The School’s Role in Revealing the Commonplaces of Our National Culture and Identity: A Multicultural Perspective
Jerry Diakiw1
Introduction
Is there a national way of life that characterizes Canadian society? Do we have a distinctive culture and identity that distinguishes us from other nations? As we observe the breakup of nations through the unravelling of ethnic and tribal relationships, in Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union and in Africa, and ponder the possible separation of Quebec from Canada, it is necessary to reflect on the future of Canada. Can our diversity ultimately be so divisive as to reduce our society into a patchwork of competing ethnic or regional entities typical of several other parts of the world, or are we to be subsumed in whole or in part to a larger United States? Or, are there common conceptions or commonplaces about our country that bind us together into a safe and free multicultural society?
I argue that there is a Canadian culture and identity that is different from anyone of the regional, cultural or ethnic groups that can be found in Canada. This culture and identity is inclusive of all groups and is available to all Canadians. (Hackney, 1993). I attempt in this article to identify conceptions, understandings or commonplaces of our culture and identity to which all regions and ethno-cultural groups can relate.
This article will also attempt to explore and define the role of the school in debating, discussing and creating or revealing the national culture and identity. I believe the school can playa new role in identifying and revealing a national culture and identity through discussion around these commonplaces –a role which preserves and enhances our multicultural heritage while revealing an understanding of historic traditions and power structures that created the Nation.
The discussion of the school’s role in revealing the national culture and identity is fraught with dangers. Whether we like it or not the school is, and always has been a major purveyor of a national viewpoint. Any examination of the curriculum of the past reveals a program of indoctrination into the culture and mores of those in power. The old African proverb is still true -”Until lions have their own historians, tales of bravery and courage will be told about the hunter.” Or, as Napoleon put it more bluntly, “History is a set of lies agreed upon” (As cited in Wright. 1992, p. 3). Wright states, “Conventional history is written by winners” (p. 3). The winners get to write the curriculum.
As a young boy of immigrant Ukrainian parents, I remember vividly in grade 7 and 8 in Toronto in the late 1940’s spending hours memorizing the Kings and Queens of England in chronological order, later reading the
required stories, plays and novels of Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens and Jane Austin, Shakespeare and the poetry of Tennyson and Wordsworth. I do not recall reading any Canadian authors. While at Upper Canada College (UCC) for my high school years, (which I attended through a strange quirk of fate), I was introduced to an elitist training designed to produce boys capable of taking on the reins of power in Canada. They made no bones about it. At daily Church of England prayers (UCC was advertised as a non-denominational school), our imported British headmaster would remind us frequently of the College’s history of successes in this regard and remind us of our duty to prepare ourselves for leadership positions in the country. To achieve this goal the College overtly or covertly prepared us to be proper English gentlemen. The school was directly modelled on the Eton and Harrow tradition. The headmaster and the majority of the staff had always been imported from England. We were required to dress like proper English gentlemen, we were taught the manners and morals of proper English gentlemen and we were taught a curriculum suited to a English gentleman, including Latin and Greek, -the hallmark, back then, of a truly educated Englishman. We played English soldiers once a week at battalion, as a cadet corps affiliated with the Queen’s Own Rifles. Our royal patron, Prince Philip made regular visits to the college to affirm our connection to the highest levels of British culture and civilization. We were being prepared to serve our country, Canada!
When I think of this type of inculcation going on at the zenith of the British Empire in commonwealth countries all over the world (all those pink bits on the world map), I am impressed with the power of schooling in creating national cultures, though not without its price in the long run. I use this personal anecdote to illustrate how recently in our history that a transmission model of culture was viewed as a major function of the school and that the transmitted culture was, after all those long years, still an Anglo-Saxon tradition the product of the Canadian counterrevolution that evolved from the American Revolution. Canada evolved as a reaction to American independence. Upset (1990) and Frye(1982) have traced this counterrevolutionary trend in our literature and culture, perhaps best symbolized by the United Empire Loyalists with their devoted allegiance to the monarchy and a Tory orientation in their values and institutions.
The last few decades have seen a remarkable change. When the policy of Multiculturalism was proclaimed in 1971, Trudeau stated in the House of Commons, “While we have two official languages we have no official culture, no one culture is more official than another” ( italics mine). I have pondered, thought about, argued and debated, this statement many times over the intervening years. Initially I embraced it with a fervor and dedication that verged on the reckless. It provided me with the opportunity to “vent my spleen” over the bitterness that had built up over the years about my UCC indoctrination, and to throw off the yoke of my English induction and the shame it had induced in me about my own heritage and family.
Though mine was really a privileged upbringing, I have often thought about some of the parallels of my UCC schooling with the Native residential schools, where Native Canadians were inducted into the dominant culture by being forbidden to speak their own language were force-fed the religion and culture of either French Canada or Britain. But the longer I have pondered Trudeau’s statement the more I have difficulty with the words, “we have no official culture…” It seems to imply what many have said for decades, that Canada has no cultural identity or commonplaces. It has contributed to a backlash manifested in the Reform Party, Separatism, and a fundamentalist resurgence across Canada, while multiculturalists try to stem the tide of racism and dis-empowerment.
Education is caught between conflicting demands. Grossberg (1993) states that on the one hand,
there is the discourse of multiculturalism and liberation which calls for a democratic culture based on social difference and which is usually predicated on a theory of identity and representation. On the other side there is a discourse of conservatism based on canonical notions of general education and a desire to impose what it cannot justify–the existence of and illusory common culture” (p.10).
Simply, there is a lament over the loss of a culture rooted in Western civilization and values, while there is the cry for equity and a multicultural curriculum. Must there be a dualism? Is there an alternative to these two positions? It is instructive to review some history surrounding some of these issues. We have been inundated the last few years with critical examinations of the meaning and purpose of multiculturalism and its affects on the curriculum in the school. In the United States a deluge of popular best selling books have promoted a return to a traditionalist view. Alan Bloom(1987) in The Closing of the American Mind, and E.D.. Hirsch Jr.(1987) in Cultural Literacy, early explored the traditionalist view. They have in Henry Giroux’s view (1992) “argued that multiculturalism posits a serious threat to the school’s traditional task of defending and transmitting an authentic national history, a uniform standard of cultural literacy, and a singular national identity for all citizens to embrace”(p.1).
The heated position of the traditionalists is best demonstrated by Roger Kimbal’s provocative statement (1991):
Implicit in the politiciZing mandate of multiculturalism is an attack on the idea of common culture, the idea that despite our many differences, we hold in common an intellectual, artistic, and moral legacy, descending largely from the Greeks and the Bible, supplemented and modified over the centuries by innumerable contributions from diverse hands and peoples. It is this legacy that given us our science, our political institutions, and the monuments of artistic and cultural achievement that define us as a civilisation. Indeed it is this legacy, insofar as we live up to it, that preserves us from chaos and barbarism. And it is precisely this legacy that the multiculturalism wishes to dispense with (p.6). This frightening position is widely held in Canada as well. The notion that our cultural mosaic and regional and ethnic differences can promote “chaos and barbarism” is a form of extremism that is not productive in promoting a constructive dialogue.
It is my intention to explore these positions and to explore an alternative .-to think of culture as Henry Louise Gates Jr.(1991) stated it as, “a conversation among different voices.” Is it possible, by identifying a set of commonplaces, to take the traditionalists emphasis on curriculum as a narrative structure tied to producing a unified culture and identity, and yet incorporate a multicultural, liberating perspective? Is diversity possible, within these commonplaces, as a source of cultural identity? Is the idea of multiple loyalties and identities possible within the framework of a national culture and identity?
Certainly I personally feel all of these identities. Survey data in Canada indicate strong regional loyalties and identities in many parts of Canada, yet the evidence shows that the stronger the regional loyalty, the stronger the identity with Canada (Lipset, 1991).
