Canadian nationalism
Canadian nationalism seeks to promote the unity, independence, and well-being of Canada and the Canadian people.[1] Canadian nationalism has been a significant political force since the 19th century and has typically manifested itself as seeking to advance Canada's independence from influence of the United Kingdom and the United States.[1] Since the 1960s, most proponents of Canadian nationalism have advocated a civic nationalism due to Canada's cultural diversity that specifically has sought to equalize citizenship, especially for Québécois and French-speaking Canadians, who historically faced cultural and economic discrimination and assimilationist pressure from English Canadian-dominated governments.[2] Canadian nationalism became an important issue during the 1988 Canadian federal election that focused on the then-proposed Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement, with Canadian nationalists opposing the agreement – saying that the agreement would lead to inevitable complete assimilation and domination of Canada by the United States.[3] During the 1995 Quebec referendum on sovereignty that sought to determine whether Quebec would become a sovereign state or whether it would remain in Canada, Canadian nationalists and federalists supported the "no" side while Quebec nationalists largely supported the "yes" side, resulting in a razor-thin majority in favour of the "no" side that supported Quebec remaining in Canada.
Canadian nationalism in English-speaking Canada opts for a certain level of sovereignty for Canada vis-à-vis other sovereign states, while remaining within the
History
The goal of all economic and political nationalists has been the creation and then maintenance of Canadian sovereignty. During Canada's colonial past there were various movements in both
Free trade with the United States
Starting before Confederation in 1867, the debate between
In each "free trade election", the Liberals were defeated, forcing them to give up on the idea. The issue was revisited in the 1980s by
After the
World wars
The impact of World War I on the evolution of
This sense was expressed during the
Other historians robustly dispute the view that World War I undermined the hybrid imperial-national identity of English-speaking Canada. Phillip Buckner states that: "The First World War shook but did not destroy this Britannic vision of Canada. It is a myth that Canadians emerged from the war alienated from, and disillusioned with, the imperial connection." He argues that most English-speaking Canadians "continued to believe that Canada was, and should continue to be, a 'British' nation and that it should cooperate with the other members of the British family in the British Commonwealth of Nations."[7] Nevertheless, there are two possible mechanisms whereby World War I may have intensified Canadian nationalism: 1) Pride in Canada's accomplishments on the battlefield demonstrably promoted Canadian patriotism, and 2) the war distanced Canada from Britain in that Canadians reacted to the sheer slaughter on the Western Front by adopting an increasingly anti-British attitude.[6]
Still, Governor General
Québécois nationalism
Another early source of pan-Canadian nationalism came from Quebec in the early 20th century.
In the
This Quebec sovereignty movement gained traction through the Quiet Revolution and burst on the Canadian scene in the latter half of the twentieth century. In 1970, radical sovereigntists under the FLQ sparked the October Crisis when they kidnapped the provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and British diplomat James Cross in an effort to further the cause of Quebec sovereignty. Although this crisis soon abated, the sovereignty movement continued. Quebec held two referendums about whether the province should separate from the rest of Canada; the Canadian federalists defeated the Québécois separatists in the 1980 Quebec referendum by a margin of 59.56% to 40.44% and narrowly won again in the 1995 Quebec referendum by a margin of 50.58% to 49.42%. This second referendum marked the high water mark of the Quebec sovereignty movement and the broader Québécois nationalism continued to decline in the early twenty-first century.
Under the Coalition Avenir Québec government, Québécois nationalism has risen in a new form. In 2019, the provincial government passed Act respecting the laicity of the State.[12] It prohibits the wearing of religious symbols by certain public employees in positions of authority and grandfathers in those who were already in office when the bill was introduced. In 2022, the provincial government introduced An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec which would greatly expand the requirement to speak French in many public and private settings.[13] The government has justified both of these measures, which are strongly opposed in the English-speaking provinces, as necessary to preserve the secularism and the French language that are central to Québécois nationalism.
Nationalist politics
Modern attempts at forming a popular Canadian nationalist party have failed, a phenomenon decried by Canadian philosopher George Grant in his seminal 1965 Lament for a Nation. Grant's thesis is that Prime Minister Diefenbaker's defeat in 1963 was the last gasp of Canadian nationalism and that the Canadian nation has succumbed to the continentalism of the United States.
