Information on the meaning systems underlying body, food, eating, and health for many ethnic cultures within North American society is limited. Existing research suggests that the meaning systems for body, food, eating, and health for most ethnic cultures differ from those of the host North American culture. Despite the growing Filipino Canadian population, no information was found for this ethnic group with regard to these issues. With an increased understanding of Filipino Canadian culture, health professionals working with women of Filipino Canadian ethnicity will have the tools needed to provide culturally sensitive care. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to increase the understanding of the culture of Filipino Canadian women as it pertains to body, food, eating, and health. The qualitative research paradigm was chosen to explore the culture of Filipino Canadian women because, as opposed to quantitative research where the goals are to verify, predict, and control, the goals of qualitative research are to explain, discover, understand, and generate theories. The processes of sampling, data collection, and data analysis occured simultaneously throughout the research process. Sampling was purposive in that informants were chosen according to certain characteristics in order to highlight similarities and differences between informants. The informants consisted of first generation Filipino Canadian women from 19 to 30 years old who were born in the Philippines to parents of Filipino heritage. Data were collected from eleven informants by conducting semi-structured open-ended interviews. Preliminary data analysis guided subsequent sampling of participants, interviews, and analysis strategies. Later analysis stages involved the development of the major themes using domain and taxonomic analyses. Several steps were taken to ensure the trustworthiness of the research. First, peer debriefing, negative case analyses, and member checks were used to establish the credibility of the emergent themes. Second, rich descriptions of the context were provided in order to aid in the transferability of the findings. Third, an inquiry audit was conducted in order to establish the dependability of the research process and confirmability of the findings. The majority of informants valued thinness, valued the concept of "watching" fat, rice and sweet, salty, and junk food intake, and were concerned about minimizing disease risk. These views were associated with "Canadian" culture. On the other hand, a minority valued fatness, valued the concept of "just eating" fat and rice, and revealed a concern with maximizing disease resistance. These views were associated with "Filipino" culture. Although the findings suggested that the informants were fairly well assimilated into the host North American culture, evidence does exist which shows that most of them experienced the conflict of the "Filipino" and "Canadian" cultural systems.

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The present study proposes a detailed examination of the Irish migration to Montreal between 1847 and 1867, that is to say between the Famine and Confederation. For vast numbers of Irish, Quebec and Montreal were of course merely staging-points in a weary journey whose end lay in Upper Canada or, more often, in the United States of America. [...]

The history of Canada's policies in the matter of Chinese immigration from 1870 to the present time may be divided into four distinct periods: The period of unrestricted immigration ending 1885; the period of the head-tax system from 1885 to 1923; the period of the exclusion of Chinese immigrants ending in 1947 and the period of limited admission of Chinese immigrants under the rules applicable to Asians in general. [...]

This thesis clarifies some issues at the forefront of Multicultural education from an anti-racist perspective. The researcher is concerned that, while school boards across the country allegedly promote an education wherein the perspectives of all Canadian cultural groups are included—a goal that reflects promises of both the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the policy of Multiculturalism—differences persist between what is intended by policy makers and what perspectives are actually included in the curriculum. These contradictions between intentions and conduct are explored by exarmning the effects of Multicultural ideology on the discursive borders of Canadian education. These ideas are then related to the specific example of African Canadian history. Past and present contradictions between Canadian policies and practices toward African Canadians are scrutinized. The issue of African Canadian exclusion from the Canadian Literary Canon is emphasized and this problem is related through a discussion of the Canadian publishing industry. The writer argues that different kinds of opportunities are required that help learners explore the subject of racism on an emotional level, develop in-depth understandings about African Canadian history and cultures, and give learners opportunities to listen to African Canadian perspectives. The idea that African Canadian literature could be utilised by educators is suggested as a way to start establishing a basis for education where African Canadian perspectives are represented on equal terms. Pedagogical problems that might arise with the introduction of these stories into the curriculum are addressed. The writer argues that Canadian education developed out of a context of oppression. Postmodern research paradigms are suggested as a way to explore these issues. Following on the diverse writing styles that are used in postmodern inquiries, an excerpt from a play by the writer is included. Both the play and the discussion intentionally disrupt the suggestion of a self-Other dichotomy that is sometimes present in education and research. The writer explores this territory and ultimately suggests the possibility of negotiating relationships that are not defined by oppression, but that acknowledge the pain that oppression causes.

While the first entry of Chinese immigrants to Canada dates back to more than a century, in 1967 when the Canadian immigration policy changed, Chinese immigrants from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan became the top source of migration. Over the past few decades, the process of acculturation and mental health of Chinese immigrants has received attention in cross-cultural research. Researchers are particularly interested in investigating the stress experienced by immigrants during the process of acculturation and the ways of dealing with such stress. The thesis reports on a study that explores acculturative stress, length of residence, and cohesion of Chinese immigrants in Canada. The results from this study showed that enmeshment (a high level of family cohesion or family togetherness) and flexibility (a high level of adaptability to change family rules and roles) are related to a lower level of acculturative stress in Chinese immigrant mothers in Vancouver, British Columbia. Of particular interest was the effect of cohesion and adaptability on the social dimension of acculturative stress. Additionally, the results showed that length of residence did not predict acculturative stress in Chinese immigrant families. Limitations, contributions, and implications of the present study for future acculturation research are discussed.

From feeling neither entirely "Chinese" nor "Canadian," Vancouver's Chinese weathered the hard times of racism and economic depression and found themselves embracing a new identity that was both "Chinese" and "Canadian" during the deeply intense period of Japan's invasion of China and later the Second World War. This paper argues that Vancouver's Chinatown was a transnational community whose existence and vitality were not only predicated upon the strength of its internal organizations but also upon its trans-Pacific linkages and movements. It also argues that wartime social and cultural changes led to the first creation of "Chinese Canadians," a double identity that had been born long before the official introduction of Canada's multicultural policy. The two generations of immigrants and Canadian-borns also became welded together during the war, actively supporting China's and Canada's war effort. Finally, this essay closes by highlighting the "double-edged" blessing of a double identity under the effects of local and global historical processes, which were mirrored in the wartime stigmatization of Japanese Canadians, the destruction of the Sing Kew Theatre and the postwar dwindling of trans-Pacific ties with the onset of the Cold War and Maoist socialism in China. '