As individuals we hold a complex set of loyalties and cultural identities, particularly in Canada. We have a strong bond to family, to place –neighbourhood/community, often a strong affinity to our bioregion –the Maritimes, or the Prairies for example, often to our ethnic and/or our linguistic heritage, to our religious group and finally to our country. For many Canadians now we even have a strong feeling of loyalty to, if I can call it that, and identity with, the planet. Even our workplace and social organizations like golf, tennis or fitness clubs, service organizations like the Lions Club can evoke a strong loyalty and cultural identity. Each of these groups has a unique culture, with its own set of values, ceremonies, celebrations, history and traditions. We move in and out of our various “tribes” with ease and comfort. I may belong to several cultures that my spouse has no knowledge of and visa versa. I don’t understand the world of her investment club and she understands little of the culture of my UNICEF association.
The complexity of our “tribal” relations is in fact quite extraordinary. We are a mass of hierarchical, overlapping, shifting, often contradictory and conflicting loyalties and identities. Each of us has many common loyalties in unique combinations and strengths, such that within one family, while there will be many common elements, the strength of our loyalties to certain of our cultures and our particular combinations of cultures, create unique individuals.
Given this complexity one might ask why then is a national identity and culture such an important and controversial issue. David Trend (1993) declares, “Nationality is a fiction. It is a story people tell themselves about who they are, where they live and how they got there” (p.225). And, nationalism is only a recent phenomena in human history. Benedict Anderson in his, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983) traces the history of nationalism from its origins in the late 18th century. Anderson points out three paradoxes about nationalism, “The objective modernity of nations to the historian’s eye vs. their subjective antiquity in the eye of nationalists.” The second paradox is, “The formal universality of nationality as a socio-cultural concept -in the modern world that everyone can, should, will ‘have’ a nationality, as he or she has a gender…” and the third paradox he sees is, ” The ‘political’ power of nationalisms vs. their philosophical poverty and even incoherence.” He comments that as Gertrude Stein referred to Oakland, one can quickly conclude with respect to nationalism that “there is no there there” (P. 2).
Despite his unwavering scorn for the concept of nationalism, he reflects on the continuing process: And many ‘old nations,’ once thought fully consolidated find themselves challenged by ’sub’-nationalism within their borders -nationalisms which, naturally, dream of shedding this sub-ness one happy day. The reality is qUite plain: the
‘end of the era of nationalism,’ so long prophesied, is not remotely in sight. Indeed, nation-ness is the most universally legitimate value in the political life of our time (p.3).
Why Culture and Identity Need to be Addressed In the Schools.
One can quickly discern through the work of Anderson, Trend and a large number of other contemporary critics of nationalism, the destructive, divisive disenfranchising and shallow nature of nationalism, but clearly it is not going to go away. As a pragmatist educator I am confronted with the problem of observing a gathering of fundamentalist, traditionalist and conservative forces which are erupting across this country and whose views are more consistent with those of Roger Kimbal quoted above. They are fanning a backlash and are profoundly influencing the policy-makers and practitioners to bring back the common culture which they see as a return to essentially a Eurocentric Christian society. They view the schools as having a central role in transmitting their view of our common culture through a common curriculum.
“Some argue that in an increasingly multicultural society there is a need for a common literacy; others propose that we are moving toward a culture of many literacies” (Trend, 1993. p. 225). I favour the former, but in a radically new form. Therefore, it is imperative to explore ways in which culture and identity can be addressed in a revisionist manner by approaching the issue from the perspective of commonplaces as opposed to content or differences.
For example, in any revisioning of a culture we have to recognize, the temporal character of culture. As Tomlinson (cited in Trend, 1993) points out, ” There is no such thing as a single national culture that remains the same year after year. Nations are constantly assimilating, combining and revising their national characters” (p. 229)
Sheldon Hackney, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (1993) in a speech to the National Press Club said, “All ethnic groups have permeable boundaries, and the meaning of any particular identity will change over time… History has a way of changing who we think we are.” Hackney is promoting a national conversation to take place in church basements, schools, town hall meetings and in the media across America, that will focus on discussion about the national identity, shared values and goals in a pluralistic society. He postulates a notion about America that is one I feel is equally true about Canada, and which I paraphrased in a Canadian context in my opening paragraph. “There is an American identity that is different from the identities of anyone of the ethnic groups that comprise the American population, that is inclusive of all of them and that is available to everyone who is an American.”
From the perspective of Canadian culture and identity, many Canadians say they do not know who they are, but they do know who they do not want to be. We have a resistance to Americanization. As noted, the creation of Canada evolved out of the historic counterrevolution of American independence, a rejection of the “American way.” This manifests itself in myriad ways today. Margaret Atwood (Survival, 1972), for example, explores this when she writes about our culture revealed in our literature:
“I’m talking about Canada as a state of mind, as a space you inhabit not just with your body but with your head. It’s that kind of space in which we find ourselves lost.
What a lost person needs is a map of the territory, with his own position marked on it so he can see where he is in relation to everything else. Literature is not only a mirror; it is also a map, a geography of the mind. Our literature is one such map, if we can learn to read it as our literature, as the product of who and where we have been. We need such a map desperately, we need to know about here. Because here is where we live. For the members of a country or a culture, shared knowledge of their place, their here, is not a luxury but a necessity. Without that knowledge we will not survive (p.19). “
Canadians have been asking the question “Where is here?” for some time and there is an urgency that does not prevail elsewhere. The constant threat of Quebec separation begs the question “What then?” Can the Maritimes remain a part of Canada separated by the immense stretch of Quebec that now lies between Ontario and the Maritimes? Will parts of Western Canada also separate? Will we become Americans?
For these reasons the debate on issues of culture and identity are often quite different in Canada than in the United States. One does not contemplate in the USA what will be the implications if California joins Mexico, or will the U.S. South secede, nor does one debate the loss of mid-western US values because of the barrage on television of Canadian comedians, hockey and Ann of Green Gables.
But while there is a significant difference in this regard, both nations are faced with the issue of a curriculum for a multicultural society .
How have cultures transmitted their values, traditions and its story? Every culture has its story to tell. In most countries with a culturally homogeneous population, children by the age of 13 or 14 have grown up hearing and learning the stories that define their cUlture; myths, legends, folklore, historic tidbits, tales of heroes and villains, miraculous tales and tales of courage and achievement. These shared stories lie at the heart of a culture’s identity. Arts and crafts, music, dance, film, and poetry blend together over time to crystallize an image that says, this is who we are. The stories that are shared provide a culture with its values and beliefs, goals and traditions. The myths, legends, folktales, histories, and experiences of any cultural group bind the individuals together to form a cohesive society which allows people to communicate with each other and to work together with a shared purpose. These common stories become the foundation of public discourse. Easy to say, in a homogeneous population, but more difficult with a complex nation racially, linquistically and t culturally. But the United States has similar complexities I and has achieved the perception of a unified shared culture that Canadians often envy.
E.D. Hirsch Jr. (1987), for example, laments the disintegration of central core values and a shared common
knowledge. He argues for the identification of what every American needs to know. While disagreeing with him here on many important counts, I am none-the-Iess attracted to the importance he places on the shared stories, myths, and legends that lie at the heart of a culture particularly to children up to the age of thirteen:
The weight of human tradition across many cultures supports the view that basic acculturation should largely be completed by age thirteen. At that age Catholics are confirmed, Jews bar or bat mitzvahed, and tribal boys and girls undergo the rites of passage into the tribe (p. 30). Korean children traditionally memorize numerous works including the five Kyung and the four Suo In Tibet boys from eight to ten read aloud and learn the scriptures, in Chile the Araucianian Indians use songs to learn the customs and traditions of their tribe. The Bushmen children of South
Africa listen to hours of discussion until they know the history of every aspect of their culture. The Papago t Indians of the Amazon take children through the lengthy rituals over and over again until they know them by heart.
Hirsch traces how, in modern nations, the education system has traditionally been used to convey a nationall culture. It has often been said that in France for example, on any particular day, each child in each grade would be reading the same page in the same textbook.
