Unequal Treatment of Canadians with Immigrants

Unequal Treatment of Canadians with Immigrants

Introduction

In the current time, immigrants face unequal treatment of Canadians in various spheres of life. Existing discrimination is reflected in the considerable income gap, high rates of unemployment, different labor market, and language barriers. Most of these challenges are created artificially. Below will be described backgrounds on unequal treatment, as well as existing social and legislative barriers.

Historical background of unequal treatment of Canadians with immigrants

Throughout the whole Canadian history, immigrants faced considerable discrimination. Inequality also concerned native settlers of North America – Indians. Below will be described the historical background of the existing barriers.

There are different origins of racial inequality in Canada.

Canadian immigration history is marked by racism and discrimination. The first immigrants from Europe brought with them the seeds of racism that would have such a devastating impact on the Aboriginal peoples of what is now Canada, an impact that continues to be felt to this day (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

Slavery in Canada is connected with Black people and Aborigines. A lot of African slaves were brought to Canada in the 17-the century. Native Indians also became slaves in the process of seizure of the North American continent. Most slaves worked as servants and farmworkers. Aborigines represented about half of the total number of slaves in Canada. The other part of slaves was mainly represented by the Black people. Notably, The Act Against Slavery was passed only at the end of the 18-th century (in 1793). However, the unequal treatment only decreased from that time, but not disappeared.

Discrimination against Chinese people also has a long history. In the 19-th century, Chinese people worked on the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway and at mines. However, after the completion of the railroad, the Canadian government adopted a ‘Head Tax’ for decreasing Chinese and Japanese immigration. Preliminary, ‘Head Tax’ was $ 50. However, in 1903, this Tax was raised to $500 (the equivalent of two years’ wages) (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

Chinese and Japanese immigrants paid taxes and had some rights as native Canadian citizens, such as the right to vote. In 1923, The Chinese Immigration Act was passed. The government tried to eliminate a considerable number of Chinese immigrants, as well as create barriers for arriving new immigrants from the Asian region. Only Chinese merchants, students, and diplomats were allowed to enter the country (Immigration: Chinese Exclusion Act). This Act was repealed only in 1947 (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). Discrimination processed became sharper during World War II. A lot of Japanese Canadians were made to move to special camps. It should be noted that the government adduced the official excuses for these actions only in 1988 (the 20th Anniversary of the Canadian Government’s formal apology for Japanese internment during World War II).

Since those times, discrimination of aborigines, blacks, and Chinese considerable has decreased. However, it does still exist. Current discrimination processes are directed against Aborigines, Chinese, Africans, Japanese, South Asians, Muslims, and Jewish Canadians (Racial discrimination (brochure)).

Challenges of Immigration

There are a lot of governmental barriers for people who want to immigrate to Canada, notwithstanding the considerable flow of immigrants into this country. According to official statistics, about 200,000 immigrants and refugees come to Canada each year. In the last decade, more than 2.2 million people came to this country. In 2001, the immigrants compose 18.4 % of the total population. In case of preservation of the existing trends, immigrants will present 25 % of the total Canadian population by 2015. It is notable that since the 1970-s, the majority of immigrants came from the Middle East and Asian countries. They represent 57 % of the total number of immigrants who have arrived in Canada since 1991 (National Anti-Racism Council of Canada, 2007).

Immigration to Canada is a very complicated process. Nowadays, refugees have to present ‘satisfactory identity documents’ to receive permanent Canadian residence. Some of them have challenges with the presentation of these documents because of the absence of the official authority that provides these documents or the absence of the necessary governmental establishment of these documents (African countries).

The next barrier is the Head Tax. Since 1995, each adult immigrant is to pay a $975 ‘Right of Landing Fee’ together with a $500 processing fee. These taxes create considerable financial barriers to people from poor countries who want to immigrate to Canada (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

The next challenge is visa requirements. 19 % of citizens from the White countries and 81 % of citizens from the Southern countries are required for visas. These figures show rather existing sharp inequality to immigrants from different regions.

The existing employment barriers do not allow immigrants to receive adequate work and earn money for their families. In his research on Poverty and Racism, Jackson stated that the poverty rate of immigrants reaches 38 % when the total poverty rate in Canada is 21% (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

Although a lot of immigrants have a very high level of education, they face considerable challenges in finding jobs (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). The main barrier for immigrants is accreditation. The existing system of accreditation is not perfect.

At the present moment, there are six formal credential assessment services and several informal institutions in Canada. Most of them have the aim to help immigrants to receive the additional Canadian education, but not to perform accreditation of the already obtained one. The assessment services are provided by Alberta, Quebec, and British Columbia. Assessment takes considerable time and requires some additional expenses from applicants, for example, for translation of documents. Also, a lot of immigrants noted the exceeded requirements to employees (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). Thus, the Canadian system performs some kind of selection of the high-educated and skilled immigrants.

