A Multicultural Society
Canada is a country built upon immigration. The earliest immigrants came from the British Isles. A whole range of English, Scottish, and Irish settlers flocked to Canada. Through the early 20th Century, other groups started coming to Canada. These included Germans, Italians, and Ukranians. Nowadays, immigrants come from across the globe.
In Vancouver, the most noticeable immigrants are those from Asia. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, Filipino, and more have found there way to the Canadian west coast. Travel up and down any major street in the city and you will see store signs in a variety of languages. Different parts of the city have unique cultural characteristics. There's Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Little Italy, and more. Each group of immigrants have brought with them a unique culture that has left a mark on the city.
This is what we call a multicultural society. A society which is made up of many different cultures to form one society. So what does a multicultural society look like?
Imagine you're in a shopping centre downtown. It's lunchtime, so all the office workers are coming down to eat. Groups of people come down. You may notice that some of the groups are made up of people from different ethnic backgrounds. One group may have a Caucasian (person of European descent), an Indian, and a Chinese. They all work in the same office and have become friends over time.
Imagine sitting on a bus and seeing all the different faces get on the bus. Some are African faces; others are European. Some are Asian; others are Middle Eastern. Then as you sit and listen, you hear different languages above the roar of the bus. Spanish. Russian. Mandarin. Cantonese. Korean. Tagolog (from the Phillipines). It's an eclectic mix of tongues.
Imagine a parade in Chinatown to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The parade is not made up of only Chinese performers, but also Irish, Brazillian, and First Nations people (First Nations are the natives of Canada). Different cultures coming together to perform.
That is what a multicultural society looks like. This society can have problems like racism, but it is the general hope that this society will continue to work for everyone. As the years go on, Canada will continue to change because of immigration and the face of Canada tomorrow will be different from the face of Canada today.