The textbook, in the history of American education, has been a constant source of debate over attempts to control the culture transmitted through the schools. The best example however, of the influence of one document in defining a culture is Lectures on Rhetoric and Belle Lettres, 1783 by Hugh Blair, a Scot from the University of Edinburgh. It was intended as a compendium of what every Scot needed to know if they were to read and write well in English. This book had enormous impact on curriculum in school systems throughout the English-speaking world. Between 1783 and 1911 his book, widely used in Great Britain, U.S. and Canada went through 130 editions! He defined
English literary culture for use by provincials like the Scots, and colonials like Canadians and Americans. It later became the standard for educating native-born Englishmen and women as well.
Ernest Gellner in his book, Nations & Nationalism (1987), pointed out that in modern nations, viewed from a historical perspective, it has been the school, not the home that has been the decisive factor in creating national cultures. Literate national cultures he maintains, are school-transmitted cultures. He argues that the chief makers of the modern nation have been school teachers; they helped create the modern nation state; they can perpetuate it and make it thrive. The history of Europe has shown that the schools play a major role in the creation of a national culture. Even in the United States, with its many disparate groups, the schools have played a major role in creating a national culture through such common shared stories both real and imagined, as George Washington, Daniel Boone, Tom Sawyer, and Casey at the Bat, and the promotion of strong central shared values and symbols of patriotism.
The history of the evolution of nationalism in country after country indicates clearly that creating a national culture is an artificial construct. Ernest Gellner points out that,
“The cultural shreds and patches used by nationalism are often arbitrary inventions, any old shred or patch would have served as well. … Nationalism is not what it seems and above all, not what it seems to itself. The culture it claims to defend is often its own invention( p. 56).”
Gellner points out that nation builders use a patchwork of folk materials, old songs, legends, dances, and historical tidbits selected and re-interpreted by intellectuals to create a national culture.
These readings and discussions have illuminated for me the history and the process of the transmission of culture that has been employed during our recent world history of colonialism and nationalism, but the process does not match well with our current thinking. It is this kind of approach from the past, that is the approach demanded by the current traditionalists who want to continue to promote a Eurocentric Christian curriculum based on the glories of Greek civilization, the Bible and the history of the democratization of Europe. Rather I believe, that there is a culture (and a set of cultures) that are already there and that the role of the school should be in creating discussion and debate in order to identify the commonplaces of our culture and an understandings of the shared values we have. Through these “conversations among different voices” (Gates,1991), we can bring about a multicultural perspective, while providing the ”ties that bind.” This dialogic discourse on the commonplaces of our national culture and Identity can provide an important alternative to the duality that normally enscribes the debates between traditionalists and multiculturalists.
Commonplaces of Canadian Culture and Identity
In order to provide a starting point for these discussions I have contemplated what commonplaces there are about Canada that most Canadians would agree on … at least as starting points for debate. In struggling to identity these
commonplaces I have asked myself: Do these commonplaces provide ample latitude to address critical issues in our society? Do they provide for a new multicultural curriculum that provides opportunities for students to become, in Henry Giroux’s term, “border crossers.” As he states:
“Teachers must be educated to become border crossers, to explore zones of cultural difference by moving in and out of the resources, histories and narratives that provide different students with a sense of identity, place and possibility” (1992. p 11 ).
And finally, do these commonplaces reveal that there is a Canadian identity that is different from anyone of the ethnic or regional identities that comprise the Canadian population, and are also different from an American identity.
Two commonplaces, for example, that reveal some of the common understandings about our culture that dominate discussions in Canada and that are deeply embedded in our identity, are on the one hand our powerful regional identities, Quebec, the Maritime, the Prairies, for example, and on the other hand our perception of our international peace role and reputation, –our global interdependence as citizens of the world. It may be simplistic to suggest that our national identity is rooted in a recognition of both regionalism and internationalism. Our federalist system, bilingualism and our multicultural policy, certainly support and enhance regionalism. Our long history as peace keepers and mediators; our participation in international organizations, our long involvement with developing nations, and our comparatively open immigration and refugee polices, confirm our global commitment as international or global citizens.
It may appear paradoxical to articulate a national identity or national culture based on the fragmentation of a country into regions, two languages, distinct societies, First Nations, multicultures, and many faiths on the one hand, and striving towards global citizenship and responsibility on the other. Yet that is precisely what is happening today. Canada is in a significant way a microcosm of the world, where the forces for regionalism -former Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union, India, Ireland, and Quebec are a counterpoint to the force for globalism -United Nations, free trade, GATT, a United Europe, OECD, OAS etc. There is room for considerable debate and discussion here.
Other commonplaces that reveal some central truths about our country that would be included for discussion or debate are; Canada, home of our First Nations; Canada, a nation of immigrants,–a nation of adventurers, inventors and entrepreneurs; Canada, a democratic nation with remarkable freedoms, but marked by equity struggles yet unfolding for First Nations, women, people of colour, and French Canadians; Canada, a nation with a strong sense of social welfare, –a social safety net is part of our tradition, and lastly, Canada, a wilderness nation, a land of awesome size and grandeur with savage beauty and obstacles. Despite our largely urban existence our wilderness preoccupies our psyche, our literature, our arts, our mythology. Canada, a nation of rich cultural traditions. These big themes or commonplaces are the “stuff” that myths are made of. They are the stuff that makes Canadians Canadian.
I have played with these themes and have evolved a set of ten commonplaces that emerge out of these simple notions. I believe they can provide the framework for a variety of approaches at the school level. They provide an alternative to the emotional discourse between the traditionalists and the multiculturalists. Not by resolving their differences entirely, but by providing a framework for constructive dialogue.
However, the commonplaces included here are not intended to be definitive and may be considered as a starting point. They are at best a tentative and exploratory. I intend to test out the validity and acceptability of these conceptions in a variety of forums, as well as considering others that could be discussed or added. Perhaps they should never be fixed and complete, but are always to be viewed in draft form… in recognition of the fluid nature of culture formation.
Each of the commonplaces is intended to capture a quintessential “given” about the nature of our Canadian culture and identity. While anyone conception may be characteristic of any number of countries, it is the unique layering of one conception over another, over another, that begins to merge into the warp and weft of the fabric of our Canadian identity.
The literature on Canadian culture and identity is replete with analyses of Canada compared to the United States. Certainly the experience of a shared history of occupation by Europeans, and a common Native American heritage, on the same continent has resulted in many common cultural characteristics. However, the differences are significant and many of these differences have emerged in direct response to evolution of the United States. I have tried to reveal these powerful differences in each of the conceptions as they arose, but on reflection it may be necessary to develop an additional commonplace dealing directly with Canada’s identity as a reflection of, or response to, the overwhelming presence and influence of the United States along our southern border.
Herewith is my initial set of conceptions:
Commonplaces of Canada’s Culture and Identity
1. Canada: A land of awesome beauty, size and grandeur -enormous challenges and savage obstacles.
The majority of Canadians now live in urban centres strung out like a string of pearls along the southern border of Canada, but our vast, rugged wilderness and harsh climate dominate our history, mythology and our psyche. They form an indelible backdrop to our culture and identity.
Our legacy of art, from Group of Seven paintings to totem poles, and our literature, painting and native oral traditions reflect an intimate relationship, even a preoccupation with the land.
Canadians spend more money per capita on recreational equipment such as canoes, skis, and tents than any country in the world (Schafer, 1989) They visit prOVincial and national parks and conservation areas in higher numbers, per capita than other countries. A Canadian wilderness summer camp is a traditional experience for children of the wealthy as well as many children of the poor. For many, owning a cottage or camp is part of the Canadian dream.
Our advertising and marketing campaigns capitalize on our penchant for the wilderness with images of shimmering lakes, majestic mountains and breath-taking seascapes, and the sounds of the call of the loon and pounding surf.
Our economy too, is deeply rooted in the land. Forestry, fishing, mining, furs and farming have established the pattern of our settlement, and each has contributed to our mythology.
In response to the immensity and the challenge of our landscape, Canadians have demonstrated remarkable ingenuity and innovation that has made Canada preeminent in many areas. Canada leads the world, for example, in cartographic expertise, and in innovation in telecommunications. The canoe, the kayak, the snowshoe, the snowmobile, CBC Radio, the Beaver Air plane and our contributions to satellite technology are all ingenious responses to coping with an immense and trying landscape.
