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It’s sort of a dirty sounding word, for whatever reason. What does it mean exactly? .....
In a nutshell assimilate literally means "to absorb or engulf something whole and alive and then digest it".
That's one of the reasons why the word has a dirty feel about it because for many people it brings to mind the predatory actions of a frog or snake or a giant red leech as it engulfs its living prey and swallows it whole and alive and then digests it.
And another thing Luis that you need to be reminded of. The Sikhs were settled here in Canada nearly 100 years before you were even born in whatever foreign country you immigrated from. They have a 130 years history in Canada and have always been good citizens that have contributed tremendously to the Crown and Canadian society and the Canadian economy and government. They have just as much right as any other group of long standing to be here in whatever numbers.
Memo: In 2020s Canada we're also not supposed to insinuate that groups or individuals have more legitimacy due to when they arrived here. (At least not for anyone who isn't Indigenous... um... complicated.)
But anyway, the dude who just got off the plane from Afghanistan and who becomes a citizen 3 years from now is every bit as Canadian (and his culture is entirely "at home" here) as all of the people descended from the colonists of New France arrived in the early 1600s or the descendants of United Empire Loyalists in the late 1700s.
Memo: In 2020s Canada we're also not supposed to insinuate that groups or individuals have more legitimacy due to when they arrived here. (At least not for anyone who isn't Indigenous... um... complicated.)
But anyway, the dude who just got off the plane from Afghanistan and who becomes a citizen 3 years from now is every bit as Canadian (and his culture is entirely "at home" here) as all of the people descended from the colonists of New France arrived in the early 1600s or the descendants of United Empire Loyalists in the late 1700s.
I don't agree with that about what we're not supposed to insinuate about who has more legitimacy. I thumb my nose at that kind of political correctness and attempts at thought control.
I do agree that once a person has their Canadian citizenship then they're just as much a Canadian as any other Canadian citizen. That doesn't necessarily make their culture automatically "at home" here though. They might have to change their culture if they're going to be an acceptable Canadian citizen.
As far as I'm concerned every new immigrant to Canada has the onus on him to prove his worthiness and it takes more than a few years to do that. Becoming a citizen doesn't automatically make a citizen a worthy person either and if a new citizen proves to be an unworthy person..... i.e. proves to be a criminal or espouses a culture that is dangerous to society, or just turns out to be an all round dissident and trouble maker with a capital T ..... then their citizenship can be revoked and they can be deported back to where they came from with no chance of ever returning again to Canada.
In a nutshell assimilate literally means "to absorb or engulf something whole and alive and then digest it".
That's one of the reasons why the word has a dirty feel about it because for many people it brings to mind the predatory actions of a frog or snake or a giant red leech as it engulfs its living prey and swallows it whole and alive and then digests it.
.
The word “assimilate” reminds me of Star Trek - the Borg.
But Natnasci just said, for example, that there aren't many Jamaicans out West.
Yeah thats why i said more or less. I bet a good number of Vancouvers minuscule black community are of Jamaican/Caribbean background though. There might be more africans now. There are very very few old black communities in Canada. Its a similar situatuon right across the country.
The big groups are usually the same acrosss most cities ...Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, iranian, Filipinos etc etc. The only city to really break from this pattern is Montreal. Yes they have these groups also but its a bit different than other cities.
Montreal has a higher percentage of Black folks than Indians and Chinese. That is unthinkable in the rest of Canada.
Last edited by UrbanLuis; 01-25-2022 at 06:09 PM..
The results of the 2021 Census will be released in stages.
October 26 is the target date to release the following:
- Portrait of citizenship and immigration in Canada
- Ethnocultural and religious composition of the population
- Mobility and migration
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