The
Various activist/lobby groups such as the
As of 2010[update] concerns regarding national unity have ebbed to some degree and nationalist sentiment among the population overall has increased. Even in Quebec, long a hotbed of secessionist sentiment, a large majority has emerged that expresses pride and loyalty toward Canada as a whole. Canada has even been described as post-national, a description that some critics have argued runs counter to current trends in Europe and the United States.[16] Prime Minister Trudeau, elected in 2015, has however espoused distinctly anti-nationalist sentiments during his tenure (or at least sentiments that are contrary to traditional nationalism).[17][18] To the extent Canadians have embraced nationalism in recent years, it has been a more inclusive, civic nationalism, as contrasted with the exclusive nationalism that has arisen recently in the US and some other Western nations.[16]
List of nationalist groups in Canada
Centre-left, left-wing and far-left groups
- left-wing
- Canadian Action Party (1997–2017), minor political party
- Committee for an Independent Canada (1970–1981), nonpartisan advocacy organization[19]
- The Council of Canadians (1985–present), nonpartisan advocacy organization
- Ginger Group (1924–1930s), informal group of left-wing Members of Parliament
- National Party of Canada (1993–1997), minor political party
- New Democratic Party, purged by federal NDP leader David Lewisin the 1970s, then briefly a minor political party
- National Party of Canada, minor political party founded by former Waffle members
Centre-right, right-wing and far-right groups
- right-wing
- Canada First (1868–c. 1896), advocacy organization then briefly a minor political party
- Canadian Party (1862–1872), local to Manitoba, advocacy organization and briefly a political party
- Progressive Canadian Party (2004–2019), minor political party
- Far-right
- Canadian Nationalist Party (2017–2022), minor registered white nationalist political party
- National Citizens Alliance (2014–2023), minor registered nationalist political party
- fascist and national socialistpolitical party banned in 1940
- Nationalist Party of Canada (1977–present), minor unregistered white nationalist political party
- People's Party of Canada (2018–present), political party which had one Member of Parliament (elected as a Conservative)
Canadian government departments responsible for cultural promotion
- Department of Canadian Heritage
- Heritage Canada Foundation
- Canada Council for the Arts
Notable people
Canadian nationalists
- Maude Barlow
- Pierre Berton[20]
- Henri Bourassa
- George-Étienne Cartier
- John Diefenbaker
- Walter L. Gordon
- George Grant
- Paul Hellyer
- Mel Hurtig
- Eric Kierans
- Wilfrid Laurier
- James Laxer
- Bill Loewen
- John A. Macdonald
- William Lyon Mackenzie
- Jack McClelland[21]
- Peter C. Newman[22]
- David Orchard
- Louis Joseph Papineau
- Abraham Rotstein
- Pierre Trudeau
- John Turner
- Mel Watkins
- Maxime Bernier
Canadian anti-nationalists
See also
- Anthems and nationalistic songs of Canada
- Canadian cultural protectionism
- Canadianism
- Chinese Immigration Act of 1885
- Chinese head tax in Canada
- Chinese Immigration Act, 1923
- Immigration Watch Canada
- Multiculturalism in Canada
- Populism in Canada
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b Motyl 2001, pp. 68.
- ^ Recent social trends in Canada, 1960–2000. Pp. 415.
- ^ Motyl 2001, pp. 69.
- ^ Bélanger, Claude (April 2005). "The National Policy and Canadian Federalism". Studies on the Canadian Constitution and Canadian Federalism. Marianopolis College.
- ^ Nersessian, Mary (April 9, 2007). Vimy battle marks birth of Canadian nationalism Archived February 15, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. CTV.ca
- ^ a b Cook, Tim (2008). Shock troops: Canadians fighting the Great War, 1917–1918. Toronto: Viking.
- ^ Buckner, Philip, ed. (2006). Canada and the British World: Culture, Migration, and Identity. p. 1. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press.
- ^ Smith, Janet Adam; John Buchanan, a Biography; London, 1965; p. 423
- ^ "Time: Roya Visit; October 21, 1957". Archived from the original on May 13, 2007.
- ^ Levitt, Joseph. Bourassa, Henri. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica.ca.
- Neatby, H. Blair (1973). Laurier and a Liberal Quebec: A Study in Political Management Archived 2012-05-27 at the Wayback MachineRichard T. Clippingdale., ed. McClelland and Steward Limited.
- ^ "- Act respecting the laicity of the State". www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca. Retrieved 2022-05-20.
