Bone’s main argument about Canada’s historical geography is how the Canadian society had transformed from a “hard” country to a “soft” country where the people look for middle grounds when tensions occur. The four main Faultline Bone talks about are: Centralists and decentralists, Aboriginals and non-aboriginals,
First, one of the faultlines is centralists and decentralists. Canada is a vast country and it is challenging to link the regions together. They differ in their view about political power distribution in Canada. For centralists, they advocate for a strong central Canada, which is the region of Ontario and Quebec. They believe that a strong central government will have more dominant control over other regions and stronger national…show more content… This faultline is the clash between the first people and the new settlers. When the settlers came to Canada, they took away lands from aboriginal people and tried to assimilate the aboriginals into the mainstream society. One example of this change is residential schools. Staring from 1880s, the Canadian government tried to assimilate Aboriginal children into the mainstream society using residential schools. However, this assimilation process failed, with many students abused, mentally, physically or sexually (Bone, 94). Aboriginal people were pushed to the margin of the Canadian society and they are dependent on the Canadian government for support (Bone, 92). However, Canada had changed its perspective. Canada had recognized Aboriginal’s rights and failure of assimilation. The Canadian government now supports Aboriginal’s economic development and their right to…show more content… Before 1867, immigration was used to gain colonial power between the English and the French (Bone, 103). For example, after Britain had conquered New France, the government had set immigration policy that encourage large scale immigration from British and reduce immigration from France (Bone, 103) After 1867, however, Canada remained as an imperialist country, where European were higher than non-Europeans (Bone, 103). This had pushed minorities to the edge of the Canadian society because they are often ignored or silenced. However, Canada had changed its view on immigration. Clifford Sifton, the minister of the interior, started bringing in immigrants. By opening its door to immigration, Canada became a multicultural and plural country and developed acceptance of ethnic
