Trudeau's views on ''integration''
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Shezan Muhammedi’s article on Ugandan Asian Refugees in Canada points out many contrasts with Arun Kundnani’s work about integrationism and institutional racism in 21st century Britain and Peter Ward’s chapter from White Canada forever that we read a few weeks ago. In Muhammedi’s work, we see that Prime Minister Trudeau had an attitude of openness towards the coming of Ugandan Asian refugees and it seems like he believed that they could integrate ‘’the Canadian way of life’’. However, the integration that Trudeau talks about is very different from the one integrationists in the UK describe, as Arun Kundnani has developed. Trudeau is talking about integration as immigrants being part of Canadian society bringing into society their cultural baggage, being part of the ‘’mosaic’’ rather than becoming ‘’white Canadians’’. He defends ‘’unity through diversity’’ and cultural freedom (Muhammedi,81). So, it is probably more accurate to say that Trudeau defends multiculturalism rather than integrationism (as defined by Kundnani)
In Muhammedi’s article, we learn that around the 1970s, there was a shift made in immigration policies from sometimes racist and discriminatory criteria of admission to a system of points, the score was based on ‘’ age; education; training; occupational skills in demand; knowledge of English or French; a personal assessment made by an immigration officer; relatives in Canada; arranged employment; and employment opportunities in area of destination’’ (Muhammedi, 79). I think these are valid questions to ask someone who wants to immigrate in the country, Still, another important factor is the biases the immigration officer could have about immigrants and how it could have impacted the interactions with the migrants answering those questions and their possible admission into Canada.
In Peter Ward’s chapter on the Komagata Maru incident, we see that William Lyon Mackenzie King had a totally different perspective about the arrival of foreigners (people of color) in Canada than the one Trudeau had 60 years later. In a report on Indian immigration from 1908, Mackenzie King considered that people from the subcontinent would not be fit to live in Canadian society because they were not used to this type of weather, they had different customs and manners which would make the incapable of adapting to the new environment. Also, they would bring in diseases (Ward, 83). We see that his opinion on the arrival of people of color is influenced by racist, white supremacist, eurocentrist (or rather ‘’Americacentrist’’) assumptions. That is another way we can see the contrast with the way Pierre Trudeau dealt with the situation of Ugandan Asian refugees. However, when comparing those situations, an important element to consider is that in the case of Ugandan Asians, they were expellees and not simple migrants. Presenting Ugandan Asians as expellees was part of Trudeau’s argument to the ones who did not agree that Canada should take in those migrants and to the ones that were concerned about the high unemployment rate and the effect more people in the workforce would have on that situation (Muhammedi, 83-84).
Ward, Peter. White Canada Forever: Popular Attitudes and Public Policy Toward Orientals in British Columbia. 3rd ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014. 79-93.
Kundnani, Arun. The End of Tolerance: Racism in 21st Century Britain. London: Pluto Press, 2007. 121-140.