9781422281000

The Changing Face of Canada Peter A. Hammerschmidt former First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations T hroughout Canada’s history, immigration has shaped and defined the very character of Canadian society. The migration of peoples from every part of the world into Canada has profoundly changed the way we look, speak, eat, and live. Through close and distant relatives who left their lands in search of a better life, all Canadians have links to immigrant pasts. We are a nation built by and of immigrants. Two parallel forces have shaped the history of Canadian immigration. The enormous diversity of Canada’s immigrant population is the most obvious. In the beginning came the enterprising settlers of the “New World,” the French and English colonists. Soon after came the Scottish, Irish, and Northern and Central European farmers of the 1700s and 1800s. As the country expanded westward during the mid-1800s, migrant work- ers began arriving from China, Japan, and other Asian countries. And the turbulent twentieth century brought an even greater variety of immigrants to Canada, from the Caribbean, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. So while English- and French-Canadians are the largest ethnic groups in the country today, neither group alone represents a majority of the pop- ulation. A large and vibrant multicultural mix makes up the rest, particu- larly in Canada’s major cities. Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal alone are home to people from over 200 ethnic groups! Less obvious but equally important in the evolution of Canadian immi- gration has been hope. The promise of a better life lured Europeans and

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