- ISBN 9781683401131, retrieved 2022-05-20
- ^ "2cards.ca - Two Parties - One Vision". Archived from the original on 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
- ^ "Orchard's strategic influence". Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2007-10-17.
- ^ a b "Nationalism on rise, poll finds" (PDF). National Post. March 8, 2010.
- ^ Todd, Douglass (March 13, 2016). "The dangers of Trudeau's 'postnational' Canada".
- ^ "Nationalist movements could smother Justin Trudeau: Paul Wells". Toronto Star. November 25, 2016.
- ^ "Committee for an Independent Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia".
- ISBN 978-1551996226.
- ^ Elspeth Cameron. "Adventures in the Book Trade," in Saturday Night, November 1983. p. 33 "I decided that I didn't want to be dependent on foreign agencies. I saw that a logical decision in London or New York could cut our volume in half. A Canadian nationalist was born overnight."
- ISBN 9780774813853. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
[In 1973] Newman "described his love affair with Canada" as follows: "Perhaps my real ideological swing has been away from a blind acceptance of the 'small-l' liberalism of the Fifties to a strongly-felt nationalism."
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-12-227230-7.
Further reading
This 'further reading' section may need cleanup. (April 2016) |
- Asselin, Olivar (1909). A Quebec View of Canadian nationalism: An Essay by a dyed-in-the-wool French-Canadian on the Best Means of Ensuring the Greatness of the Canadian fatherland. Montreal: Guertin Printing Company, Ltd. p. 61.
- Azzi, Stephen (1999). Walter Gordon and the Rise of Canadian Nationalism. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 300. ISBN 0-7735-1840-1.
- Bailey, Alfred Goldsworthy (1972). Culture and Nationality: Essays. Toronto & Montreal: McClelland and Stewart. p. 224.
- Bauhn, Per (1995). Multiculturalism and Nationhood in Canada: The Cases of First Nations and Quebec. Lund, Sweden: Lund University Press. p. 102.
- Berger, Carl (1969). Imperialism and Nationalism, 1884–1914: A Conflict in Canadian Thought. Toronto: Copp Clark. p. 119.
- ISBN 0-7710-1363-9.
- ISBN 9780665732225.
- Raymond Breton; Jeffrey G. Reitz; Victor F. Valentine (1980). Cultural boundaries and the cohesion of Canada. Montréal: Institut de recherches politiques. p. 422.
- Brown, Brian A. (1976). Separatism. Dawson Creek: Echo Pub. p. 200. ISBN 0-920252-01-X.
- Brunet, Michel (1954). Canadians et Canadiens : études sur l'histoire et la pensée des deux Canadas (in French). Montréal: Fides. p. 173.
- Brunet, Michel (1958). La Présence anglaise et les Canadiens : études sur l'histoire et la pensée des deux Canadas (in French). Montréal: Beauchemin. p. 292.
- Collins, Richard (1990). Culture, Communication, and National Identity: The Case of Canadian Television. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 367. ISBN 0-8020-2733-4.
- ISBN 0-7710-2254-9.
- Cook, Ramsay (1971). The Maple Leaf Forever. Essays on Nationalism and Politics in Canada. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada. p. 253.
- Corse, Sarah M. (1997). Nationalism and Literature: The Politics of Culture in Canada and the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-521-57002-2.
- Couture, Claude (1998). Paddling with the Current: Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Étienne Parent, Liberalism, and Nationalism in Canada. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press. p. 137. ISBN 0-88864-313-6.
- Crean, Susan (1983). Two Nations: An essay on the Culture and Politics of Canada and Quebec in a World of American Preeminence. Toronto: J. Lorimero. p. 167. ISBN 0-88862-381-X.
- Doran, Charles F. (1995). Being and Becoming Canada. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Periodicals Press. p. 236. ISBN 0-8039-5884-6.
- Foster, William Alexander (1871). Canada First, or, Our New Nationality. An address by W.A. Foster. Toronto: Adam, Stevenson & Co. p. 36.
- Giroux, Maurice (1967). Essai politique sur la crise des deux nations canadiennes; : la pyramide de Babel (in French). Montréal: Editions de Sainte-Marie. p. 138.
- Grant, George (1965). ISBN 978-0-7735-3010-2.
- ISBN 0-7710-3717-1.
- ISBN 0-88760-062-X.
