According to Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 2 (October) 8:20, the significant indicators in the 2020 vertical mosaic are nativity (Born in Canada v foreign born), visible minority status and Gender. I am male, born in India and my ethnicity is Hindu. Ethnicity in this case is about cultural and shared heritage, this encompasses where ones’ ancestors are from and how they define themselves, also the common languages used and beliefs (Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 1 (October) 12:00). Looking at my nativity, my minority status and gender, my position in the 2020 vertical mosaic places me third from the bottom as a “foreign born” visible minority male (Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 2 (October) 9:22). The reason why I am a visible minority is because I do not possess the fair skin that most non-visible minorities have.
Two personal real life experiences include failure to get a job because of my accent and waiting for far too long to be served in a restaurant as those who came after me received their orders. I am very sure I experienced prejudice because I am foreign and in both cases, those born in Canada were considered first. The life experiences help me understand my position on the vertical mosaic in the sense that my foreign status seems to be visible and is a disadvantage. On the vertical mosaic, people born in Canada have different experiences because they are considered first and treated better compared to foreign born citizens. According to Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 2 (October) 9:22, the minority status has basically not changed from the 1965 vertical mosaic. I fall in the same category as female visible minorities and the indigenous people of Canada who are right at the bottom of the vertical mosaic. The indigenous people are not treated well since the settlers enacted unfair inequality processes and programs.
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A lot of immigrants that come into Canada likely come with the belief that they will be able to get good jobs and fair wages. This belief is brought on due to the type of point system used to rate immigrants. This system and the policies are designed to attract immigrants with superior levels of education, experience and industry. The point system rates immigrants on the following: language ability, level of education, experience gained in jobs that are on demand, presence of job offers and economic resources that the immigrant has at hand. Most immigrants that have undergraduate degrees are 49.5% whilst Canadian born people who are in the same age group are 30.3% (Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 2 (October) 16:30). Despite immigrants meeting all the criteria for getting a good paying job, most of them are paid 36-48% less than Canadian born people who have the same qualifications. A lot of immigrants find themselves having to take job positions that are at a lower level than they are qualified. According to Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 2 (October) 18:39, there are a number of reasons why immigrants are unable to get jobs that are suited to their professions and end up accepting lower paying jobs. One of them is, a lot of employers do not believe that the education gained in foreign countries is as good as Canadian education. Another reason is that employers think that experience gained in foreign countries cannot be compared to Canadian work experience because they do not know the dynamics of how tasks are performed in foreign countries. Unlike Canada, Asia is very rich in culture, and so with the influx in Asian immigrants to Canada some cultural issues have come up. Many employers feel that some of these Asians may be unable to fit into the Canadian culture and have issues with language. It seems that the point system does not work in hand with the actual workplaces because there seems to be a disconnect between the two.
Indians have strong cultural beliefs and this is depicted in how they present themselves through dress and certain mannerisms. They also tend to have a strong accent even when they are speaking English. Considering that these issues are the cause for employers to believe that they may not be well suited for a job, it affects me as well because of prejudice. According to Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 3 (October) 18:39, prejudice is a rigid and irrational generalization about an entire category of people. This is when people hold attitudes that are inflexible although there may be no evidence. It also leads people to characterize an entire group of people even though they have not met them. Prejudice tends to lead to stereotypes which view certain groups in a certain light. Even though I am educated in Canada and have all the qualifications required, the fact that I fall under the visible minority is likely to disadvantage me when I am looking for employment. Canadian born people would be the preferred candidate over visible minorities when it comes to job selection. According to Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 3 (October) 18:39, Discrimination is an act that is restrictive, which could be done deliberately or otherwise and has the effect of adversely affecting others on grounds other than merit and ability. Studies have shown that 36% of racialized minorities show that they have experienced discrimination with 33% of the respondents being Asian (Week 6 Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 3 (October) 12:27). These figures clearly show that because of me being part of the visible minority chances are high of being discriminated against when good job opportunities arise. The non-visible minority males are more advantaged because their status is always higher than the visible minority.
The once an immigrant video highlights how people from different cultures felt at home in Canada, also, it embraces people different religions and views (Keleghan, 2017, 37:10). The once an immigrant video does not go into the details of what issues immigrants face when they are in Canada, most of the people seemed to have been coming from places that were facing problems and Canada was accepting of them. Also, it did not delve into issues faced by visible minorities. The M word video brings more understanding of why visible minorities tend to have a tough time. Many years ago Canada was keen on only having people that were like them, that is, visible minorities, people with a different skin color were not allowed into the country. Visible minorities that were already in Canada were not granted citizenship or jobs in their professions (Third Elements Productions, 2007, 15:10). This video shows the history of how people that appeared different were excluded from Canada. Although the multiculturism law was enacted in order to be more accepting of people from all over the world, I believe some aspects of excluding or not treating others equally is still there in Canada.
In Canada people from all social statuses come together to celebrate the many cultural holidays and festivities around, for instance Kwanza and Diwali. Despite all the participation or even appreciation of culture, differences in social status does not change much because it all seems to be superficial and does not go any deeper (Week 7 Multiculturalism Lecture Week 1 Part 1(Oct 19-23) 2:00). I think multiculturalism is working in a way because it allows the many cultures to practice their cultures and retain them. In an ideal world, it would be possible to embrace everyone and expect equal treatment but currently it is difficult because being different is the reason for the issues like racism and discrimination. Although multiculturalism has encouraged ethnic diversity and multicultural harmonization, it has not achieved it. In Canada, people are taught that because it is a multicultural country it cannot have any racism, this leads to racism being hidden or ignored and people need to be educated about it (Week 7 Multiculturalism Lecture Week 1 Part 1(Oct 19-23) 15:00). People need to stop ignoring or thinking racism is not there in Canada, they must instead be made aware of it and educated on ways that it can be stopped.
References
Week 6 (October 12-16). Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 2 . https://d2l.langara.bc.ca/d2l/le/content/169744/viewContent/2634503/View
Week 6 (October 12-16). Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 1 . https://d2l.langara.bc.ca/d2l/le/content/169744/viewContent/2634499/View
Week 6 (October 12-16). Race & Ethnicity Lecture Part 3 . https://d2l.langara.bc.ca/d2l/le/content/169744/viewContent/2635446/View
Week 7 (Oct 19-23). Multiculturalism Lecture Week 1 Part 1 . https://d2l.langara.bc.ca/d2l/le/content/169744/viewContent/2643795/View
Keleghan, P. Once an Immigrant . https://curio-ca.ezproxy.langara.ca/en/video/once-an-immigrant-12885/
Third Element Productions . M Word . https://stream-mcintyre-ca.ezproxy.langara.ca/langara/title/14026
