Canada's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook

(Hardback)

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From profound racism in the 19th and early 20th centuries to a radical shift in immigration policy in the 1960s, this one-of-a-kind reference explores the past 1,000 years of ethnicity in Canada. During World War II thousands of Japanese immigrants were incarcerated in prison camps, yet in the 1980s Asian immigrants outnumbered Europeans 6:1. What caused this turn-around in immigration policy How did one of the most racist nations in the world become one of the most welcoming In 1867 Canada was established as a political nation with two general ethnic cultures, yet more than 191 ethnic groups currently reside there. Canada's Diverse Peoples gives students of Canadian history, sociology, anthropology, and history a unique opportunity to understand the tensions, conflicts, and cooperation surrounding Canada's indigenous and immigrant populations. In this comprehensive reference, Historian J.M. Bumsted takes readers on a chronological tour of Canada's ethnic history from aboriginal society and the French and English "founding cultures" to the "Alien Menace" of the first world war and the influx of refugees after the second. From the botched storming of the ship Kamagata Maru and its forced return to India to Quebec's separatism, Bumsted explores one of the more important themes in Canadian historical development.

Reviews

"This title is from the ABC-CLIO series Ethnic Diversity Within Nations ... The author has provided primary documents, timelines, illustrations and maps, and bibliographies with each chapter ... This is highly recommended for academic ethnic studies and history collections." - American Reference Books Annual "A superbly researched, exhaustive account of the dynamics that have driven the development of Canada's multicultural identity... Appropriate for the advanced study of Canadian history, this is an intriguing account of the country's successes and failures in dealing with the challenges of cultural diversity." - School Library Journal

Author Bio

J.M. Bumsted is professor of history at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.