Even our constitutional wrangling and our unique federal system is a political reaction to a vast and diverse land. Our size and unique regions have engendered a system that demands compromise.
The variety and majesty of our land is deeply embedded in our cultural identity and is a fundamental element of our mythology. William Lyon Mackenzie King (1936) captured an essence of Canada when he stated “If some countries have too much history, Canada has too much geography.” The icons of our landscape, whether Atlantic or Pacific seascape, prairies or mountains, glacial north or lush St. Lawrence Lowland, are the “ground” upon which we see ourselves, as well as the way we are viewed by others.
2. CANADA: The Home of our First Nations.
Native Canadians have occupied the Americas for over 10,000 years and first migrated to north America as long ago as 30,000 years ago. Europeans first set foot in Canada only 1000 years ago (Vikings) and extensively only since Jacques Cartier, beginning in 1534. The imprint of native peoples on the evolution of Canada is profound. The early history of European intervention in North America was integrally linked with Native Canadian peoples. In many cases, as allies with the English or the French and often as adversaries in numerous conflicts. The ingenious response of native Canadians to the demands of travel in such a vast and rigorous landscape led to their invention of the canoe, the snowshoe and the kayak. Only through mastering the skills of these inventions was it possible for Europeans to explore, exploit, and occupy Canada. Native Canadian foods from cultivated crops such as corn. beans and squaSh, and food preservation techniques such as dried meat,-pemmican, and smoked fish, provided early travellers with the ability to survive the rigours of travel in Canada. They acted as guides, interpreters and negotiators for most of the early European explorations and trade and development.
Less widely known is the influence of the lroquoian system of social organization on European thinkers like Montaigne, Hegel and Marx and on North American thinkers like Benjamin Franklin. The system of government in the United States and in Canada has its roots in the three level system of government practised by the Iroquois in the Iroquois Confederacy. Even the Eagle clutching five arrows in its claw( one for each of the five nations in the confederacy) was borrowed by the Americans as a symbol for the new nation. The American eagle now clutches thirteen arrows one for each of the original thirteen colonies. Canada’s federal system of municipal, provincial, and federal governments was uniquely suited to uniting a large and disparate nation. The federal system in North America was unique among systems of government in the world at that time. Native words like caucus. a meeting of elders, have found their way into our political language. Historic Native Canadian attitudes toward the treatment of members of the tribe less fortunate than others smacks of another conception of our Canadian identity –our social safety net. It is intriguing to trace this distinguishing characteristic back to our Native Canadian roots. Engels, for example, stated,” This gentile constitution is wonderful. There can be no poor and needy… All are free and equal –including women” (as cited in Wright. 1992, p. 117).
In a variety of ways the influence of Native Canadian life has entered into our collective heritage. The traditional Native Canadian religion with its respectful holistic attitude towards nature and the environment are receiving increasing respect and stUdy. Native art has long held an important place in our record of the visual icons of our culture. The totems of the West coast, Inuit stone carvings and contemporary prints and paintings have achieved world wide recognition and appreciation. Native elements of fashion and design, permeate in subtle ways contemporary urban, as well as rural life, -moccasins, fringed jackets, beaded belts and necklaces and native design elements in fabrics. Thousands of Native names permeate our Canadian landscape, -Canada, Ottawa, Toronto, for starters. Strung together a list of names becomes a form of Canadian poetry. Just start at any point in the alphabet, for example: Abitibi, Aklavik, Algonkian, Alikomiak, and Assiniboia. Other words and phrases have entered the lexicon of every day speech, for example, ” passing the peace-pipe”, or having a “powwow”.
The native Canadian way of life has entered the mythology of our Canadian ethos. It has become part of us all. The image of native Canadians plying the silent waters of a wilderness lake in a canoe is emblematic of a kind of Canadian Garden of Eden, when a blissful balance with nature was achieved. Linda Hutcheson (1988), for example, examines the importance of Natives for white Canadian writers in seeking their own roots.
The mistreatment of our Native peoples is an unfortunate but important commonplace in our history. The current legal battles over treaties, the social situation that exists on many reserves, and native Canadian struggles for self-government, attest to a response to an unfortunate record of misgUided efforts (in the best of interpretations) or a record of ruthless, exploitative and racist actions. The reality of native Canadians to-day trying to reestablish and rediscover their decimated way of life in the face of staggering rates of alcoholism, teen suicides, unemployment, and welfare is also part of our Canadian heritage. Native Canadians as well as those south of the border are at the bottom on most measures of mortality and social morbidity (Richmond, 1988). It is only of comparative interest that it is clear that “native peoples have been better able to survive in Canada than in the United states.” (Upset, 1990. p.176)
3. Canada: A land of remarkable freedoms with a goal of equity for all regardless of sex, race, age, color, creed or disability
We often take for granted our democratic freedoms, but to the millions of Canadians who have immigrated to Canada over the last hundred years or so, it is one of our most cherished and distinguishing characteristics. The history of Canada is a history of the struggles to create a nation, a struggle for responsible government, for representative government, and for a confederacy that allowed for the regional, religious, linguistic and ethnic diversity that has come to represent Canada. The evolution of a parliamentary system in a confederacy modelled after the three level federal system of the Iroquoian Confederacy was a unique response to a vast land mass with diverse cultures, needs and interests in the popUlation. It allowed for a greater democracy, a greater voice, by an ever increasing diverse population.
These gains have not been without their price. Canada’s record of human rights in not untarnished. We must not forget that in forging this modern nation it was at the expense of the First Nations. The demise of many native tribes such as the Beotuk, are symptomatic of a ruthless period of exploitation and imperialism at any cost. Canada was not without its period of slavery. Anti-semitism and racism has plagued our history as it has many other nations. The internment of the Japanese during World War 2, Ukrainians and Italians in WW1, are examples of periods in our history when the bright lights of civil rights gains were extinguished. The rights of women, labourers and other .minorities have similarly been thwarted at times in our evolution.
But few countries can claim a better record or emerging out of these dark days. Canada abolished slavery before Great Britain or the United States. It proudly became the terminus of the Underground Railway. Towns like Buxton became model black communities producing the first black lawyers, school teachers and preachers in North America. The first Black civil war commander came from Buxton. The first female editor of a newspaper in North America, Mary Shadd Cary was a Black woman Who made her way to Canada during this period. Clara Brett Martin was the first female lawyer in the British Empire. Emily Murphy became the first female jUdge in the Empire. Other female Empire firsts included the first female member of a legislature, the first cabinet minister and the first female speaker of a legislature (Nader, 1992). Female politicians have made significant contributions for many decades. Women lead our political parties and have led our country as both Prime Minister and as Governor-General. It is of at least symbolic significance that we have had a Canadian of Ukrainian heritage as a Governor-General and both a Black and Chinese Canadian have held the positions of Lt-General in Ontario and British Columbia respectively.
Canada is a world leader in policy development in equity issues. The Canadian Bill of Rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms are landmark documents. Implementing them requires all our best efforts. The history of our constitutional wrangles, most recently Meech Lake and Charlottetown, while unsuccessful in achieving
the goal sought by most Canadians, is indicative of relentless efforts of Canadians to try to achieve an accommodation of the varied regional, linguistic and cultural differences that comprise our complex nation. Other equity issues such as pay equity and equal rights for homosexual Canadians demonstrate the persistent attitudes toward this central characteristic of our identity. While Americans struggle over gays in their armed forces, Canadians, in typically Canadian manner, have quietly implemented gay rights in the armed forces without fanfare or disruption.
While Canadians have proven to be more open to immigration by people of color than almost any other nation, accepting now about 200,000 new immigrants annually, the attitudes of some Canadians reveals an underlying racism particularly to people of color. It is instructive however, that in 1991 ( Not, I should note during the subsequent recession), a Decima survey noted that 93% of Canadians thought that Canada was the best place in the world to live. The third most frequently cited reason for why this was so, was because of the way we received and welcomed new “immigrants” (Gregg and Posner, 1990).
