POV #4 To what extent should individuals and groups in Canada embrace a national identity?6/18/2018 In the second half of the 20th century (1950 on) the federal government changed Canada’s immigration policies and began to welcome immigrants from many different parts of the world. In 1971, Canada became the first country to adopt multiculturalism as official government policy. This policy which was affirmed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and enhanced in the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988, is reflected in Canada’s pluralistic society. In Canada today, all governments must find ways of finding a balance between honouring Canada’s traditions and fostering a vision of the future that Canadians of all backgrounds and heritages can unite behind and promote. The CMA (Canadian Multicultural Act) affirmed that Canadians have a constitutional right “ to the equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination and that everyone has the freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief, opinion, expression, peaceful assembly and association and guarantees those rights and freedoms equally to male and female persons…” I think that multiculturalism is important because it dilutes and dissipates the divisiveness of ignorance. It is important because it encourages dialogue, often between radically different cultures that have radically different perspectives. There’s many benefits of Multiculturalism. Immigrants are a source of diverse knowledge and experience. They can increase innovation, creativity and prosperity in our city. New residents also enrich the cultural fabric by introducing new foods, music, traditions, beliefs and interests. Responsible government is a government that answers to the people rather than to colonial governors. The concept was introduced in Canada in the 1840s by LaFontaine and Baldwin. Their common desire for responsible government in Canada aided in bringing together Canada West and Canada East. Although responsible government is more than just being responsible. Both Lafontaine from "Canada East" and Baldwin from "Canada West" both had a goal to make sure that Francophones were not assimilated into anglophone society and culture. In 1841, the British government merged Upper Canada (mostly anglophone) and Lower Canada (mostly Francophone) into a single province called Canada. The population of Canada East was much higher than Canada West and English was the only language allowed in the legislature. In order to solve this, the British plan was to assimilate francophones into anglophone culture. LaFontaine wanted francophone culture to survive and Baldwin supported this goal. They set aside differences, joined forces and worked together to demand responsible government. “There is, and must be, no question of races” By 1848, they had reached their goal of responsible government in Canada and also French was restored as an official language of the legislature. In Canada responsible government is more commonly described as an executive or Cabinet that is dependent on the support of an elected assembly, rather than on the monarch. Responsible government is a key and an important part of Confederation, in my opinion. The British North American Act (BNA Act) which created Canada defined two levels of representative and responsible government. The federal government was to look after national affairs, and the four provincial governments would manage their own regional affairs. This arrangement assured that Quebec could affirm and promote the French language and culture of the province's francophones. There was a couple problems with this. The Metis people weren’t recognized at all. The federal government ended up implementing their responsibility through the Indian Act. As the Aboriginal contribution to Canada became more widely recognized, some people began to refer to “three founding nations”: Aboriginal people, French and British. The concept of three founding nations excludes the contributions of immigrants from countries that were neither French nor British.
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Tied aid is help that is given with strings attached. These strings may include agreements that the country receiving the aid will buy goods and services only from the country or organization supplying the aid. There's a lot of different criticisms that come from tied aid. Opposing views would argue that donor countries may not offer the highest-quality goods and services and also that this arrangement doesn’t allow receiving countries to buy from a source they want to. Another problem is ensuring that aid reaches the people who need it. Some corrupt officials sometimes seize aid money and supplies instead of distributing it to needy citizens simply because they have the power to do so. Personally, I mainly disagree with tied aid. I understand that wealthier countries are helping developing countries, but why do strings have to be attached? Can't people just help out of kindness or compassion? Why do strings have to be attached to everything? The majority of people do an act looking for something to gain, which is ridiculous. WTO stands for World Trade Organization. The purpose of the WTO is to ensure global trade commences smoothly, freely and predictably. The WTO creates and embodies the ground rules for global trade among member nations, offering a system for international commerce. WTO is funded through the WTO's regular budget, voluntary contributions from WTO members, and cost-sharing either by countries involved in an event or by international organizations. The WTO has many criticisms such as how they only serve the interests of multinational corporations, they trample over labor and human rights, they’re destroying the environment and killing people, they undermine local development and penalizes poor countries, they’re increasing inequality, and the WTO undermines national sovereignty. Like everything, there is always pros and cons. I think that there are more obvious cons than pros. But the WTO has still done some positive impacting things. WTO helps promote peace between nations, raises income among nations, reduces the cost of living, and makes life more efficient through policies. The United Nations Children's Fund is a United Nations program headquartered in New York City that provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children and mothers in developing countries. UNICEF was established on 11 December 1946 by the United Nations to meet the emergency needs of children in post-war Europe and China. Its full name was the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. UNICEF advocates for the protection of children's rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. UNICEF is supported entirely by the voluntary contributions of governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), foundations, corporations and private individuals. UNICEF receives no funding from the assessed dues of the United Nations. Again, there is pros and cons for everything. UNICEF has been criticized at times for its focus or for specific policies. In 2004, the editorial in the Lancet argued that UNICEF's rights-based approach to child welfare, based upon the Convention on the Rights of the Child, whilst in accordance with international development policy, leads to a lower emphasis on child survival and mortality. The Catholic Church has also been critical of UNICEF, with the Vatican at times withdrawing its donations, because of reports by the American Life League and others that UNICEF has used some of those funds to finance sterilizations and abortions. Catholics have also accused UNICEF of supporting abortion through their endorsement of "good quality abortion services" at the International Conference on Better Health for Women and Children in Kenya in 1987. UNICEF has also been criticized for its financial endorsement of China's allegedly coercive one-child policy through the UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) by increasing donations from $2 million to $5 million in 1993. I personally think that UNICEF is an amazing organization that has dealt with so many negative situations, and improved many of them. NPT stands for the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament. The NPT was opened for signing 50 years ago on July 1, 1968. This treaty effectively bars any state outside the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council (the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom) from possessing any sort of nuclear weapons. |
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June 2019
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