English First

Altought the notion of respect and recognition for ethnic identities seems to contradict the goal of ultimate assimilation, officials of the Citizenship Branch were able to reconcile the two parts of their policy statement. They bilived that immigrant, when they first arrived in Canada, would attach themselves to their own ethnic communities. Initially this would happen because, in the midst of the strangeness of being in a foreign environment, immigrant would look for the familiarity they could find with members of their own group. They would also gravitate toward their own ethnic community if they were rejected by other Canadians. In other words, the ethnic community was a refuge and a pleace where immigrants could feel a sense of belonging.
Ethnic communities were to be respected for the comfort they provided to new immigrants and recognized as a vehicle throught wich immigrants could be encouraged to begin their adjustment to their new life. There was a danger, however, that newcomers and even astabelished Canadians of ethnic origin other than british or French would want to remain separate. In order to avoid this, the branch stressed that the role of the ethnic community was to help with the integration process of immigrants and enjoined main stream organization to involve ethnic group in the reader community.
This definition of integration gave the citizenship Branch and other agencies involved in cultural diversity and education clear direction for their involvement with the education of immigrants and “established” Canadians. Their mission was to ensure that immigrants choes to assimilate and that ethnic groups ceased to have relevance for newcomers past the initial stages of adjustment. In order to achieve these goals, newcomers had to be educated to understand and accept the Canadian way of life. At the same time, established the Canadians had to be prepared to accept newcomers so that the latter would be welcomed and there for feel a sense of belonging to the broader Canadian Community. The Branch and the other agencies, then, would have to intensify their work in immigrant education and become more prominent in intergroup relations education. In 1952, the citizenship branch’s grants allotment was increased to $30,000. The official purpose of the grants was still “to provide additional facilities for citizenship instruction” (department of citizenship and immigration, 1953,p.5). However, the projects that supported citizenship instruction had officially been broadened to include education for democracy, leadership training, and intergroup relations.
By 1945 intergroup relations seminars involving community leaders from a variety of areas, including education, were being organized in Alberta by the Canadian council of christiansand jews with assistance from the university of Alberta and in British Columbia by the university of British Columbia. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, home and school and parent-teacher organizations, with the assistance of federal government officials, developed and implemented program to improve intergroup understanding. While these seminars did establish a basis from which later work in race relation took inspiration, they were, at the time, still meant to support the goal of immigrant integration.
Focus on Identific: 1993-1970s
The 1960s were a time of increased interest in issue of identity those interested in citizenship and multicultural education also began to shift their focus to identity issue. Two key opportunities created by this shift were connected with the work of the royal commission on bilingualism and biculturalism in 1963 and the research done in the 1960s on Canadian studies (Hodgett, 1968). The royal commission created an apportunity for interested groups and individuals from across Canada to participate in an extended discussion on the nature and future of Canadian society. In adation, the government commissioned research in scholarly and public discussion of cultulary difersity.
There was growing interest in how well Canadians understood them selves and their history. Hotgett’s (1968) report examining the teaching of history in Canada found that there was “a marked ignorance of thing Canadian and, what was worse, a pervasisve feeling that Canada was not worth studying anyway” (Osbourne, 1996, pp. 49-50). A renewed interest in promoting citizenship and knowledge of Canada in the school resulted from this report. Hodgett’s report and a later report on Canadians studies (Symons, 1970) were the catalysts for the establishment of the Canada studies foundation and the Canadians studies program of the secretary of state, both of which had a mandate to promote education about Canada. These two agencies were able to support research, curriculum development, and other initiatives that led to increased knowledge about Canada.
As one of the royal commission’s research papers on cultural diversity and education noted, most of the issue raised by group submitting briefs on cultural difersity were concerned with how the public education.
Altought the notion of respect and recognition for ethnic identities seems to contradict the goal of ultimate assimilation, officials of the Citizenship Branch were able to reconcile the two parts of their policy statement. They bilived that immigrant, when they first arrived in Canada, would attach themselves to their own ethnic communities. Initially this would happen because, in the midst of the strangeness of being in a foreign environment, immigrant would look for the familiarity they could find with members of their own group. They would also gravitate toward their own ethnic community if they were rejected by other Canadians. In other words, the ethnic community was a refuge and a pleace where immigrants could feel a sense of belonging.
Ethnic communities were to be respected for the comfort they provided to new immigrants and recognized as a vehicle throught wich immigrants could be encouraged to begin their adjustment to their new life. There was a danger, however, that newcomers and even astabelished Canadians of ethnic origin other than british or French would want to remain separate. In order to avoid this, the branch stressed that the role of the ethnic community was to help with the integration process of immigrants and enjoined main stream organization to involve ethnic group in the reader community.
This definition of integration gave the citizenship Branch and other agencies involved in cultural diversity and education clear direction for their involvement with the education of immigrants and “established” Canadians. Their mission was to ensure that immigrants choes to assimilate and that ethnic groups ceased to have relevance for newcomers past the initial stages of adjustment. In order to achieve these goals, newcomers had to be educated to understand and accept the Canadian way of life. At the same time, established the Canadians had to be prepared to accept newcomers so that the latter would be welcomed and there for feel a sense of belonging to the broader Canadian Community. The Branch and the other agencies, then, would have to intensify their work in immigrant education and become more prominent in intergroup relations education. In 1952, the citizenship branch’s grants allotment was increased to $30,000. The official purpose of the grants was still “to provide additional facilities for citizenship instruction” (department of citizenship and immigration, 1953,p.5). However, the projects that supported citizenship instruction had officially been broadened to include education for democracy, leadership training, and intergroup relations.
By 1945 intergroup relations seminars involving community leaders from a variety of areas, including education, were being organized in Alberta by the Canadian council of christiansand jews with assistance from the university of Alberta and in British Columbia by the university of British Columbia. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, home and school and parent-teacher organizations, with the assistance of federal government officials, developed and implemented program to improve intergroup understanding. While these seminars did establish a basis from which later work in race relation took inspiration, they were, at the time, still meant to support the goal of immigrant integration.
Focus on Identific: 1993-1970s
The 1960s were a time of increased interest in issue of identity those interested in citizenship and multicultural education also began to shift their focus to identity issue. Two key opportunities created by this shift were connected with the work of the royal commission on bilingualism and biculturalism in 1963 and the research done in the 1960s on Canadian studies (Hodgett, 1968). The royal commission created an apportunity for interested groups and individuals from across Canada to participate in an extended discussion on the nature and future of Canadian society. In adation, the government commissioned research in scholarly and public discussion of cultulary difersity.
There was growing interest in how well Canadians understood them selves and their history. Hotgett’s (1968) report examining the teaching of history in Canada found that there was “a marked ignorance of thing Canadian and, what was worse, a pervasisve feeling that Canada was not worth studying anyway” (Osbourne, 1996, pp. 49-50). A renewed interest in promoting citizenship and knowledge of Canada in the school resulted from this report. Hodgett’s report and a later report on Canadians studies (Symons, 1970) were the catalysts for the establishment of the Canada studies foundation and the Canadians studies program of the secretary of state, both of which had a mandate to promote education about Canada. These two agencies were able to support research, curriculum development, and other initiatives that led to increased knowledge about Canada.
As one of the royal commission’s research papers on cultural diversity and education noted, most of the issue raised by group submitting briefs on cultural difersity were concerned with how the public education.