Cultural Values
What is ethnocentrism?
- idea that one race/group is superior
•Rich (luxurious life, servants, electricity, hot water)
•Working Class (shacks, overcrowded, low wages, children and women working long hours, limited restrictions on child labor, lack of water/sewage systems)
fur, water, timber, gold, minerals, wheat
Why did the French-speaking Canadians not like new immigrants?
- concerned about the size of the francophone speaking population
Why did John A. Macdonald change his mind about banning Chinese immigration?
•John A. Macdonald (PM) did not support the ban because CPR needed Chinese labor, after completion, he wanted to stop immigration from China
Explain the values that were common at the time.
regular church attendance (religion), loyalty to Britain/monarchy, traditional
What was Canada's economy built on?
•Natural resource extraction (timber, wheat, minerals, mining, gold)
How did Canada advertise immigration to the prairies?
- offered 65 hectares of land for $10
- advertised as an amazing place to live
What was the Chinese Immigration head tax, and what was the purpose?
- imposed on incoming Chinese immigrants, effort to discourage immigration by creating a financial barrier
•Big boom in industry for resource extraction
•Focus on finding cheap labour
•Asian immigrants often did work considered too unpleasant (coal, packing fish, dishes) – cheap labor was usually accepted
•Growing competition for jobs resulted in hostility
How did English-speaking vs. French-speaking Canadians feel about being British subjects?
English speakers - proud, wanted to expand empire
French speaking - viewed themselves as Canadians, nationalists, wanted independence
What was the aftermath of growing industrialization?
- more jobs, more urbanization, more consumerism
What led to the rise of Chinatown?
- widespread segregation in housing and employment
- gathered together in an area and created a community
How did the rising number of immigrants push out Aboriginal peoples?
•Aboriginal peoples became more displaced with more immigrants
•Regulated by Indian Act 1876
•1880s, most on Prairies were living on reserves (main purpose was to free land for settlers/immigrants from Europe and avoid violent conflict)
Name one big cultural difference of women's role in society at the time vs. now.
- limited rights of property and children
- divorce was rare
- not person under the law
- no right to vote
- salary was legal property of husband
Why did corporate giants have so much power?
- limited competition, freedom to price goods high and keep wages low
Explain how the Alaska Boundary Dispute led to angry Canadians.
dispute over borer of Alaska, US and BC wanted access to gold/resources
- British settled to keep peace with US
Explain the Chinese Exclusion Act and why it is called humiliation day.
- making Chinese immigration illegal by law
- signifies how normalized discriminatory and racist policies were in Canada at the time
Why did the Indian government attack and arrest the passengers of the Komagata Maru when it returned to India?
- considered this as an act of rebellion against British parliament
What were the biggest factors that shaped Canadian culture in the early 20th century?
- ties to Britain and British societal norms
- language and ties to colonies
- job availability created tension between groups
- battle for opportunity, growing urbanization, industrialization
- ethnocentrism
Why did trade unions form?
- to address poor working conditions and exploitation, grouping together to achieve common goals
Name the incident that led to a lasting impact on the Fraser River salmon, as a result of resource extraction.
New railway line at Fraser Canyon - rockslide resulted and had effects on spawning beds of sockeye salmon (blocked part of river), river's current was too strong for salmon to swim upstream
How did the Canadian government address the Chinese Immigration Head Tax in 2006?
•Asked for monetary compensation of $23 million, the amount collected from 81,000 Chinese immigrants who paid the tax
•1993, government rejected this request – claimed it was more important to focus on equality in the future
•1995 UN Human Rights Commission stepped in, 2006 Canadian government agreed to pay $20,000 to each surviving member of this case
- continuous journey act had to use a loophole because India was a British colony at the time
- this relationship meant that Canada could not explicitly exclude immigration from India to Canada