While the equity culture in Canada is still evolving and gapping inequities still exist, it is important to trace the continuous improvement that has been made and recognize that this trait of seeking improved democratic rights for all is deeply ingrained in our collective psyches Canada, upon which the complex pattern of Canada’s mosaic was woven.
4. Canada: A nation founded on European traditions by the English and the French.
While evidence of Viking settlements exist at Anse aux Meadows dating back to 1000, the early voyages of John Cabot and Jacques Cartier set the stage for the full scale invasion and occupation of the continent, first by the French and then by the English. Through the long intertwining history of their colonization, through settlement, trade and resource extraction, these two founding nations irrevocably altered the face of the northern part of the continent. The patterns of settlement, whether the seigneury system of the French or the section system of the English imprinted the landscape with a network of roads, farm patterns and towns with a decidedly European familiarity.
While these early colonists were profoundly influenced by native American technologies such as the canoe, new foods and their method of cultivation and systems of government, they none-the-Iess firmly implanted their languages, religious values and institutions, the European form of democracy, in particular the parliamentary system, the tradition of both British common law and French civil law, as well as the system of schooling. A walk through any Canadian town or city reveals the unique juxtaposition of church, courthouse, townhall, school, banks and shops and residential streets characteristic of a European ordering of priorities.
Despite a long history of the migration of peoples from every corner of the globe and the unmistakable contributions and impact of this rich “melange” to the unique character of Canadian culture, yet the bUilding blocks of our culture are firmly planted in the world view of Western European civilisation. Many of the crowning achievements of our Canadian culture emerge from the interface of the British and French presence with this vast and awesome Canada.
Our institutional infrastructure, the way our country works, and our power base, is still largely of British origin in particular, French in Quebec. Judeo-Christian ethics, mores and beliefs still underlie our institutions and community life. Our Calendar year is organized around a Christian schedule. Our public holidays are largely Christian, Christmas and Easter. Our institutions often still attend to Christian rituals. The Bible is proffered to witnesses in the courts first before alternatives are made available, and Christian prayers are routinely recited at public meetings and meals.
Whether it be in the models born in the industrial revolution that were applied to every field of endeavour from offices, to schools, to research labs, or to the form of our free market economy, or our views on art, the family, time and gender roles, these European Christian notions became the warp and weft on the loom of Canada, upon which the complex pattern of Canada’s mosaic was woven.
5. Canada: A nation of Immigrants
Canada has been forged as an nation “a mari usque ad mari,” since the first contact with Europeans, through a continuous process of conquest and cooperation with the existing First Nation civilizations. The Vikings in the year 1000, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier and the early Spanish and Portuguese fishing crews began this long process.
Viking, and French settlements including Jewish fur traders and farmers preceded the establishment of a British colony. The expansion and modernization of Canada was rI achieved through a remarkable process of immigration with t wave upon wave of immigrant groups from England, I Scotland, France and Ireland, United Empire Loyalists from ~ the United States and Black slaves who arrived on the I underground railroad. (There were more Blacks in Nova Scotia 200 years ago than there were Scots!) Successive waves of Chinese (as early as 1744), Ukrainians, Finns, Poles, Germans, Swedes, Italians, Portuguese and South Asians have all contributed to the very fabric of our country. Sikh and Indian settlers, for example, were among the very first to open up the B.C. timberlands in the late 19th century. More recently, immigrants from the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and other East Asian countries have increased the racial and ethno-cultural mix.
Even before colonization, our First Nations co-existed as a multi-cultural entity. The complexity of distinct tribal cultures, with fifty-three distinct languages such as the Inuit, Haida, Blackfoot, Iroquois, Huron and Beothuk, mirrored the mosaic that modern Canada has become. This multiracial, mUlticultural, multilingual multifaith reality, from the very origins of human life on this continent, as well as from the inception of the nation is a central pattern in the fabric of our culture and identity.
The remarkable record is marred regrettably by many examples of racism, and while progress has continuously been made we are still not free of the destructive forces of racism. Dark moments in our history cast light on how we came to be who we are and are beacons to our future actions. It is important to study and explore how various groups have been marginalized and excluded from full participation in Canadian society while understanding the power and importance of our immigrant groups in the creation of a vibrant Canadian society.
6. Canada: A nation committed to providing a social safety net for all.
Canada is a nation that prides itself on its ability to look after all its citizens. Brian Mulroney as Prime Minister referred to this characteristic of our national culture and identity as “a sacred trust.” One might argue that the roots of this tradition lie in the size of Canada with its small population resulting in the need for more government control or the Tory tradition of greater government control that arose out of the counter revolution that resulted from the American Revolution. It is interesting to note however that this tradition was long established in Canada by native peoples. When Etienne Brule, at Samuel Champlain’s request, wintered over with the Hurons on the shores of Georgian Bay in 1610, a Huron chief’s son was sent to Paris for the winter in exchange as an insurance for Brule’s safety. When the Huron returned from Paris he shocked his people with stories of the beggars on the streets of Paris, the brutal public treatment of children, and even the barbaric punishment of criminals in public square. These practices were all so foreign to the Hurons whose traditions involved looking after all of its members, -where no-one was destitute or everyone was. The notion of care “from the cradle-to-the-grave”, has a long tradition in Canada.
Robertson Davies referred to Canada as “a socialist monarchy”, while our neighbours to the south have always abided by Thomas Jefferson’s adage that, “The government that governs best, governs least.” Canada’s social safety net certainly distinguishes itself from the United States. It is one characteristic of our identity that most Canadians would agree on. In a 1988 poll for example, 95% of Canadians preferred their own medicare system to the American one, as did 61 % of Americans! (Upset, 1990). Canada early embraced comprehensive social welfare programs including compensation for widows and persons with disabilities, enriched unemployment insurance benefits, post-secondary education programs covering three-quarters of student costs, universal old age pensions, man-power training allowances, subsidized housing, and family allowances, in addition to the universal medicare system mentioned above.
Public support, as well as support by civil servants and legislators for social initiatives is very high in Canada. For example, Canadian conservative legislators scored much higher than even American Democratic legislators on a scale of support for economic liberalism or social welfare issues. Even in recessionary times when cutbacks to social services are often in evidence it is important to recognize the short and long term trends remain the same -Canadians continue to support the distinguishing characteristic of our identity and we continue to move inexorably forward. For example, just twenty years ago half the people living in poverty were over 65 years of age, by 1990 the proportion was less than 15%.
In a series of polls and surveys (Gregg and Posner 1990, Upset, 1990), Canadians continue to view themselves as more tolerant, less violent, more concerned about the environment and the disadvantaged, both at home and abroad, and more peaceful. When 93% of respondents indicated they believed Canada to be the best place in the world to live (Gregg and Possner, 1990) Ninety percent thought this to be true because of our health care system, 78% thought it was our education system and 74% thought it was because of the way we welcomed immigrants of different races, religions and cultures into our society. This type of prevailing attitude is indicative of the characteristic of a “quieter, gentler nation.”
7. Canada: A Nation of Regional Diversity
Canada’s distinctive regions particularly British Columbia and the Rockies, the Prairies the North. Southern Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes, have contributed to a unique character to Canada’s cultural identity. Regional loyalties are powerful in Canada and regional cultures are distinctive. Confederation, with a carefully articulated division of powers between the provinces and the central government, recognized this diversity and enshrined this characteristic of our identity. The continuing struggles over these regional identities manifest themselves daily in everything from large scale examinations of power sharing at constitutional conferences, and inter provincial trade discussions, to squabbles between English-speaking Canada and French Canada, or between the West and Bay Street, the symbol of central Canadian power.
