Multiculturalism in Canada
Politicians and sociologists alike often use the metaphors of a "melting pot," a "garden," or a "mixed salad" to describe nations that are essentially multicultural and diverse. These metaphors were given a new twist by Canadian Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier at the start of the twentieth century: Laurier described visiting a magnificent cathedral in England that "was made of marble, oak, and granite. It is the image of the nation that I would like to see Canada to become. For here, I want marble to remain the marble, the granite to remain the granite, the oak to remain the oak; and out of all these elements I would built a nation great among the nations of the world" (Canada and the World Backgrounder, 4).
However one might feel about this particular metaphor for a multicultural society, the fact of the matter is that Canada's policy of multiculturalism has been emphasized throughout the twentieth century and is further touted as being mandatory for the twenty-first century (Parker, 24). Critics of this multiculturalism claim that it has become to mean "the establishment of protected classes of people who receive legislated privileges and legal benefits to offset systemic prejudice and discrimination" (Parker, 24). Critics further believe that this set of government and public policies are best described as "mosaic madness," a significant alternative to the images of the melting pot, the brightly flowered garden, or the magnificent structure composed of many complementary but different materials.
Whereas most people consider multiculturalism in the Canadian context or mosaic as most readily apparent in the sharp divisions existing between French and English provinces and the activism of such Native American peoples as the Inuit, the fact of the matter is that Canadian multiculturalism today embraces not only French and English Canadians and aboriginal people, but sp...