Although mixed race individuals are becoming increasingly visible and accepted in North America, this has been a fairly recent phenomenon. Cynthia Nakashima, in an analysis of how mixed race people have been portrayed in society, looks at the historical construction of the mythology and social imagery of multiracial people (Nakashima, 1992). Due to the high priority placed on race within society, one view of people of mixed race suggested that they would be inevitably biologically and genetically inferior to those who were racially "pure". A direct corollary of this argument was that mixed race people were morally degenerate and exhibited psychological and emotional problems due to their "abnormal" genetic heritage. In the post-World War II period, multiracial discourse shifted from biological arguments that portrayed mixed race people as victims of an unnatural genetic inheritance. Instead, it was replaced with a new sociocultural argument which posited that multiracial people were unable to adequately consolidate the biculturality of having multiple heritages. It was perceived that the irreconcilable internal conflicts of such a situation would leave multiracial individuals trapped between cultures, the conflict of which would leave them forever "marginal and outcast, left to be the target of both of their parent groups' anger and hatred for one another" (Nakashima, 171). Thus, societal images of mixed race people were extremely distorted, reinforcing and legitimizing their marginalization and disenfranchisement from society. Thus, the challenge posed by their existence was not allowed to undermine racial norms that asserted and maintained racial classifications that tended to privilege dominant, racially pure societal groups.

Michael Thornton similarly assesses three historically common perceptions of people of mixed race, what he calls "identity paradigms" (Thornton, 1996). The first of these paradigms is the problem approach, also identified by Nakashima, in which multiracial identity is perceived as inherently problematic. It posits that, due to contrasting attitudes, behaviour, and values which exist in the circumstances of an interracial union, multiracial offspring will be unable to adequately adopt the monoracial identification demanded by society. As a result, mixed race people face a continual internal struggle to "maintain bonds to incompatible groups" (Thornton, 109). Therefore, mixed race people are considered to be behaviourally and psychologically deviant and unable to cope with the stress of multiracial status. The second approach described by Thornton is what he calls the equivalent approach. In this approach, both monoracial and multiracial people are expected to participate in societal assimilation processes through which single racial identities are eventually chosen. Although the process may be more extensive for multiracial individuals, assimilation and the selection of one or another racial identity is seen as an inevitable and desirable outcome for all individuals.

These outlooks have historically dominated the literature on mixed race individuals and have significantly informed societal perceptions of multiracial people. However, a third approach, also called the variant approach, has been more recently developed to conceptualize the experience of people of mixed race. This approach, put forward primarily by researchers who are themselves of mixed race heritage, views identity formation as an ongoing process in which "simultaneous membership and multiple fluid identities are common" (Thornton, 108). The process of identity formation itself occurs in a series of stages in which bonds to different racial or cultural groups are independent of each other. Therefore, mixed race individuals may simultaneously maintain both strong and weak ties to both heritages in an ongoing process; certain aspects of racial and ethnic identities are highlighted in particular contexts and at different times. This approach will be returned to later when the experiences of specific multiracial Canadians are examined.

While these types of classifications have been identified in the academic literature on mixed race individuals, there are also more current popular conceptions which are experienced on a more personal level. Perceptions of mixed race people now have shifted so that there is an increasing recognition that the experience of being multiracial can also be valuable and positive. In fact, many of the current perceptions and stereotypes of mixed race people can be construed as quite positive. Nakashima notes that multiracials are commonly viewed as being attractive or beautiful, demonstrated by the number of "ethnic" actors and actresses in the media who are actually multiracial (Nakashima, 170). However, mixed race people of partial Asian descent often express their frustration with particular labels that stereotype them as being "exotic" or "cool" due to their mixed race status. Other common stereotypes that mixed race people are particularly beautiful or intelligent, while positive, also tend to separate individual personalities from mixed race status. This results in a peculiar type of objectification, in which a person's mixed race status is elevated as the most primary and fundamental aspect of individuality (Chau in Gaskins, 38). In addition, in recent years the popular media have turned to mixed race people as an integral feature of the process of eliminating racism and building bridges between racial and cultural groups. Many mixed race people also object to this expectation as it tends to reinforce their position as a passive group in society, rather than as individuals with experiences separate from their racial classification.