Tonight’s interview will examine if Canadians are losing their stereotypical national humbleness. I asked Allan Bonner, a political communications consultant with Allan Bonner Communications Management, to share his thoughts on Canada’s changing national identity.
Culture is a personal matter, like identity, ethnicity, and religion. Tonight's episode of the Agenda may tackle the change in Canadian culture over time. This examination of trajectory may actually be an easier task than freezing culture or identity in time. Canadian culture and identity may be just as hard to define today as they were in the 1960s, but now we may see the change we've experienced more clearly.
I wish I could be part of this lively discussion tonight, and know that some of my points below will be off-topic, without Steve to ensure I don't ramble. However, I hope some viewers who have an appetite for a little more may find what follows of interest.
1. Culture and identity is manufactured. For example, the Americans did not win the Battle of Bunker Hill; General George Washington lost at least six of his nine major battles in the Revolutionary War; and the Liberty Bell has nothing to do with liberty — it’s just an incompetent bell that wouldn't ring properly because it cracked. It was melted down and it cracked again. American liberalism and conservatism means what is in vogue at the time, not what the country was founded upon. Even the constitution is whatever is in vogue at the time.
2. There has been some work in Canada to suggest that we are mainly negative asserting — i.e., we achieve our identity as a result of our opposition to the U.S., or at least by asserting our differences.
3. However, as a result of massive geography, a history not entirely shared, and a lack of manufactured history, we can’t do what Americans do — share the myth. When Ronald Reagan famously said in his inaugural address that "We ... as Americans ..." would succeed, everybody was on the same page. The page may have been from a book of fiction, but the page existed. What might we mean if we said, "We, as Canadians …”? I’m not sure.
4. The Battle of Lundy’s Lane, the Battle of Long Sault, Jean Talon’s Order of Good Cheer, the Republic of Madawaska, the Ghost of Walhachin, or even the Nazi submarines in the Northumberland Strait and the St. Lawrence...how many Canadians from our diverse regions share these wonderful stories?
5. One of the few things we share is the notion of having one foot in the city and the other in the country. Canadian land and farms are well captured in Bliss Carman’s "Vestigia," Duddy Kravitz’s preoccupation with property in the Laurentians, "Four Strong Winds" by Ian & Sylvia, Ian’s "Summer Wages," Gordon Lightfoot's lament both for the most beautiful girl in the world and his small home town in "Did She Mention my Name," W. W. E. Ross’s "If Ice," Group of Seven pictures with no one present — just the land and one could go on. We lament the distance between us with Gene MacLellan’s "The Call." Perhaps we also celebrate our expertise in communications technology.
6. I’m not sure modesty captures our identity. We, the Brits, and the Aussies have the tall poppy syndrome, where we cut down the person too big for his britches. We also worry about the arguments the previous generation got into based on ethnicity, region, and language. Riots in Fredericton and Montreal, "No Irish Need Apply" signs, and "No Jews Allowed" signs on Toronto beaches. It has just seemed to be safer to avoid elevating one group's mythical or real characters for fear of competition and escalation.
7. On that note, perhaps one shared myth is our tolerance — yes, so long as you were one of the accepted groups. Another might be our multiculturalism. It's nice to think we are multicultural — especially if being multicultural also means being sophisticated and worldly. But Sydney, Australia, and many other cities seem to be more diverse.
8. I do think that we are becoming more confident. This is being led by both industry and culture. Bombardier sends unilingual francophones to Wichita, Kansas, and within a year they are building and selling Learjets in the southern U.S. Hydro Quebec does deals with U.S. states in the language of business — English. Sixty per cent of the gas sold in Boston comes out of what is the largest oil refinery in Canada — the Irving refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. The world eats McCain food (regrettably after watching their horrible ads). Add the Jodreys, Conrad Black (before the fall), Thomsons, Jim Pattison, Hill, Fred and Ron Mannix, and on and on and on, and you must come to the conclusion that we have very successful people who are being successful all over the world. This success and confidence is rubbing off on all who work for or with them.
9. On the cultural front, I have seen Cirque du Soleil in Toronto, Las Vegas, New York, and Tokyo. Wow. This is a bunch of Canadians who are doing something very, very special, and so are our singers, dancers, writers, and other cultural industrialists.
10. Hooliganism in Vancouver (where I lived twice) is not confidence, pride, or identity. It is hooliganism. This probably deserves an entire other show, but my theory is mimesis — they are imitating behaviour they’ve seen at the Battle in Seattle, G20, and elsewhere.
11. Beaver vs. polar bear as a national symbol? This is off topic. Our animal, sacred to many First Nations, is the wolverine. Google the poem "Tears of the Wolverine." Pound-for-pound the wolverine can kick the bald eagle’s ass, the British bulldog’s ass and the Aussies’ kangaroo’s ass all at the same time.
12. John Ibbitson (who was a little off on the decline of the Laurentian consensus) may have a point about the confidence of young people. They’ve seen us weather wars and economic disaster very, very well.
13. Prime Minister Harper is also an interesting case in point. He is more Canadian in his shyness and aloofness than more visible high-need achievers such as Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau, Brian Mulroney, and John Turner. But I think he is doing an interesting and probably good job at national symbols — putting the “Royal” back in a few things, for example.