But aside from these perennial power struggles, Canadians generally cherish this regional diversity as they have other forms of diversity. The icons of our regionalism conjure up the flavours of our nation. Majestic snow-capped mountains and deep fiords, totem poles, lush temperate rainforests, prosperous urban streets with a variety of Canadians including Sikhs, and Chinese evoke our Pacific region; the skyline of Quebec city, French Canadian villages centered in the seigneury system, around the local church, along the shores of the St. Lawrence, maple syrup runs, Carnival, Sovereigntists parading the streets on St. Jean Baptist Day, conjure up another. Our distinctive rugged sea-torn Maritime provinces rooted in Acadian, Micmac and Scottish cultures, our immense Prairies crowned with grain elevators, immense herds of cattle and oil wells, peopled by hard-working decedents of many central European countries,–Ukrainians, Poles, Germans, Finns, as well as Chinese descendants of labourers from the building of the TransCanada Railway, reflect two other regions.
Some analysts argue that Canada has no distinct national style (Lipset, 1990) and is reflected more in its regionalism. As George Woodcock(1987) stated, “Canadian literature like Canadian painting has always remained regional in its impulses and origins” (p.32).
Saturday Night Magazine (January, 1987) in a special issue entitled Our Home and Native Land concluded that what makes Canada like no other is the variety of its regions and communities –in effect, that Canada’s identity is defined by its regions. Certainly our regional richness has always been one recurring characteristic of our national identity and this reveals itself through our arts, our economy and our political process. Upset(1990) argues that this emphasis on region in Canada results in a stronger sense of place than in the United States.
This strong regional loyalty has been apparent through many surveys, yet this strong sense of place regionally is positively correlated to high rankings of loyalty towards the country. David Elkin(1980) noted that except for Quebec Separatists, that Canadians’ “deep and abiding sense of place covers both nation and province” (p. 209). Canada is more decentralized politically with stronger regional identities than the United States. This is clearly one of our distinguishing characteristics.
8. Canada: A land of adventurers, innovators and entrepreneurs
Historically this continent was explored, settled, developed and populated by individuals with a willingness to venture to a new land against unknown odds and under difficult circumstances. Canada shares with its neighbour to the south many of the same characteristics of adventuresomeness, to take on new challenges, to be inventive and innovative, -a penchant for risk-taking and entrepreneurialism. The continuous wave of new immigrants, and refugees, has ensured an ethos of energy, renewal and risk taking. While it can be argued that conditions in the United States have led to a greater spirit of adventure and risk-taking than in Canada, it is still only a matter of degree. By any standard world-wide, Canadians have demonstrated this adventurous spirit in many fields (Nader et ai, 1992).
Certainly our mythology is replete with characters that attest to this characteristic of our identity. Whether it be historic icons like Jacques Cartier, Henry Hudson, Samuel Champlain or Uef Erickson, the Coureur de Bois, the early Jesuits, the early pioneers of Upper and Lower Canada, the crew of the Blue Nose, the hardy men in sheep skin coats, the “sod-busters” of the prairies, gold rush miners, the Chinese “Coolies” working on the Canadian Pacific Railway, or Black American slaves escaping to Canada on the underground railway, they all share remarkable traits of courage and daring and a willingness to take risks. Many Canadians have demonstrated this entrepreneurial courage and initiative through business enterprise and have become household names in other parts of the world. The Bronfmans, the Reichmans, Lord Beaverbrook, Conrad Black, the Mirvishes, Lord Thompson and David Nichols,-the President’s Choice, and innumerable real estate barons are a few examples of Canadians who have ventured into the international arena with great fanfare and with remarkable success.
Canada has encouraged through its immigration policy, entrepreneurs from other countries. Chinese immigrants in particular have found Canada a conducive environment for entrepreneurial activity. Is it surprising that the Deans of the leading three business schools in the United States are all Canadian? Risk-taking is also a required trait for invention and innovation. Nader et aI., in their book Canada Firsts (1992) and Brown in Ideas in Exile: A History of Canadian Inventlon(1967) have chronicled the remarkable number of inventions and innovations Canadians have made, including five Nobel prize winning scientists. From Fuller brushes, the zipper, the paint-roller, Pablum, frozen and instant foods and Trivial Pursuit, to ground breaking medical discoveries by Banting and Best, Hans Selye and Wilder Penfield, to high tech. communications firsts such as the first communications satellite, Telesat, the Canadarm, the Imax film format and remarkable innovations in mapping technology.
The paradox exists that in comparison to many nations, Canadians are very conservative with their money,-for example they have higher insurance coverage per capita than other countries, invest in the stock market far less than Americans and have shown to be less inclined to participate in high-risk investments or to develop their inventions or innovations at home, often leaving development to their neighbours to the south (Brown, 1967).
But modesty is also a Canadian trait and we are less inclined to tout our achievements. Certainly the record stands of a highly inventive and innovative population with a long tradition of adventure, exploration and entrepreneurialism, even though it often takes an American like Ralph Nader to point this out to us.
9. Canada: A land of rich cultural traditions
Canada’s unique history, it’s vastness and its complex multicultural mix has contributed to a rich cultural tradition. Cultural in this section pertains particularly to all of the arts, leisure and pastimes that occupy or entertain the citizenry. From the folk arts of fiddling, spoons and square dancing, decorated Easter eggs, totem poles, quilts and ceramics, to ballet, opera, symphony, theatre, movies and television, poetry and literature, as well as popular participative sports across Canada like curling, hockey, skiing. golf, bowling, softball and t-ball, to spectator sports like baseball, ice skating, football and hockey. One would also include a whole range of other popular activities or pastimes,-from such diverse activities as camping, and canoe tripping, attending movies and multicultural events such as the Highland Games in Nova Scotia, Caribbana, Quebec Carnival, the Calgary Stampede visiting art galleries, and attending rock, classical, jazz or choral and folk performances, picnicking, camping, watching television or jogging. The list could go on but the unique combination of these many activities by region and nationally paints a distinctive picture of who we are as a people. Though many of these activities are common to all North Americans, together in a particular place, in a particular combination they enter into a union with other cultural characteristics to provide a unique Canadian perspective and flavor. The culture of the hockey rink or curling rink presents a unique Canadian image.
Yet when the Toronto Blue Jays, playing the game the Americans call their own, played and won the World Series, in both 1992 and 1993 Canadians rall!ed round the Blue Jays from coast to coast, in a unique Canadian way, even though only one player was a Canadian. It was ironic that this American spectacle, the World Series, became such a unifying national event in Canada.
Our visual arts evoke a powerful image of our nation particularly in its physical splendour. The work of the Group of Seven artists and painters like Emily Carr, Alex Colville, William Kurelek and Mary Pratt captured images of Canada that haunt us and delight us. Contemporary artists like Jean-Paul Riopelle, Michael Snow, and Jack Bush have contributed to new art forms and styles in a Canadian setting. Our many authors have described and contributed to our culture through story and have achieved world wide recognition in doing so. Margaret Atwood, Gabrielle Roy, Robertson Davies, Rohinton Mistry, Margaret Lawrence, Austin Clarke and Michael Ondatje are a few recent names with such a claim. The legendary Northrop Frye and Marshall McLuhan, as well as Charles Taylor, have distinguished themselves in their respective literary fields.
The Canada Council has made a unique contribution to our rich cultural heritage. As a federal funding agency to support the arts, humanities, and social sciences, it has contributed millions of dollars to support individuals and organizations. Along with other provincial Arts councils and a variety of Canadian content reqUirements in CRTC, as well as other legislation, have reaped considerable rewards in the promotion and development of Canadian artistic talent. Many successful artists profess they would not have been able to carryon in their chosen artistic careers had it not been for the support of such legislation and government grant support. Certainly the thriving regional theatre system, and the internationally regarded National Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ballet Jazz De Montreal, the Vancouver, Toronto, Regina and Montreal symphonies, the Canadian Opera Company, and the Stratford and Shaw festivals would be hard pressed to survive without this kind of support. This public support for a wide variety of cultural activities from opera to rodeos is unique in North America. It is certainly in marked contrast to our neighbour to the south where the free market rules the arts or groups are dependent on private foundations.
