Учебно-методическое пособие по работе с темой "COUNTRY PROFILE". Дедова С.А. - 14 стр.

                          V. ETHNIC GROUPS                                        of government will be Inuitituk with secondary services available in Eng-
                                                                                  lish as required.
1. Before reading the text discuss the things you know about Canada,
  Canadians, their culture and style of living. Then read the text and say        2. Have a look at the census data provided by Office for National Statis-
  if there is anything you haven’t heard of. Explain the meaning of the              tics in 2001.
  underlined word combinations.
                                                                                  What is ethnicity and religious identity? How do you identify yourself?
                                                                                  Does it influence your life somehow?
                          CANADIAN CULTURE
        I was recently asked about Canadian Culture – things people would           ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN ENGLAND AND WALES
want to know before visiting Canada. Simple enough question if you come
                                                                                          The 2001 Census collected information about ethnicity and religious
from a country with a cultural history, but what about Canada?
                                                                                  identity. Combining these results shows that while the population is more
        Italy, Germany, Japan, India and many other countries all have well
                                                                                  culturally diverse than ever before, White Christians remain the largest sin-
defined cultures steeped in hundreds if not thousands of years of traditions,
                                                                                  gle group by far. In England and Wales, 36 million people (nearly 7 out of
customs and language. For most adults, just mentioning Chinese culture
                                                                                  10) described their ethnicity as White and their religion as Christian.
brings to mind any number of mental images, which clearly define for the
                                                                                          Majorities of Black people and those from Mixed ethnic back-
person what Chinese culture means to them.
                                                                                  grounds also identified as Christian (71 and 52 per cent respectively). In
        But what about Canadian Culture? Our original settlers still maintain
                                                                                  total there were 810 thousand Black Christians and 347 thousand Christians
their culture as they have known it for over 5,000 years, but the Inuit cul-
                                                                                  from Mixed ethnic backgrounds.
ture didn’t really catch on in the southern regions of the country.
                                                                                          Among other faiths the largest groups were Pakistani Muslims (658
        We have French-Canadians, the only identifiable ethno-hyphenated
                                                                                  thousand) and Indian Hindus (467 thousand) followed by Indian Sikhs (301
Canadians who mark their culture with their language and traditions based
                                                                                  thousand), Bangladeshi Muslims (260 thousand) and White Jews (252
largely in Quebec and New Brunswick. Traditions and language are based
                                                                                  thousand).
on the 19th century French and form an integral part of the entire Canadian
                                                                                          The Indian group was religiously diverse. 45 per cent of Indians
culture experience.
                                                                                  were Hindu, 29 per cent Sikh and a further 13 per cent Muslim. By contrast
        All together the French-Canadian population represents about 20 %
                                                                                  the Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups were more homogenous, Muslims
of the population of Canada. So what about the other 80 %? Does Canada
                                                                                  accounting for 92 per cent of each ethnic group.
Have an identifiable culture?
                                                                                          Some faith communities were concentrated in particular ethnic
        In search of a Canadian identity, I called a sociology professor at our
                                                                                  groups. For example, 91 per cent of Sikhs were Indian and 97 per cent of
local University. He advised me that Canadians do indeed have a culture,
                                                                                  Jews described their ethnicity as White. Others faiths were more widely
but it is the combination of most other cultures from around the world. To
                                                                                  dispersed; significant proportions of Buddhists were found in the White,
draw a parallel, the United States has been characterized as ‘the great melt-
                                                                                  Chinese, other Asian and other Ethnic groups.
ing pot of humanity’, where people of all nations are invited to join the na-
                                                                                          Overall, 15 per cent of the English and Welsh population reported
tion to form ‘a more perfect nation’. Everybody is expected to comply with
                                                                                  having no religion although variation by ethnicity was marked. Just over
common community standards to make the nation strong.
                                                                                  half of all Chinese people, and one quarter of people from Mixed ethnic
        Canada, on the other hand, has been compared to a mosaic, where
                                                                                  backgrounds, stated they had no religion. Asian, Black African and Irish
each individual people are invited to join the nation and still retain their
                                                                                  people were least likely to have no religious affiliation. Fewer than 1 in 200
cultural identities, complete with traditions, language and customs. In Brit-
                                                                                  Pakistanis and Bangladeshis reported having no religion.
ish Columbia for instance, a person may write their driving license in Eng-
lish, French, Chinese, and Punjabi, and in Nunavut, the primary language

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