鈥淲hat is Canada?鈥�
Not a simple question, but Alison Froese-Stoddard鈥檚 answer netted her the Halifax Overseas Club Essay Prize 鈥� and a cool $4,000.
Her winning paper, 鈥淭he Birth of Canada鈥檚 Multicultural Policy: Plotting the Official Acceptance of Diversity,鈥� was originally written for a Canadian Studies class as an assignment asking the 鈥淲hat is Canada?鈥� query above. The essay deals with the origins and politics of Canada鈥檚 much-touted multiculturalism.
鈥淭he multiculturalism thing is a really big part of what I consider to be Canada,鈥� Ms. Froese-Stoddard explains. 鈥淚t was the first policy of its kind in any country.鈥�
Shaping today's Canada
The birth of multiculturalism in Canada was more serendipitous than carefully engineered, she argues: Canada was declared bilingual in 1969, and 鈥渨hen Canada was starting to pay more attention to Quebec, the ethnic people of western Canada said, 鈥榳ell, if Quebec is going to get special attention, we鈥檙e going to be part of this country too鈥�' Trudeau was not expecting to make a nation-building policy out of this. It was mostly a political compromise.鈥�
The resulting wave of officially-sanctioned multiculturalism, including the establishment of the Canadian Consultative Council on Multiculturalism in 1973, helped shape the Canada we recognize today.
But is multiculturalism building stronger communities through respect for others鈥� traditions, or dividing the country by creating what have been called 鈥渉yphenated鈥� Canadians?
Ms. Froese-Stoddard doesn鈥檛 want to simplify things by offering a simple answer. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e still learning to figure all this stuff out and figure out how to make our country a better place,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e came up with this policy from listening to Canadians鈥� we need to keep listening to Canadians and keep a conversation going with all Canadians鈥� when the multiculturalism policy ceases to help us understand each other, then we should replace [it].鈥�
Exploring the many vantage points
The Halifax Overseas Club Essay Prize is awarded to an essay that can 鈥渟peak to matters that stimulate the study of and an interest in the closer relations of the constituent parts of the British Commonwealth,鈥� to quote the FASS website. The prize is one of multiple awards offered by FASS, but this is actually the first time in several years that it鈥檚 been handed out; in recent years, there haven鈥檛 been enough suitable applicants. It was first established in 1920 through a resolution passed by the executive of the Nova Scotia Overseas League.
Ms. Froese-Stoddard, a mature student from Manitoba, grew up in a Mennonite town and has seen Canada鈥檚 many cultures from various vantage points.
鈥淭he multiculturalist ethos, I think, out west, is a little bit stronger鈥� it was pretty common to talk to people and say 鈥榳here you from?鈥� and you were really saying, 鈥榳here did your grandparents come from?鈥� She also notes that, despite their cultural differences, Prairie folk and Atlantic Canadians have a lot in common. 鈥淭he sense of humour is pretty similar鈥� I鈥檓 still not used to having people bag my groceries, though!鈥�
Ms. Froese Stoddard can imagine transferring her interest in Canadian diversity from her academic to professional career. 鈥淚 like the idea of organizing information to make it more accessible鈥� information management can be a social justice issue.鈥�
To that end, she鈥檒l continue to work towards her goal of a Masters in Library and Information Science from Dalhousie.
鈥淚鈥檝e always been a book nerd,鈥� she jokes, and with any luck the Overseas Club鈥檚 prize will more than help cover next year鈥檚 textbooks.