Mythic History: Immigration

India Pakistan Dept: However, we need a national centre -a hub of digital learning -located in Pacific Canada to recognize a history and future for our nation that Pier 21 cannot alone represent. The millions of Canadians who came from China, Japan, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and other parts of Asia did not cross the Atlantic Ocean, and Halifax is not their symbol of arrival, according to Vancouver Sun. Understanding Pacific Canada requires a perspective on our past and future that differs from a mythic history of westward expansion from the Atlantic. Canada was founded in 1867, but by that point there was already a Pacific and an Atlantic component to its past. Some have even argued persuasively that the Chinese had visited B.C. shores as early as the 15th century. The perspectives of Pacific Canada recognize the long process of historical engagement between trans-Atlantic migrants, trans-Pacific migrants, coureurs des bois and aboriginal peoples. If Canadians are to share a common future, we need as a nation to recognize this still largely untold history and the federal government recently announced the designation of Pier 21 in Halifax as Canada's National Immigration Museum. We applaud this recognition of the importance of immigrants to the development of Canadian society. In addition to Pier 21 in Halifax, we need a complementary immigration museum that would encourage those who came to Canada across the Pacific to feel included in our common history. These people have been ignored for too long in definitions of Canadian identity. The time has arrived to recognize the importance of trans-Pacific migrants in building our society. As reported in the news.
@t westward expansion, immigration museum