Changing Social Situations of the Chinese Canadian (Research Paper Sample)

Changing Social Situations of the Chinese Canadian
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Changing Social Situations of the Chinese Canadian
The Chinese Canadians are the second-largest minority group in Canada. They migrated from China to Canada in the 1880s when the Chinese labor won a contract to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Initially, the Chinese Immigrants in Canada were discriminated by the Canadian society. The population of Chinese Canadians did grow to about one million in 2006 to make 4% of the total Canadian people. They worked under poor work conditions, and low wages in the construction firms contracted to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Nonetheless, the Chinese Canadians have managed to integrate into the Canadian society, and have made notable contributions to the growth of the current multicultural Canadian society. With the Chinese population increasing in Canada, they lived together to form small towns made of Chinese immigrants in a number of large Canadian cities. However, it is undeniable that the Chinese Canadians were subject to societal discrimination. The Chinese Canadians were characterized by high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and poor health. They had their values oppressed, and rights ignored as important members of the Canadian society. Nevertheless, the social situation of Chinese Canadians is getting much better in today’s Canadian society. The government of Canada has laid down strategies with which to will improve the livelihood of these people.
Social Situations of Chinese Canadian in the Past Canadian Society
In as much as Canada has attracted praise and compliments from the outside world due to its embracement of racial and ethnic diversity, it is a given that its treatment of the Chinese Canadians over time is nothing short of a national tragedy and international disgrace (Notzke, 1994: 104).Ever since the 1980s, the Chinese Canadians have been subject to condemnation and exclusion from the mainstream society. For the better part of Canada’s history, the Chinese Canadians have been viewed as ‘problematic people’, whose social challenges are attributed to their refusal to discard their cultural and religious traditions in favor of modernization and the realities of the present.
The struggles and discriminative treatment of the Canadians with Chinese origin is characterized by dispossession of land and other resources, high poverty index, and high levels of dependency and underdevelopment. Furthermore, limited access to health services, poor educational facilities, and domestic violence are among the main trademarks with which to identify Canadians with Chinese origin in the past Canadian society. The Chinese Canadians were subjected to oppression and isolation from the rest of the Canadian population.
The past Canadian society did treat Canadians of Chinese origin with massive discrimination. For instance, a number of government policies in the 1980s did deliberately undermine the capabilities of the Canadian with the Chinese origin. The policies denied the Chinese Canadians an opportunity to live together as communities. They did deprive them of the right to own land, practice their cultural and spiritual traditions, and exercise their tribal authorities (Perreault, Tindall, & Trosper, 2013: 89). The government of Canada in the 1980s approved social policies that made the Chinese Canadians a community of lesser important people who did not deserve equal treatment as the rest of the society.
During that time, Canadians with Chinese origin had inadequate housing facility due to poverty and lack of land. The members of this community lived in overcrowded reserves, which could not meet the basic standards for human living. They also had limited access to medical facilities. The then Canadian government could not ensure equal distribution of resources to all communities in Canada. It did not construct enough medical and educational facilities in regions occupied by the Chinese Canadians. In addition, the government could not establish water and sewerage connections in reserves occupied by Canadians with Chinese origin. According to Perreault et al. (2013: 69), less than 50% of Canadians with Chinese origin’s homes had access to water and sewerage connections in the 1980s.
Moreover, the rate of unemployment among the Canadians with Chinese origin in the 1980s was three times lower than that of the rest of the Canadian population. Many of the Chinese Canadians did not have the opportunity to access educational facilities, a factor that made them incompetent in the labor markets. They could only work as unskilled laborers in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Due to that, the majority of Canadians with Chinese origin were less empowered. They had low income, which led to poor living standards. They also developed low self-esteem, increased vulnerability to illnesses, cycles of poverty, cultural disintegration, and massive social decay. All the above-mentioned conditions did make Canadians with Chinese origin experience oppression and discrimination in the past Canadian society.
Social Situations of the Chinese Canadians in the Present Canadian Society
Although the Chinese Canadians have been subject to enormous oppressive forces over the past, it is undisputed that these communities in collaboration with the current Canadian government have embraced strategies with which to improve their livelihoods. A number of elite members of the Canadians with Chinese origin, including scholars, political leaders, artist, and human rights activists are spearheading the struggles for equality and non-discriminative treatment of all citizens of Canada regardless of racial and ethnic diversity. Their efforts have certainly made a positive impact in enhancing the living standards of the Chinese Canadians (Douglas, 2013: 97). They have joined hands with the local Canadians with Chinese origin to challenge the status quo for the minority communities to demand fairer treatment where the Chinese Canadians have fulfilling opportunities in the society. Through that, the Chinese Canadians have been able to be empowered economically to enhance overall economic growth in the present Canadian society.
The present government of Canada has equally embraced schemes that empower the Chinese Canadians on the verge to curb poverty. For instance, the Canadian government has launched a Seabird Sustainable Community Project, which intends primarily to assist the Canadians with Chinese origin to outweigh the challenges of poor housing as well as creating a sustainable environment that is healthy, affordable, and energy-efficient. Moreover, the establishment of Community Economic Development programs among Canadians with Chinese origin has helped to empower many members of these communities economically, a situation that has reduced the levels of dependency and poverty among them. As a result, the empowered and more economically independent population of Chinese Canadians has contributed in making the present Canadian society more economically stable.
The current Canadian society has equally developed strategies with which to enhance the accessibility to health care services among Canadians with Chinese origin. This is evident from the establishment of the Noojimawinn Health Authority (NHA), which is among the six Aboriginal Health Authorities developed through the Aboriginal Healing and Wellness Strategy (AHWS) in 1997. The AHWS and the NHA work to meet the healthcare needs of the minority communities by ensuring the construction of adequate medical facilities that are well equipped, within areas occupied by this minority group. Furthermore, a number of higher learning educational institutions, such as the McMaster University, have introduced courses that focus on health issues affecting the Chinese Canadians. Such courses nurture professionals with great awareness of the medical challenges that are exclusive to the Canadians with Chinese origin. Based on the above analysis, it is vivid that the government of Canada, through the appropriate authorities and organizations, has developed strategies that have greatly improved the health care services among Canadians with Chinese origin.
The employment trends among Canadians with Chinese origin are also changing in today’s Canadian society. In the current Canadian society, many employers are embracing systems that enable them to tap into the skills of underutilized workers with potential abilities. The Canadian society has developed several initiatives and policies that are supportive of equality among all citizens of Canada. Such policies and initiatives purposes to make sure that all oppressed persons in the society, especially the Chinese Canadians, have access to equal employment opportunities. For example, the Aboriginal Business Service Network is an initiative in the current Canadian society, which provides a platform for both employers and employees in Canada to interact and profess for equal work opportunities for everyone (Douglas, 2013: 37). This has contributed in developing a society that is economically empowered.
It is no doubt that the level of literacy among the Chinese Canadians is much lower than that of all other communities in the country. However, the current Canadian society is doing a lot to improve the situation. The government of Canada has developed a number of departments such as the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) and the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Development (DIAND), which have collectively made researches on the educational issues among the minority communities. The departments have done comprehensive investigations on the challenges facing educational progress among the Canadians with Chinese origin and developed s...