library Database on March 14, 2013)
Baldwin, A. L. Cameron and A. Kobayashi “Introduction: Where is the Great White North? Spatializing History, Historicizing Whiteness” in Rethinking the Great White North: Race, Nature, and the Historical Geographies of Whiteness in Canada, pp. 3. September 21, 2011 Vancouver: UBC Press.