Cheap Labour: Canada :: essays research papers

Cheap Labour: Canada Canada, the so-called land of opportunities. This statement is a known fact due to the large amount of people immigrating to our country. It all started back in the 50's and is still occurring in the 90's. I will be discussing the different working mentalities between French Canadians and immigrants coming from various parts of the world. I will compare "Voiceless People" by Marco Micone, and White Niggers of America by Pierre Vallieres. White Niggers emphasizes on the mentality of French Canadian working class and Voiceless People emphasizes on immigrant's mentality towards working, which in this case is the Italian community. After reading "Rivalry Over the Ethnic Minorities", it was like reading my own family's past when they immigrated in Quebec back in the early 70's. Many Greek immigrants who immigrated from their native country followed the same pattern towards finding happiness. Like most of the French, they worked long hard hours in bad working conditions and not so great pay. These sweatshops represent the first act of action to climb up the social ladder. But for the immigrants, it meant much more: they have these jobs in order to save up some money for the future, by a nice house and reach the next step in social ladder. Most of the time, the immigrants would buy their home in other neighborhoods; they would change community because it reflected their new social situation. Because they have more money, they can move to an area where people of the same nationality live. They will leave the French back in the city where they will keep on working long hours because they never saved up or invested their money. The main point I'm trying to show is that the immigrants have a stronger ambition and desire to become more successful than the French do, maybe because they are not at home and threatened by others. This is the world view almost all immigrants have and this concept has a major effect on their lives. Voiceless People is exactly the same scenario for Antonio and his family. Antonio came here very poor and unable to speak a word of French. He started working in factories with very bad pay and even worse working conditions. Just like the typical immigrant, he never gave up, didn't let anyone put him down, continued to work because he had an ambition to become successful and buy a house knowing that he earned it with his own sweat. As a newcomer to this country, he seemed to succeed with great facility, unlike many French Canadians who seem somehow jealous of the immigrants who tend to succeed with such bad