Even if immigrants have received a job proposition or passed accreditation, they face considerable challenges with the settlement. The federal institutions transfer the task of immigration settlement to the provincial authorities. The following authorities, in their turn, transfer these obligations to ‘individual professional regulatory bodies.

Also, a lot of employers require immigrants to pass additional exams, to take part in additional training and reeducation, and to receive a license for their activities.

Even after passing all the existing barriers, immigrants are still treated unequally by Canadian employers. According to official statistics, wages of immigrants are 16 % lower than wages of native Canadians. Female-immigrant work is longer and cheaper than the work of Canadian women. Most of them obtain service, sales, and clerical jobs. Also, a highly educated female immigrant is less likely to obtain a professional job than a native Canadian female (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

Currently, a lot of manufactures use the labor of the unprotected immigrants: ”there is a growing trend toward non-standard work, including part-time shifts and casual hours, which does not offer benefits” (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). Immigrants are obliged to work on temporary and casual jobs (such as pizza deliveries, newspaper carriers, parking lot attendants, dishwashers, etc.) with low wages, low security of the working process, and unsafe working conditions. Most of these jobs do not require special knowledge and skills (National Anti-Racism Council of Canada 2007). This kind of labor is more preferable to manufacturers because employees have low legislative and social protection.

Legislation Protection

Currently, a lot of governmental laws and regulations are adopted. They have the aim to eliminate any discrimination in Canada.

The current Canadian Constitution incorporates The Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This Charter ”grants every individual in Canada equal protection and equal benefit before and under the law” (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). This Charter concerns all laws and regulations in Canada.

Discrimination is also prohibited by special legislation - The Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA). This act also proclaims equal treatment in all spheres of social life: ”individuals should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have and to have their needs accommodated, consistent with their duties and obligations as members of society” (Makarenko, 2008). The Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) and the specially established Tribunal perform governance and administration of the CHRA.

Also, the rights of immigrants and Canadian minorities are protected by the provincial and federal laws concerning human rights, such as Ontario’s Human Rights Code. The code covers various aspects of social life: education, employment, health care services, rental housing, etc (Racial discrimination (brochure).

The existing legislation intends to protect immigrants and minorities from any inequality. However, it still has some considerable challenges.

The Act applies only to ‘lawful present’ people, i.e. people who just apply to enter the country and illegal immigrants are not protected by the CHRA. These people do not have any ability to claim against discrimination in any sphere of social life (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

Even immigrants who have received a status of lawful immigrants face some problems in securing their rights for equal attitude. The existing protecting system does not provide the necessary securing of the legal immigrants and Canadian minorities against discrimination. The existing challenges are described in the CHRA’s Review Panel report. The Commission takes a decision considering discrimination complaints during an extremely long period – about two years. Respondents noted that the main reason for such postponements is the Commission’s inability to enforce the deadline (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

The average time of disposing of a complaint by the Tribunal is about one year, and the time of taking decisions (after finishing of hearings) is about five months (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

A lot of cases were dismissed by Commissions without any considerable reasons. In the period between 1988 and 1998, only 6 % of all complaints were sent to the Tribunal, and 67 % were dismissed or not dealt with (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

It seems that the Commission and the Tribunal have no real intends to consider or settle cases. These legislative institutions do not solve the existing problems of discrimination and unequal treatment. Immigrants remain unprotected.

Current employment protection and its challenges

According to the researches performed by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF), immigrants face considerable barriers during their employment and working process.

The government adopted The Employment Equity Act. This Act aims to eliminate any discrimination barriers to employment in Canadian companies and corporations. According to this Act, women, people with disabilities, Aborigines, and minorities should receive equal rights and obligations (Employment equity).

However, this act applies mostly to big companies and corporations, federal employers, and governmentally regulated spheres of industry. The Employment Equity Act does not cover the organizations located in provinces or private companies. Thus, the majority of immigrant employees remain unprotected. This is supported by the official researches.

According to the researches performed by Bakan and Kobayashi, the number of immigrants who work in the public service sphere (5,1 %) is considerably lower than the total number of workers in this sphere (10,4 %) (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). These people are overrepresented in administrative support (5.3 %) and underrepresented in the executive sector (2.8 %). It is notable that even though immigrants and Canadian minorities represent a considerable part of the population, they occupy only 5.9 % of the governmental positions. Most of them are engaged in supportive and service work (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

Want an expert write a paper for you

Talk to an operator now

Start live chat now

Challenges of Immigrants in Education

Immigrants also face challenges and inequality in receiving education. These challenges include unequal treatment, language barriers, as well as difficulties in assimilation and adaptation into the new society and culture.

According to researches performed by the Nova Scotia Advisory Group, immigrants cannot achieve their full potential during the educational process (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). This is caused by the existing racism from the side of teachers and peers. Racism is mostly directed at African students. According to studies, aggressive actions against Black people take place all over the country. Thus, it is not a local problem. It is a nationwide social problem.

Most immigrants who came to Canada do not have sufficient knowledge of English. A language barrier prevents them from obtaining education, receiving professional employment, and making a career.