A unique manifestation of this kind of support is the National Film Board created by an act of government in 1939. Famed world-wide for its documentaries and animation, it has won thousands of film awards. Fifty-seven films have been nominated for academy awards and nine have won. The work of the NFB in both the English and French divisions has been a remarkable achievement and has made a major contribution to our cultural heritage and identity.
CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, has similarly had a profound influence on our Canadian identity. The creation of the CBC, initially as a radio network, was designed to link the country together by the airwaves. It has been a powerful antidote to the continuous barrage of American mass media that many Canadians feel puts Canadian culture at risk. For many English speaking Canadians, Don Messer’s Jubilee, The Happy Gang, Fresh Air, As it Happens, Morningside and the Airfarce are part of their cultural heritage. For French-Canada, the rich melange of programs on Radio Canada provide the same ties that bind. While television has not been as successful in creating a national image, non-the-Iess a legacy of outstanding programs linger on in our collective memory. Ann of Green Gables, the Famille Plouffe, Sunshine Sketches. On both networks, on radio and TV, the production of current affairs programming has always been exceptional, This Hour Has Seven Days, Sunday Morning, The National. and Man Alive, to name just a few. Northrop Frye (1982) noted that the NFB and CBC radio, had a significant influence on the maturing of Canada’s culture and giving it a place in the internationally.
Native Canadian artists, authors and film-makers are increasingly creating a new artistic heritage to match the historic legacy of Native art, such as rock paintings, totem poles, Inuit stone carvings and masks. Modern creations such as the work of Tomson Highway, the design of the Museum of Civilization, many fine Native Canadian films including the recent documentary, Kahnestake and the rich variety of paintings and sculptures by contemporary Native artists such as Norval Morrisseau and Ashoona Pitseolak attest to a thriving renaissance of a Native Canadian voice. While Canadian artists have often complained that it is difficult to achieve recognition in Canada, many have gone on to national prominence in the USA or elsewhere. Canadians do not often think of themselves as funny but the legacy of comics from Canada working in the USA is staggering, including Michael J. Fox, John Candy, Dan Ackroyd, Eugene Levy, Leslie Nielsen, Martin Short, Mike Myers, Kids in the Hall, Andrea Martin, Rick Moranis, Howie Mandel, Sandra Shamus, and producers like Lorne Michaels. Less comic but equally visible on the major American national news networks are the large number of Canadian commentators and news broadcasters including Robert McNeil of the McNeil Lehrer Report, Morley Safer, Peter Jennings, Mark Phillips, Hilary Brown and J. D. Roberts. As well. Canadian actors like Donald Sutherland, Genevieve Bujold, Colleen Dewhurst, Kate Nelligan, Kate Reid, Margo Kidder and musicians like David Foster, Maureen Forrester, Celine Dion, Bryan Adams and Niel Young have all contributed to our Canadian identity even when they have made their name and achieved their fame in the United States.
Canada’s talent pool of technical expertise in movie-making and recording and attractive tax/investment incentives has led to the development of a Hollywood North. Vancouver and Toronto vie for this title.
While many Canadians fear the loss of their identity in the face of the enormous media machine to the south, the reality is that we do share in many ways a common North American heritage and culture. None-the-Iess, the complex web of relationships between the various conceptions of our identity in Canada continues to sustain a healthy and vibrant self-image that confirms for most Canadians the existence of a rich Canadian cultural identity including a French Canada with its distinct culture.
10. Canada: Peace-keepers for the world and a partner with all nations.
Canadians have long prided themselves on their role as peace-keepers and their stature internationally as a nation that could be trusted and relied upon. It is fitting and appropriate that Lester B. Pearson received a Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his plan to provide the first UN peace-keeping force in the Suez Crisis in Egypt. All Canadians felt they shared in that award and Canadians have always looked on peace-keeping since that time with a ‘proprietary air.’ His achievement symbolised a role for Canada that Canadians have consistently lived up to. Despite the tragedy and shame of Somalia. Canada has been involved in hundreds of successful peace-keeping missions on behalf of the United Nations, most particularly in Israel, Cyprus, former Yugoslavia and the Congo. Canada was called on by other international organizations to serve in a mediator role, most notably in Laos and Cambodia as part of a three nation International Commission.
As well, Canada has a long tradition of peace movements from within its private citizenry. The Quakers and Mennonites in Canada, for example, have always spoken out against war and militarism. Dozens of organizations sprang up in the fifties and sixties such as The Pugwash Conference of Scientists, The Canadian Peace Research Institute, Voice of Women, Project Ploughshares, and Canadian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. These groups have had a significant influence on Canadian public opinion over the years and thus have made a contribution to the way this commonplace of Canada as a peace-keeping nation has entered into our cultural mythology. The fact that Superman was a Canadian creation perhaps symbolizes the fantasy of Canadians as defenders of good against evil,-with not an aggressive bone in our bodies. Even Clark Kent, quiet and unassuming, seems to fit the image of the stereotypical Canadian.
But we are far more active internationally than just peace-keeping. Canada is committed to active involvement world-wide and we have made our mark internationally in a number of political ways. Our involvement in NATO, the OECD, OAS, GATT, G7 represents a few of these involvements. Canada has also provided leadership to developing countries through CIDA, CUSO ,wUSC. All are well known acronyms world wide. Canada World Youth and Canadian Crossroads International are successful youth initiatives. Canadian involvement in assisting developing nations is quite remarkable and contributes significantly to our conception of Canada as a nation of global citizens. With citizens with relatives and heritages in every ‘nook and cranny’ in the globe, it is perhaps fitting that we show leadership in creating a single global perspective as opposed to our present preoccupations with nationalism. This view of ourselves as a peace-keeping, global nation is part of our identity.
How could these commonplaces be used?
These ten commonplaces then, represent a structure or format for a dialogue on the understanding of our culture and identity from a multicultural perspective. As examples, I propose a number of curriculum projects that would use these conceptions as the organizing principles around which the curriculum would be constructed.
Proposed project 1. A discussion program for grades 7-12/OAC
This initiative would involve producing a document for teachers of grades seven to senior high school which would be comprised of a compendium of discussion-starters designed for teachers wishing to implement a regular program of explorations on the nature of our Canadian culture and identity based on the commonplaces of our identity that I have identified so far and any others that students and teachers would be willing to add …or delete.
In many schools, for example, an extended home group of smaller classes is being employed in order to have students discuss issues of group or school concern as well as values and social issues. These discussion-starters could be used within such a program. Other possibilities would include the use of these discussion-starters as part of a current affairs component. Teachers could also use these items two or three times a week for twenty to thirty minutes each.. It would also be possible to develop a unit of two to three weeks in which a selection of these discussion starters could be an integral component. Teachers are searching for appropriate materials to bring a deeper understanding of Canadian culture and identity to an increasingly diverse student population.
While there would be a positive bias toward Canada in the selections to be included, many of the items would offer differing views about a commonplaces. For example, one item might explore the view of Canadian mainstream authors, such as Margaret Atwood, about the myth of the Canadian north, while another item would articulate the emergence of a strong immigrant literature that reflects a largely urban Canadian view.
A revisionist intent would be strongly evident through the inclusion of items that reflect a more balanced view of the contributions of women, First Nation and minority Canadians. These ott-forgotten voices are an important part of the evolution of our culture. In trying to provide a forum for discourse between the two conflicting views of traditionalists and multiculturalists/liberationists these materials would raise concerns from both, While some might argue that the items reflect too Eurocentric a viewpoint, others will feel that sufficient due regard for the founding nations has not been provided. These issues would need to be discussed. Only through discourse do I believe that some of these conflicts can be ameliorated.
Students need the opportunity to have our culture revealed to them through debate and discussion. It is my belief that through these discussion-starters, students would have an opportunity to share their perceptions of Canadian culture and identity and in so doing a clearer image of our identity will emerge and a greater appreciation of multiculturalism will result.