- Heron, Craig, ed. (1977). Imperialism, Nationalism and Canada: Essays from the Marxist Institute of Toronto. Toronto: New Hogtown Press. p. 206. ISBN 0-919940-05-6.
- ISBN 0-7748-0035-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7735-3036-2.
- Madison, Gary Brent (2000). Is there a Canadian philosophy? Reflections on the Canadian Identity. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press. p. 218. ISBN 0-7766-0514-3.
- Maheux, Arthur (1944). Problems of Canadian Unity. Québec: les Éditions des Bois-Francs. p. 186.
- Manning, Erin (2003). Ephemeral Territories: Representing Nation, Home, and Identity in Canada. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. p. 187. ISBN 0-8166-3924-8.
- Moore, William Henry (1918). The Clash! A study in Nationalities. London: Dent & Sons. p. 333.
- Morris, Raymond N. (1977). Three Scales of Inequality: Perspectives on French-English Relations. Don Mills: Longman Canada. p. 300. ISBN 0-7747-3035-8.
- Morton, William Lewis (1961). The Canadian Identity. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 125.
- Nelles, Viv. (1973). Nationalism or Local Control: Responses to George Woodcock. Toronto: New Press. p. 97.
- Paquet, Gilles; Jean-Pierre Wallot (1983). Nouvelle-France/Québec/Canadas: A World of Limited Identities. Ottawa: Faculty of Administration, University of Ottawa. p. 73.
- ISBN 0-7737-2637-3.
- Resnick, Philip (2005). The European Roots of Canadian Identity. Broadview Press. p. 125. ISBN 1-55111-705-3.
- Resnick, Philip (1977). The Land of Cain: Class and Nationalism in English Canada, 1945-1975. Vancouver: New Star Books. p. 297. ISBN 0-919888-68-2.
- Rotstein, Abraham (1972). Independence: The Canadian Challenge. Toronto: The Committee for an Independent Canada. p. 279. ISBN 9780771077463.
- Rotstein, Abraham (1973). The Precarious Homestead; Essays on Economics, Technology and Nationalism. Toronto: New Press. p. 331. ISBN 0-88770-710-6.
- Russell, Peter, ed. (1966). Nationalism in Canada, by the University League for Social Reform. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Company of Canada. p. 377.
- Saint-Laurent, Louis(1961). National unity of Canada: First Annual Kenneth E. Norris Memorial Lecture, November 9, 1961. An address by The Right Honourable Louis S. St-Laurent. Association of Alumni, Sir George Williams University. p. 24.
- Samuels, H. Raymond II (1997). National Identity in Canada and Cosmopolitan Community. Ottawa: The Agora Cosmopolitan. p. 288. ISBN 0-9681906-0-X.
- Sheffe, Norman, ed. (1971). Canadian / Canadien. Toronto: Ryerson Educational Division, McGraw-Hill Co. of Canada. p. 121. ISBN 0-07-092860-6.
- Siegfried, André (1907). The Race Question in Canada. London: Eveleigh Nash. p. 343.
- Smith, Allan (1994). Canada: An American Nation? Essays on Continentalism, Identity and the Canadian Frame of Mind. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 398. ISBN 0-7735-1229-2.
- ISBN 0-88828-017-3.
- Studin, Irvin, ed. (2006). What is a Canadian? Forty-Three Thought-Provoking Responses. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-7710-8321-1.
- ISBN 0-7735-1105-9.
- Thacker, Robert (1996). "Sharing the Continent" Still: English Canadian Nationalism and Cultural Sovereignty. Bowling Green, Ohio: Canadian Studies Center, Bowling Green State University. p. 18.
- Wade, Mason, ed. (1960). Canadian dualism : studies of French-English relations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 427. ISBN 9780802070258.
- Wallace, William Stewart (1927). The Growth of Canadian National Feeling. Toronto: MacMillan. p. 85.
- Webber, Jeremy H. A. (1994). Reimagining Canada: Language, Culture, Community and the Canadian Constitution. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 373. ISBN 0-7735-1146-6.
- ISBN 0-88978-088-9.
- ISBN 0-19-540703-2.
- Wright, Robert W. (1993). Economics, Enlightenment, and Canadian Nationalism. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-7735-0980-1.
- Young, James (1891). Canadian Nationality. A glance at the present and future, being an address delivered by the Hon. James Young, of Galt, before the members of the National Club of Toronto, on the evening of the 21st April, '91. Toronto: R.G. McLean.