Introduction
Canadians are not of any one cultural background, race or identity. In fact, Canadians reflect a vast diversity of cultural heritages. This diversity is a result of centuries of immigration. The history of our immigration has played and continues to play a key role in shaping the face of Canadian society. Many of us can trace our origins back to an immigrant past.
Through archaeological studies, it has been established that Aboriginal Peoples have lived on Turtle Island (known as North America today) since 40,000 BC. Long before the arrival of the first Europeans, ancestors of Canada's Aboriginal Peoples migrated across a frozen icepack linking Asia to North America. Their civilization has marked the history of the Pacific Northwest. Then about 500 years ago, the Voyageurs came to explore this great land, opening up the country to migration and settlement.
Our history can be viewed through the prism of how we define who we are, and the values we hold. Simultaneously, the history of Canada is composed of the stories of our unsung heroes, and those seeking opportunity and sanctuary. The 19th century saw the migration of the English, Irish and Scots. In the years before the American Civil War, the Europeans were joined by the thousands of black slaves seeking freedom by following the Underground Railway northward into Canada. After Canadian Confederation in 1867, thousands of Chinese came to seek their fortune in the gold rush, and to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. The 20th century witnessed Canada offering sanctuary to waves of refugees fleeing persecution - Jews (WWII), Hungarians (1956), Czechoslovakia (1968), Indochinese (Vietnam War), Poland (1982-85), Horn of Africa and Middle East (1984 -1990s), and most recently, those fleeing the Balkan conflict. As a result, visible minorities and peoples from elsewhere have become an increasingly important part of our national fabric.
"The history of Canada is the cumulative experience of its constituent peoples….We are the children of the expelled, the persecuted, the abandoned, and the marginal. We are the remnants of empires and the refugees of lost causes…"
Mark Starrowicz, CBC producer,
A People's History
From another perspective, and to quote Michael Ignatieff: "History for me is the story of our arguments: French versus English, native-born versus new arrivals, region versus region, rich versus poor, race versus race, religion versus religion. It's also the story of how we manage to resolve them and reconcile the past. But first we need to tell the truth."
What is the truth? That our past history is contentious. It has not been kind, for example, to Native peoples displaced by European settlement or to the Chinese who came as a cheap source of labour. Nonetheless, immigration has populated this country from sea to sea, and has provided this nation with a rich tapestry of cultural heritage.
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