Canada still in search of its identity ?

[Melki]

Late last year, Justin Trudeau told the New York Times that Canada is becoming a "new kind of country", not defined by its history or European national origins, but by a “pan-cultural heritage”.

“There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,” added Trudeau, concluding that he sees Canada as “the first post-national state".

Unlike other Nations, Canada is not built on a founding myth (Ramayana and Mahabharata for India, the Aeneid, Romulus and Remus for the Roman Empire), a national hero (Cuchulainn in Ireland, Vercingetorix and Joan of Arc in France), a battle or a war (Battle of Kosovo for Serbia).
Even a young Nation like the United States has created its own founding myths, real or fictional (The Pilgrim Fathers, Johnny Appleseed, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan...) its own world-famous heroes (George Washington, the Founding Fathers, Abraham Lincoln, Sitting Bull), two wars (American Revolutionary War and the terrible Civil War: an open wound that left a visible scar: The Mason-Dixon Line).

But Canada is still in search of its own identity, especially the English-speaking part of the country (French Canadians are a more distinct and self-aware people). And by identity, I don't mean the usual Canadiana stuff: lumberjacks, maple syrup, ice hockey, mounties and moose. No, I mean: a true National epic, a hero whose fame has crossed the borders, or a bloody battle, some stories that shaped the Nation.
Unlike the U.S.A., Canada never completely broke the umbilical cord connecting the country to Britain.

Trudeau is not the only Canadian who came to that conclusion...

Marshall McLuhan, famous philosopher and intellectual, once wrote that "Canada is the only country in the world that knows how to live without an identity."

Canadian author and journalist Bruce Hutchinson focused public attention on that issue in his first book: The Unknown Country, published in 1942.

Nonetheless, according to Canadian historian Charlotte Gray "Canada's identity is an experiment in the process of being realized."

So, is there something that makes (English) Canada so special ? Is it a true Nation-state or can is it a blank slate that can be simply considered to be "the northern extension of the United States" ?

American journalist Richard Staines would have disagreed with the second option. In 1965, he wrote that "Canadians are generally indistinguishable from Americans and the surest way of telling the two apart is to make the observation to a Canadian".


So Canada: a work in progress ? Or not ? Canucks and non-Canucks, what do you personally think ?

[Dr. Robotnik the Subbotnik]

As it should be - Canadians have no identity.

Except for being braindead, spineless idiots (minus Dick)

they aren't far off from their French cousins in this regard.

[Shah-Jehan]

Well, if the US has an identity so, does Canada.

[Dr. Robotnik the Subbotnik]

Well, if the US has an identity so, does Canada.

The US has an identity but there isn't anything positive about it.

[Melki]

Well, if the US has an identity so, does Canada.

Trudeau and many Canadian intellectuals don't share your opinion. According to you, in what consists this identity ?

[Bezprym]

According to you, in what consists this identity ?

Rebellions.

[Shah-Jehan]

Trudeau and many Canadian intellectuals don't share your opinion. According to you, in what consists this identity ?

Well, it's a British commonwealth nation, where many of its mainstream cultures and trends are imported from the British Isles, and developed into native Canadian variant, in the case of English Canada. But, Canada is also a nation that allows immigrants to come from all over the world, and bring their unique cultures with them and integrate it into the mainstream to create a mosaic of culture, unlike in the US, where you're expected to follow a uniform "American culture". So, thus its an actual multicultural nation borne of its British commonwealth legacy.

[N1019]

Fuck me. Leftist cultural marxist relativist bullshit.

It's always good to be reminded that there are worse places than Australia on the scale of leftist degeneracy, but aside from our strict immigration/refugee policies, I don't think we're far behind.

Yes, the major British dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand) have some identity issues due to their colonial heritage and incremental journey to independence from the UK. Gradually, we were supposedly no longer British, but then people started to ask, what are we? That does not mean the supposed gap has to be filled with multicultural bullshit. It really isn't the big problem it's made out to be. We are still British, basically. In culture, in heritage, in law and government, and largely still genetically. That's the answer.

[Melki]

Rebellions.

Which rebellions ? I'm referring to English, not French Canada.

Well, it's a British commonwealth nation, where many of its mainstream cultures and trends.....
.....to create a mosaic of culture............So, thus its an actual multicultural nation borne of its British commonwealth legacy.

Yes, but I don't see why this nation is so unique. The same observation applies to many other member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.

[Shah-Jehan]

Yes, but I don't see why this nation is so unique. The same observation applies to many other member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.

It's also the location too, a country located far north in the Americas which defines a lot of the culture. Plus, also every province has its own distinct culture and they are like a confederation of former commonwealth states, like Newfoundland with its unique accent, and Irish influenced population and culture, Nova Scotia with the Scots/Acadians, Alberta with its interior prairie cowboy culture etc.