Pluralism refers to a particular societal state where people belonging to diverse racial, social, ethnic and religious groups live together and develops their interests and their respective traditional cultures within the boundaries of a shared civilization. This can be viewed as a multicultural space in Canada which is popular for its diversity and uniqueness. According to David Johnston, one of the ex governor general of Canada, Canada is highly diverse when it is about the people who live in it (theglobeandmail.com, 2019). This can be said because many people having diverse backgrounds have been associated with each other in this country and they work harmoniously by respecting each others’ differences.
As per the common belief of people, it is difficult for a country to prosper if people with different backgrounds and interests live together for a very long time but this is only a myth that Canada is proving wrong every day (theglobeandmail.com, 2019). On the contrary, here pluralism has been one of the positive sides of this country that makes it more fair and inclusive as a society. Unfortunately, there are many inhabitants of Canada who think just the opposite and decide to believe the false myths about immigrants who live here. For example, there is a common myth that the more migrants come to this country, the more crimes happen here. This implies that immigrants are stigmatized as being criminals in these destructive myths.
On the other hand, according to some reports, immigrants have been trying to lower the rates of violence in this country. Evidence of this can be found in the statement of one of the ex strategic analyst of CSIS who said that immigrants do not pose as any kind of threat to this country (ccrweb.ca, 2019). There is another belief that is refugees take help from smugglers in order to get entry in this country to live. It has also been claimed that they do not follow the immigrant policies when they try to settle in here. However, the reality is quite the opposite as it is evident that most of the refugees and their families take an active part in contributing more or less for the country’s sake (ccrweb.ca, 2019). Moreover, this can be said that these baseless myths only hamper the reconciliation between the immigrants and the native people of Canada.
These myths not only affects the minds of the common people of this country but also makes a false image of Canada and its people in front of other countries of the world (Winter, 2013). Having the goal to choose the profession of a teacher in future, I can say that these differences have the potential to disrupt a healthy interaction among the learners and the teachers as well. Thus, it is highly important to think of the ways that can help in reducing the false myths about immigrants in this country.
Firstly, education is very much required for every citizen in order to know the reality about the immigrants and how they contribute for the country’s welfare (Kadioglu, 2014). For that reason, they need to observe the immigrants from an unbiased and unprejudiced outlook. Secondly, trust is all it takes to build a healthy relationship with the people with diverse backgrounds. On the other hand, the people of this country need to see diversity as strength and not as a weakness of this country as there are various evidences that prove that immigrants have the potentials to make the country stronger. This is so because diverse people come with diverse talents and thus they can easily contribute to diverse field of work here. Particularly in the field of educational institutions, teachers need to teach their learners how to reconcile with diver people having diverse needs. For that reason, the teachers need to follow what they preach.
Reference list
ccrweb.ca, (2019), Did you know… ? Facts about refugees and refugee claimants in Canada, Retrieved on: 24th Feb, 2019, From: https://ccrweb.ca/en/myths-facts
Kadioglu, S. (2014). Pluralism, Multicultural and Multilingual Education. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 1(1), 35-37. Retrieved on: 24th Feb, 2019, From: https://www.ejecs.org/index.php/JECS/article/download/8/3
theglobeandmail.com, (2019), Pluralism is a path to lasting peace and prosperity, Retrieved on: 24th Feb, 2019, From: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/pluralism-is-a-path-to-lasting-peace-and-prosperity/article36422623/
Winter, E. (2013). Descent, territory and common values: Redefining citizenship in Canada. In Naturalization Policies, Education and Citizenship 12(1), 95-122. Retrieved on: 24th Feb, 2019, From: https://www.elkewinter.com/publications/Winter_2013_Descent,%20Territory%20and%20Common%20Values,%20Canada.pdf.
