This book does not get into the theories of inequality, equity and diversity because new immigrants, refugees and international students are more interested in practical resources that would help them negotiate structural and cultural minefields of Canadian society and academia. The book, however, acknowledges the structural and cultural barriers to minority success in Canada. That is, it does not blame individual minorities for not making it in Canada. Organizationally the book is composed of two sections: 1) Connecting with Canadian society and 2) Connecting with Canadian academia.
Part I plunges into the contested issue of problematizing Canada as the best place on earth to live. Although Canada claims to be a multicultural country, the reality is that conventional rewards are located in the upper/middle class Anglo and Franco institutions and organizations of both the larger society and the standards of mainstream academia. These institutions and organizations tend to relegate racial and cultural minorities into the margins of Canadian society. Those minorities who successfully connect with the mainstream from the margins are those who get conventional rewards, thus winning from the margins. New entrants to Canada who remain isolated in the margins of the Canadian public sphere tend to experience low or no socio-economic mobility. Connecting from the margins is a process that requires strategic resources. Real life experiences of immigrants, refugees and international students supporting these claims form the basis of the discussions in Chapters One through Ten.
In Part II, it is argued that Canadian academia espouses standards, requirements and expectations that differ very much from those of the countries and communities that produce the greater majority of immigrants, refugees, international students, and indigenous people for Canada. Most immigrants, refugees and international students who enter the school system therefore experience academic culture shock. To succeed in the Canadian education system they need to overcome this culture shock to effectively connect with the Canadian academic culture. This academic culture projects the ideals of critical or analytical thinking, Greco-Roman logical reasoning and communication system, problem identification, and problem solving. This section proposes that in order to meet these academic cultural goals, immigrants, refugees and international students new to the education system need to acquire and apply the Canadian standards and expectations in the crucial areas of knowledge and skills such as structured listening, critical thinking and reading, academic writing, class participation, effective note taking/making, doing research and presentations, and taking examinations. Chapters Eleven through Twenty Five provide guides and tips for mastering these vital knowledge and skills that may help students to excel in the Canadian education system despite the fact that curriculum and pedagogy tend to marginalize their experiences and histories.
The concluding chapter tackles the controversial issue of connecting or integrating into Canadian mainstream society and academia without assimilating. It argues that until the multiculturalism and anti-racism projects eliminate monoculturalism and monostructuralism from Canada, strategic connections of minorities with mainstream institutions, organizations and communities from the margins would be the key to their success in Canadian society. That is, under these constraints minorities can only win from the margins. It is feasible for minorities to connect with the mainstream without being absorbed by it. Immigrants, refugees and international students can acquire the norms, knowledge, skills, standards, expectations, and images of the Canadian mainstream without giving up their ethnic-specific values, beliefs and identities. Some racial and cultural minorities have successfully done this.
There is hope for new immigrants, refugees and international students in Canada who want to succeed. They can successfully connect to the mainstream society and academia from the margins without assimilating.
PART I CONNECTING TO THE MAINSTREAM CANADIAN SOCIETY
Culture is made up of values, beliefs, norms, symbols, expectations, arts and crafts, technology, and other ways of life. Most immigrants, refugees and international students would have no trouble adapting to the Canadian ideal values because these are values that most freedom loving people cherish. These include fairness, tolerance, respect, honesty, accountability, integrity, openness, diversity, cooperation, democracy, equal opportunity, and civil and environmental responsibility. Although Christianity is the main belief system of Canada, the country has several other religions: Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, and Animism. Many other Canadians are not affiliated with any conventional form of religion. Because of the operation of diversity of religions in Canadian society, new entrants to society, whatever their religions would find a place or community of worshipers. In the areas of dressing and technology, because of globalization (westernization?), many immigrants, refugees and international students easily adjust to Canadian standards. Perhaps the most difficult aspects of Canadian culture for new entrants, particularly adults, to adapt to are English/French expressions and accent, body language, jokes, and foods.
Generally, then, the adaptation of new immigrants, refugees and international students to the Canadian ideal culture should not be too hard. It would be inaccurate and naïve, however, to assume that mainstream Canadians apply these cultural elements in their real everyday lives. Rather, if you approach these cultural values and beliefs as just ideals towards which Canadians are continually aspiring, you will be less shocked when you encounter the entrenched and widespread instances of intolerance, disrespect, and/or injustice from people or institutions that you expected would epitomize these fine values and beliefs.
Canada Welcomes You
Each year, Canada welcomes people from over one hundred and fifty countries. All these people live together in harmony while pursuing their individual goals and sharing in the improvement of their local communities and the country as a whole. New Canadians, regardless of their backgrounds, come bearing their own gifts and talents and perspectives, all of which contribute to the growth and continued prosperity of the country. Canadian leaders recognize the contributions that immigrants have made over the years and acknowledge that for the country to remain prosperous the knowledge, skills, talents, and hard work of immigrants are needed. For immigrants to feel at home, however, it has been necessary, from time to time, for the government to step in where the expectations for the exercise of goodwill and decency on the part of ordinary Canadians may have fallen short. Immigrants have also occasionally had to appraise their ways of doing things and to show sensitivity to their neighbours, friends and fellow Canadians. Yes, Canada is committed to equality, and new entrants are certain to experience, sooner or later, some of the sense of caring and concern that Canadians show for one another. Indeed, as a new immigrant you can look upon other Canadians as fellow workers in the crafting and shaping of a society that moves ever closer towards the ideals of fairness, justice, and equality for all.
So committed is Canada to fairness that the idea of equality has been included in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Equal but separate, however, is not the notion here. As the Citizenship and Immigration Canada publication A Look at Canada points out, “In Canada, we also believe in the importance of working together and helping one another.” Anyone who comes with the full willingness to help make Canada work for all is likely to find in Canada’s system the opportunity to also reach personal goals while contributing to an ideal that has made Canada the frequent recipient of the United Nations’ honour of being the best country in the world in which to live.
Canada Needs You
The Canadian government, with all kinds of statistics at its disposal, is all too aware of the need to prepare the country against possible skills shortages. The projected shortages range from medical technicians and construction tradesmen to university professors, of which the need is projected in the tens of thousands. Nurses, who are apparently already in short supply, are going to