The Building And Adjusting Of National&Ethnic Minorities’Citizenship In Canada Since The End Of World War Two

Canada is a typical multi-national and multi-ethnic country in the world. The aboriginal peoples and French Canadians are its national minorities, and Non-English and Non-French Canadians are its ethnic minorities. It has been an important problem hard to solve for Canada to build the nationalðnic minorities’citizen rights and improve their common state identity in the citizenship construction. Prior to the end of Second World War, the Anglo racialism dominated the Citizenship building in Canada. The aboriginals were deprived of citizen rights as wards of Canadian Government. The French Canadians were distrusted by the British Empire, and their citizen rights were in weak position compared with English Canadians. The ethnic minorities’citizen rights were separated into classes and ranks according to how close their colors and cultures were to English Canadians, and basically the colored minorities of were kept out of citizen rights. The essential purpose of Anglo racism was to assimilate the nationalðnic minorities by force and strengthen their loyalty to the British Empire. However, this kind of citizenship model led to the racial conflicts and made state identity divided. The end of Second World War was a turning point in the Canadian citizenship history. In1946, the Federation Parliament passed the first Canadian Citizenship Act, and the Canadians were officially called "the Canadian citizens" for the first time. Since then, Canada abolished the racism in law, and has been building a just citizenship for nationalðnic minorities. This dissertation focuses on the transition of nationalðnic minorities’citizenship, especially on the relations between changes of their citizen rights and their Canada identity.From the1946to1971when the multicultural policy became a Federation policy, the liberalism was the guiding philosophy in Canadian citizenship building in consideration of the evil of racialism. In this period, ethnic&national background was universally regarded as a private affair in Canada, and the individual citizens rather than nationalðnic groups were seen as the basic units of citizenship. The Canadian Government tried to improve national and ethnic minorities’identity of Canada by granting them same citizen rights based on the individualism, regardless of their ethnic&national background. Undoubtedly, the liberalism citizenship model played an active role in protecting equal status of individual citizens with ethnic&national minority origins. Nevertheless, the liberalism citizenship still could not deconstruct or replace their nationalðnic minorities’ group identities with common Canada identity. The aboriginals were unwilling to give up their nation status in spite of being granted equal individual citizen rights. The French Canadians in Quebec province began claiming groups’privileges as sovereign nations beyond the individually equal citizen rights after the Quiet Revolution, and ethnic minorities also began asking for group cultural rights.From1971to the early1990s, the Canadian government introduced the multiculturalism principles to the citizenship building which recognizes the "citizens’ Plus" status of ethnic&national minorities in view of the liberalism limitations valuing individual citizens rather than nationalðnic groups. And the aboriginals were given universal self-governance power. Quebec province’s quasi-state status was partly accepted more than before, and ethnic minorities group culture rights were protected by the Federation. As a result, the multiculturalism citizenship made Canadian society more open and inclusive, improved the nationalðnic minorities’social status, and the tense relations among cultural groups were further softened. But on the other side, the multiculturalism citizenship also encouraged the nationalðnic minorities’ self-group identities rather than the common Canada identity. Some conflicts happened to the relations of aboriginal self-governance with Canada sovereignty. Two referendums for independence were held across Quebec province. The ethnic minorities’ identity as Canadian citizens became more divided, and what&who are Canadians were more bewildering than before.Because of the negative influences of multiculturalism citizenship, the Canadian government adjusted the multicultural citizenship with republicanism from the early1990s to the early2000s. Under this model, the aboriginal self-governance was newly restricted. The Quebec separatism was constrained in multiple ways, and the ethnic minority immigrants were more required to integrate into Canada. The republicanism has achieved certain effects. But fundamentally, the republicanism either could not uproot the political, economic and cultural roots of relatively thin identity of Canada. The nationalðnic minorities’thin identity of Canada has not been solved successfully. Some aboriginals continued to refuse the Federation’s sovereignty. The French nationalism parties in Quebec province still did not give up their independence dream. The ethnic minorities’feelings to Canada, and their identity of Canadian values and their understanding on Canada remain to strengthen.To conclude, the ultimate purpose for the building and adjusting of nationalðnic minorities’citizenship since the end of WW II is to forge a strong common identity of Canada shared by all the Canadian citizens. Due to the complexity of Canadian nationalðnic structure, the particularity of Canadian history and the limitations of three citizenship models mentioned above, there is a paradox in effect when the three citizenship models were applied to Canada. The enlargement of citizen rights of nationalðnic minorities were a unity of contradictions, not necessarily proportional to their identities of Canada, and in some instances even they ran in opposite directions. At the same time, the nationalðnic minorities’ identities of Canada were thin and diverse, but Canada was still a harmonious, orderly and stable society. Up to now, the nationalðnic minorities’self-groups’ identities and their identities of Canada are in the dynamic balance, and Canada’s experience of citizenship models since the end of WWII affords lessons that merit attention to other multi-national&multi-ethnic countries.