Canadian Mosaic

Canadian Mosaic is a book by John Murray Gibbon, published in 1938. Gibbon's book, the full title of which is Canadian Mosaic: The Making of a Northern Nation, heralded a new way of thinking about immigrants that was to shape Canadian immigration policy in the latter part of the 20th century. The idea of a mosaic, in which each cultural group retained a distinct identity and still contributed to the nation as a whole, was in contrast to the melting pot, a popular metaphor for the more assimilationist American approach to immigration.

Canadian Mosaic

Author	John Murray Gibbon
Publisher	McClelland & Stewart
Publication date	1938
Publication place	Canada

The idea of a mosaic of cultures forming a nation was adopted by Canadian sociologist John Porter in his study of social class, entitled Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and Power in Canada. The mosaic theme became a part of Canadian multiculturalism policy in the 1970s, which envisioned Canada as a "cultural mosaic".

References

• Gibbon, J. 1938. Canadian Mosaic: The Making of a Northern Nation. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
• Henderson, S. 2005. "'While there is Still Time...': J. Murray Gibbon and the Spectacle of Difference in Three CPR Folk Festivals, 1928–1931." Journal of Canadian Studies, Winter 2005.

Awards
Preceded by My Discovery of the West	Governor General's Award for English language non-fiction recipient 1938	Succeeded by Confessions of an Immigrant's Daughter