The government tried to help immigrants to improve their knowledge of English. One of the most notable strategies is ‘English as a Second Language (ESL)’. This program has an aim to improve the English language skills and knowledge concerning different cultures between students and support the existing educational programs. However, the existing ESL programs do not cover the current demand in studying English. The number of immigrants increases each year. According to official statistics, ”the percentage of elementary schools in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) with a high proportion of ESL students but lacking an ESL teacher has grown from 18 % in 1999-2000 to an astonishing 51 % in 2005-2006” (National Anti-Racism Council of Canada, 2007).

The ESL programs became less available and of lower quality. One-third of teachers state that the ELS programs have got worse since 2003. Three-quarters of teachers confirm that there are immigrants who need the ESL programs but have no ability to receiving them. 45 % of teachers state that schools do not provide equal ESL teaching (National Anti-Racism Council of Canada, 2007).

This statistical information reflects the current trends of the whole of Canada. The existing system artificially creates barriers for immigrants on their path to obtaining higher living standards. Children of immigrants just do not have any ability to improve their knowledge of English and education to assimilate into the new culture and society.

Notably, minorities and immigrants often have higher educational levels and knowledge than native Canadians. Also, it is notable that notwithstanding unequal treatment, the Black people are more successful in schools, but their number in universities is lower than the number of native Canadians (National Anti-Racism Council of Canada, 2007). Though these people have the willingness and ability to receive basic education, they do not have any possibilities to receive a university education. A lot of immigrants do not receive higher education because of their financial problems. They are obliged to work in lower-income jobs to earn money for their living

Inequality in health care

In addition to language barriers, employment challenges, and cultural isolation, immigrants face challenges in receiving health care services. This is mainly connected with communication barriers, lower incomes, and the absence of health insurance.

Immigrants receive fewer health care services, and at the same time, the already received services (especially diagnoses) are of a lower quality or are provided later. Leung describes the challenges of the Chinese immigrants in Canada: ”barriers to communication and cuts to health and social services make it extremely difficult for these immigrants to find assistance, despite their overall high level of education” (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002).

The Arabic immigrants also state the absence of Arabic-speaking health care providers and interpreters, female Arab physicians for women, and not enough ‘sensitive health services’ (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2).

Also, there are considerable misunderstandings between immigrant patients and doctors during providing health services. The majority of health care providers are unable to understand the historical and political background of patients’ problems and their stressful conditions caused by living in a new country with its own culture. A lot of immigrants feel frustration and depression because of their problems with employment and insufficient social security. For instance, depression among people in Ethiopia is three times less than depression among the Ethiopian immigrants in Canada.

Mass Media

The main problem of unequal treatment is the existing attitude of Canadian citizens towards newcomers and non-white Canadians. This negative attitude is greatly supported by using mass media. Frances Henry and Carol Tatar in their researches stated that ‘media stories are often filtered through a White, male, middle class or corporatist perspective’ (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). This assumption is supported in the ‘Racial Bias in Canadian Media’. Immigrants and Aborigines are described as foreigners, outsiders, criminals, aliens, and ‘those who pose a threat to the Canadian way of life’ (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). Means of mass media describe immigrants as people who are involved in illegal actions and ‘troublemakers who steal the job from Canadians (Racial discrimination in Canada, 2002). According to these studies, Black people and Latinos are mostly described as criminals who use guns and drugs. Muslims are shown as terrorists.

Means of mass media form social visions and attitudes towards people. Continuous cultivation of the negative immigrant image leads to the establishment and increase of negative attitudes towards immigrants.

Future of Unequal Treatment of Canadians With Immigrants

A lot of immigrants arrive in Canada each year. The above information shows that the government has been creating artificial barriers in obtaining visas, accreditation, settlement, education, and finding adequate working places. Means of mass media form the negative attitude of the society to immigrants and minorities. All these processes will lead to an increase in inequality and discrimination in all spheres of social life. Immigrants will be more unsatisfied with existing discrimination while native Canadians will be more unsatisfied with immigrants. This growing intolerance can lead to riots and civil disorders.

Immigrants present a considerable part of Canadian society. They come to this country to find new working places and better living. A decrease in the number of immigrants will lead to a decrease in the number of employees, especially in the support and service spheres as the majority of immigrants are employed in these spheres). Also, the government will receive less money from taxes. Fewer people will bring their knowledge and skills to Canada. The negative impact of decreasing immigration is rather considerable.

Conclusion

Unequal treatment of Canadians with immigrants has deep historical roots. Nowadays, the government has adopted numerous laws and regulations for eliminating discrimination. However, they are not enough effective and efficient. Immigrants face challenges while obtaining visas, accreditation of their education, settlement, education, and job. Social intolerance is increased using mass media, which creates a negative image of immigrants.

Immigrants represent a considerable part of the current Canadian population. These people have come to Canada for working and obtaining a better life, and thus, they do deserve to have those rights that Canadian citizens have.