There are many reasons why people choose to immigrate to other countries, such as to get better education, to seek better jobs, or due to the unemployment in their own country. Some people immigrate because of political reasons or war and others just to learn something new. Whatever their reason, immigrating is difficult for some people because it is expensive and it can take a long time. It is also difficult to have to say goodbye to all of your friends and the rest of your family.
In late 18th century it became very common in Iceland to immigrate to America. There were several reasons why people did that. During that time many volcanic eruptions in Iceland destroyed much of the land (in the year 1875 alone, about 200 farms were buried in lava or ash). Other reasons were: Diseases, cataclysms, cold climate, pack ice around the country, and people living in poverty.
In September 1845 a strange disease struck the potatoes as they grew in fields across Ireland. Many of the potatoes were found to have gone black and rotten and their leaves had withered. In the harvest of 1845, between one-third and half of the potato crop was destroyed by the strange disease, which became known as 'potato blight'. It is for this reason that many Irish immigrated to North America.
Around 1890 several Japanese families came for the rich fertile farmland and because Japan was facing severe overpopulation problems. They came mostly to the United States during this time, and many settle in Texas. The result was that Japanese immigrants started thirty rice farms just south of Houston.
The Jewish immigrants came form many countries. Most came from Germany and other Eastern European countries. They left their homelands because of religious persecutions. In some countries such as Russia, entire Jewish communities were being destroyed through oppression. Upon arriving in American extended Jewish families would settle near one another and help each other by starting businesses such as dry good stores, clothing shops, grocery stores, and other forms of commerce.
People came to North America for many reasons. They are the reasons why we enjoy the vastness of diversity and multiculturalism here in Canada. They brought with them their stories, their beliefs, their culture and their traditions. The majority of the people came for a better life. Inexpensive land, a democracy, and religious freedoms were amongtheir dreams.Today, their dream has become reality; and their reality we celebrate together among our friends and communities.
Activity 2: Fill in the blanks
From your word list, find the vocabulary word the best fits.
1. Many people leave their countries because they cannot find a paying job. In these countries, many the ______may be very high. Here in Canada, the ______rate is
6.4 %. This means that 7 people in 100 does not have a job.
2. Unemployment can be caused by ______. This means that there are too many people living in a specific region.
3. The term ______is primarily used to describe how a certain group is being forced to live a certain way by authorities, laws, or by the government.
4. ______is the right of one to decide for themselves which beliefs they chose to pray, or to which god they wish to pray, or even if they wish to pray to a god.
5. ______To respect our differences of language, culture, beliefs, and ethnicity.
6. ______A catastrophe: a sudden violent change in the earth's surface
7. ______ is the idea or belief that modern societies should embrace and include distinct cultural groups with equal cultural and political status.
8. When you decide to move to a new region to make your permanent home. The action to move your home to a new country is called, to ______. The reasons to ______are numerous.
9. If you want to move to a new country and to make a new home there, you usually need to contact the government of that country to ask permission. Specifically, the group meant to deal with people immigrating to a country is usually called the department of ______.
10. We can think of ______as a system of government with four important parts.
· A way choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections.
· Just about anybody and participate in the government.
· Protection of the human rights of all citizens.
· The laws apply equally to all people living in that country.
11. Everyone in Canada has the right to go to school and to learn. Here in Canada, ______is free! You don’t have to pay to learn about history, math, and science or even to learn our two national languages, English and French.
12. When someone is ______that means that they come from a specific region or country. Also, if a person is ______their family has a long history of living in that specific region.
13. is persistent mistreatment of an individual/group by another group. The most common forms are religious ______, ethnic ______, and political ______.
14. ______ is a place, a region or a country which is native to a people and where the people or the community is essentially indigenous.
15. Some synonyms for ______include; illness, contagion, infection or sickness.
Le multiculturalisme
Tous les Canadiens et les Canadiennes ne se ressemblent pas. Année après année, beaucoup de gens sont venus de partout dans le monde. Ils se sont installés ici et le Canada est devenu leur pays. Certains ont les cheveux blonds, d’autres ont les cheveux noirs. Certains ont la peau foncée, d’autres ont la peau pâle. Au Canada, il y a beaucoup de cultures et de traditions différentes. Les premiers habitants du pays, les peuples autochtones, ont eux causse conservé leur culture et leur mode de vie traditionnel.
L’immigration est le mouvement de personnes d'un pays vers un autre pays dans le but de s'y établir. Les personnes qui les autorités de l'immigration ont accordé le droit de résider au Canada vont vivre ici en permanence – ça veut dire qu’ils ne vont pas retourner à leurs pays d’origine pour encore demeurer. Ce concept s'applique généralement aux personnes nées à l'extérieur du Canada mais peut aussi s'appliquer à un petit nombre de personnes nées au Canada, de parents qui sont citoyens d'autres pays. De la même façon, un petit nombre de citoyens canadiens par naissance sont né(e)s à l'extérieur du Canada de parents canadiens.
Avant même d’être officiellement un pays, le Canada connaît des vagues successives d’immigration. Mais, pourquoi sont-ils venus? Il y a plusieurs raisons pour immigrer!
People immigrate for the following reasons:
· economic (e.g, to escape poverty)
· professional (e.g, to find employment; to search for an occupation that is unavailable)
· political (e.g, to escape dictatorship or other unfair governments; disagrees over government)
· persecution and oppression, including genocide, ethnic cleansing, and bullying
· retirement (e.g., better weather; lower living costs).
· sentimental (e.g., the desire to settle in a country due to personal preference; family reunification).
· personal (e.g., opinion-based; love of another country)
· religious (e.g., they were not allowed to practice their own religion in some cases)
The great majority of immigration occurs for economic reasons of one sort or another. Wage rates and living expenses vary greatly between different countries; poor individuals of third world countries can have far higher standards of living in developed countries than in their originating countries, as not very well off but financially independent people from highly developed countries can live better in a less developed country where living standards are lower. A good example of the former is all the immigrants from Mexico and Central American counties who live in the United States, while a good example of the latter is the many retired British ex-pats who choose to make their life in Spain. For the poor in undeveloped countries the economic pressure to migrate is so high that when legal means are restricted, people immigrate illegally. In general, people are considered as an immigrant if they keep staying in the new country for more than one year.