Colombia and Canada: Comparison

Two different worlds with a lot in common

Juan Camilo Soto Marulanda

I.E Colegio Loyola para la Ciencia y la Innovación

Boarding pass to Canada

Secretaria de educación de Medellín

2019
 Colombia and Canada, two different worlds with a lot in common

Colombia and Canada are two countries which have a lot of specific characteristics that
make them great nations, they are located in different geographical regions of the world, the
first one in South America, and Canada in North America, because of this wide distance,
both countries have attributes that make them unique places in the world, including a big
amount of differences in terms of culture, economic and lifestyle, which is caused by many
factors, despite it, Colombia and Canada also have things in common one of each other, for
this reason, is important to recognize what differences and similarities these countries
share, in order to understand them better and identify Canadian´s and Colombian’s culture
as valuable.

Multiculturalism refers to people with a different background, the unit of different ethnics
and provenance. It is important because it teaches us about others and their value, about
tolerance and acceptance, for this reason, it is something to stand out. It represents many
countries around the world, and Colombia and Canada are included in the list, which is a
representative similarity, but in this aspect, there is also a difference; it is the kind of
multiculturalism establish in each country. The result of what is Canada today was caused
by colonization, because the majority groups were British, French and indigenous people,
what led to a country with a lot of diverse cultural expressions, besides, the immigration
from all over the world has influenced Canada's culture a lot, which is reflected in the
number of origins of Canada’s population. Laurence Brosseau, Michael Dewing
(September 15, 2009) ”Canadian Multiculturalism”. In the case of Colombia, the main
ethnics are mestizos, Afro-descendant and indigenous. Mestizos are descendants of
American Indians and Europeans; mostly from Spain. This unit of different origins,
originated a culture unique in the world, with remarkable music and food. Procolombia
(October 30, 2018) “Colombia, a multi-ethnic and multicultural country”. In this point,
both countries are similar and special for their diversity, but the difference here is the
provenance, which causes a great difference in their culture and how their population is.
For example, the language is distinct, because the colonizers of Colombia were Spanish
speakers, and Canadian’s were English and French speakers. In addition, there are a lot of
differences caused by multiculturalism.

Canada is the second largest country in the world, conformed by 10 provinces and 3
territories, moreover Colombia is not up in the rank in terms of surface, and it is divided
into 32 departments, the political divisions of both countries make a big difference, because
Canada is a decentralized country as well as is explained in “The Decentralization In
Canada Politics Essay” There are 3 levels of government, and each one has different
functions and responsibilities, for example, provincial governments are in charge of things
such as education and infrastructure. Essays, UK. (November 2018). Knowing that Canada
is a decentralized country, it’s noticeable that there is a slight similarity and difference
comparing with Colombia, because the last one is decentralized, but with some
characteristics of a centralized country, because as is shown in (VALENCIA-TELLO Diana
Carolina, KARAM DE CHUEIRI Vera) "Antecedentes de la decentralization territorial en
Colombia” DÍKAION; (2014) administratively, Colombia is a country that has been
decentralized, but regarding power, health services, education, and security policies it is
centralized, which shows a great difference with Canada, where their subdivisions have a
greater authority and autonomy.

Canada is a large economy, which is caused mainly because of its natural resources, and
Colombia is also a rich country in natural resources and raw material. A significant part of
a country’s economic, depends on exportation and importation, in the case of Canada, it is
estimated that exportation represents 30.9% of total economic, besides Colombia’s
exportation represent just 14.6 %. But, looking at the top of exported products from each
country the similarity can be found, and it is that the first exported resource of both
countries is mineral fluid, which includes oil. Also in the top, there are other products in
common such as Plastic, gems, and precious materials. This rank of exportations
demonstrates an important similarity between Colombia and Canada. Information obtained
from DANIEL WORMAN (May 7, 2019) “Canada’s Top 10 Exports” and DANIEL
WORKMAN (March 13, 2019) “Colombia’s Top 10 Export”
Talking about security, according to INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMICS AND PEACE
(2018) “Global peace index 2018” Canada is ranked 6th on the safest countries in the world
and it’s classified as a very peaceful country, which influences in high Canada’s standard of
life. Looking at Colombia, in the state of peace is classified as low, for this reason, is
ranked 145. This ranking represents a significant difference between both countries and
their conditions. But, searching for something more positive, it’s important to look at
Colombian’s and Canada’s culture, because both are so different and have a lot of
expressions that make them remarkable, and is here where there’s an important similarity,
and it is the diversity of traditions, cuisine, festivals, music and all the things that compose
their culture. Singers as Stan Roger, who represents Canada’s traditional music very well,
and Shania Twain, singer of country music; a representative music genre from Canada.
However, there are other genres important in Canada, such as Jazz and Pop, which
represent its culture. Colombia has music completely different and that something good,
because every country has its own identity, in this case, most representative music is:
Cumbia, Vallenato, Joropo, and others. The Cumbia has artists as Celsa Piña, or the
Vallenato music has singers as Patricia Teherán and Rafael Orozco, who are famous inside
and even outside the country.

Many aspects are important to get to know a country, and the best way to do it is immersing
in the culture, especially, comparing countries as Colombia and Canada, because both have
a lot to explore between their differences and similarities, and knowing them; it is possible
to have a wider perspective of our own country and how things change in other places, so
we create another perspective to learn about differences and how to adapt in a global world,
for this, there are a lot aspect to observe and analyze with the purpose of join and enjoy the
riches of a country with so many characteristics as Canada, and in this way, to understand
the social context of any place, and to achieve that, it is necessary to know about economic,
politic, historic and culture, for this reason, when we look at Colombia and Canada, we find
a context which includes a lot of differences, especially in terms of economic, culture and
lifestyle, but, there are also some representative similarities, as the beauty of their natural
landscapes, and their rich diversity in things like nature and culture.
References:

Laurence Brosseau, Michael Dewing (September 15 2009) Canadian Multiculturalism

https://lop.parl.ca/sites/PublicWebsite/default/en_CA/ResearchPublications/200920E

Procolombia (October 30, 2018) Colombia, a multi-ethnic and multicultural country

https://www.colombia.co/en/colombia-country/colombia-multi-ethnic-multicultural-
country/

Essays, UK. (November 2018). The Decentralization In Canada Politics Essay. Retrieved
from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/politics/the-decentralization-in-canada-politics-
essay.php?vref=1

VALENCIA-TELLO Diana Carolina, KARAM DE CHUEIRI Vera, Antecedentes de la

descentralización territorial en Colombia. DÍKAION; (2014)
http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0120-89422014000100007

DANIEL WORMAN (May 7, 2019) Canada’s Top 10 Exports

http://www.worldstopexports.com/canadas-top-exports/

DANIEL WORKMAN (March 13, 2019) Colombia’s Top 10 Export

http://www.worldstopexports.com/colombias-top-10-exports/

INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMICS AND PEACE (2018) “Global peace index 2018”
http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2018/06/Global-Peace-Index-2018-2.pdf