Proposed Project 2. Children’s literature and media: Toward understanding Canadian culture and identity
A second way of using the conceptions is to identify children’s literature that exemplifies these conceptions by
inference. That is, teachers would be aware of the conceptions when selecting books for read-aloud or study but would not teach to the conception directly. A parallel can best be shown when considering the transmission of culture in homogeneous societies. In a tribe or Village the adults induct the children into the tribe through the sharing of tribal stories and lore. As J. D. Hirsch has pointed out this process is completed by the age of thirteen (Grade 
There is now a rich body of Canadian children’s literature which can provide children with insights into our culture and identity. It would be practical to identify a minimum list of stories, children’s books, folk songs, films, art, and poems that begin to reveal our Canadian identity for school children.
These titles if shared across Canada would bind all Canadian school children together to know that in every school from White Horse to St. John’s, whether Black, First Nation, Chinese, French Canadian or fourth generation English Canadian, they would all be reading and learning the same Canadian stories. Through this process they would be inducted into the Canadian ‘tribe’. These central conceptions and the shared stories, tales, histories, art, poems, films would be the starting point for the beginning of our student’s understanding of a Canadian culture.
This project would promote the identification of a core body of quintessentially Canadian materials that reveal a revisioned Canadian culture consistent with the heritage of our young Canadians of all races, religions, and cultures.
The heart of this shared culture would be Canadian materials about Canada. Included would be everything from pre-primer alphabet Books such as : A Canadian Child’s ABC (RX Gordon), ABC (Elizabeth Cleaver), A Northern Alphabet (Ted Harrison), Ah! Belle Cite, A Beautiful City, ABC (Stephanie Poulin); to children’s stories by some of our finest writers such as Olden Days Coat by Margaret Lawrence, Clip Tail, Gabrielle Roy, Jacob Two Two and the Hooded Fang, Mordecai Richler, Jake and the Kid, WO Mitchell, Owls in the Family, by Farley Mowat, and of course Ann of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery; to richly illustrated picture story books such as Cremation of Sam McGee (1986) and The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1987) by Robert Service illustrated by Ted Harrison, Prairie Boys Winter (1973) William Kurelek, The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier; to stories of our multicultural heritage such as Chin Chiang and the Dragon Dance by Ian Wallace, Mary of Mile 18 by Ann Blades, From Anna by Jean Little, Curses of the Third Uncle and Tales from Gold Mountain by Paul Yee, A Child In Prison Camp, Shizuze Takeshma The Tin-lined Trunk, by Mary Hamilton and West Coast Chinese Boy by Sing Lim; to historical novels such as the Kings Daughter, Susanne Martel, Underground to Canada, by Barbara Smucker, The Boy With An R in his Hand, by James Reaney, Glengarry School Days, by Ralph Connor, the ‘Booky’ series by Bernice Thurman Hunter and The Root Cellar by Janet Lunn; to powerful realistic novels such as Angel Square by Brian Doyle, One Proud Summer by Marsha Hewitt and Clare McKay, and Harriet’s Daughter by Marlene Nourbese Philip.
The readings should also include wilderness survival tales such as Jasmin by Jan Truss, and Hunter In the Dark by Monica Hughes; First Nation stories such as Harpoon of the Hunter by Markoosie, The Adventures of SaJo and the Beaver People , Grey Owl, Tikta Llktak: An Eskimo Legend by James Houston and Blood Red Ochre by Kevin Major; Fairy Tales and Legends Selected from Canadian Fairy Tales by Eva Martin, and The Golden Phoenix and other Tales from Quebec, by Maurice Barbeau, and First Nation myths and legends, such as How Summer came to Canada or The Loon’s Necklace by Beverley Cleary: Poetry should be included such as Confederation Lament by Chief Dan George and selections from anthologies such as the New Wind has Wings: Poems from Canada, by Mary Alice Downie and Barbara Robertson, and Till all the Stars have fallen by David Booth. Films from the National Film Board, the art of the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, First Nation artists and folk songs collected by Edith Fowkes would also be included.
While debate and dialogue would be necessary to identify and agree on these materials, it is important that they be Canadian, reflecting the central commonplaces of Canada’s culture. There is a growing wealth of such material to choose from. The selection of these stories, tales, songs, films, and poems would be like creating a patchwork quilt, each patch or story would be a ‘gem’. in its own right but collectively they would blend together to create a total image. They would tell the revised Canadian story.
While we do have some outstanding resources to begin. It is not enough. We still need to find new ways to tell tales about our heroes and heroines, not textbook biographies but fireside tales -fireside tales about our First Nations, our explorers, our fur traders, our pioneer women, our Nobel Peace Prize winner, our great athletes and scientists, the settlement of the west, the discovery of our minerals, our artists and musicians, the building of our railways and our international accomplishments.
We need to tell stories that capture our multicultural heritage; the Jewish fur traders, and settlers who were here even before the English. About the black Canadian men and women who lived in Nova Scotia two hundred years ago in greater numbers than Scots; about the Chinese workers that built the railways; about the English, Scottish, Irish, Ukrainian, Finnish, German, Sikh, and Japanese immigrants, to name just a few who broke ground across this country to make Canada what it is today. I believe the ‘big’ themes of Canadian culture outlined in the commonplaces of our culture and identity can assist us in selecting a core of readings for read aloud, or discussions, for every grade from Kindergarten to grade nine in every school in Canada. Through this collective patchwork quilt of shared stories we can reveal our Canadian identity and Canadian culture in a way that says, ”this is who we are.”
Proposed Project 3. Canadian icons For Primary Junior students
This project would bring together the visual icons of our culture, revisioned to include those who have been systematically excluded from sharing our culture in the past. For example the classic icon, Driving the Last Spike, an image of all white males, would be counterbalanced by an image of the Chinese workers who actually built the railroad. The selection of images would reflect the commonplaces of our culture outlined here.
Proposed Project 4. Canadian intellectuals speak out on Canada
For Senior division students
Again, using the commonplaces as a framework and organizing principle, short selections of writings by Canada’s seminal thinkers and intellectuals, that reveal aspects of Canada’ s culture and identity would be included in this anthology to stimulate debate and discussion. Writers and thinkers such as Northrop Frye, Nelly McLung, Marshall McLuhan, Lise Bissonette, Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, Paul Yee, Charles Taylor, Pierre Trudeau and Austin Clarke would be included. The selection would ensure representation of a wide range of Canadians of all backgrounds, regions and ethno-cultural groups. A short biography would be included that would provide students with a familiarity with significant Canadian thinkers, while providing provocative thoughts for debate and discussion.
Conclusion
I have stepped into controversial territory in daring to articulate ten commonplaces of our culture. I offer them up as suggestions for consideration. I believe it is possible to put forward a set of commonplaces that reveal a Canadian identity that is different from any of the other ethnic and regional identities that exists in Canada, but that includes all of them. However, these may not be the right commonplaces, or there may be a different way of organizing or presenting them. They are one initial attempt. If they promote further discussion and debate about Canadian culture and identity then I have achieved my goal. Henry Giroux(1992) quotes Bhikhu Parekh’s definition of multiculturalism, which appropriately fits within the intent of my conception of the commonplaces of our identity:
Multiculturalism doesn’t simply mean numerical plurality of different cultures, but rather a community which is creating, guaranteeing, encouraging spaces within which different communities are able to grow at their own pace. At the same time it means creating a public space in which these communities are able to interact and enrich the existing culture and create a new consensual culture in which they recognize reflections of their own identity ( p. 7).
I believe these discussions can lead to a dialogue on the commonplaces of our culture that will further our democratic goals, provide a climate for further equity and contribute toward a more racist-free society. The disintegrating forces of ethnicity evidenced in other parts of the world, often with violent results, is parallelled by disintegrating forces of a more subtle nature in Canada, but ultimately the results may well be not much different. It behooves us to argue, debate, and discuss our commonplaces rather than to focus always on our differences. While this dialogic discourse on commonplaces needs to take place in many areas of our society, I have outlined a number of approaches of how this can be done in the schools.
References
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Note
1. Jerry Diakiw is a former Superintendent of Schools with the York Region Board of Education. He is currently completing his doctoral studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He has been active
on a variety of fronts as an advocate for multicultural and anti-racist education.
