Quebec Follow Up Post: Canadian Cultural Questions

 Does Quebec have the only real sub-culture in Canada?

As a follow up to my Quebec post, I felt it was important to try and figure out what exactly is our Canadian Culture. What would the vast majority of Canadians say is our national identity or Culture since in my previous posting I tended to veer towards the idea that only Quebec had an actual real culture in Canada. Given the context of my Quebec post, what exactly should Canadians be fighting to protect as much as the people of Quebec are willing to fight for? Is there something that we can all point to and state emphatically "THAT is Canada....That right there!!!" It's an interesting question that is worth discussing.

By now, we have all seen the infamous beer commercials that feature Joe Canada emphatically stating, to a cheering crowd, “I AM CANADIAN!!!!!” A swell of nationalistic pride overtakes us each time we see it, as we pound our chests (metaphorically speaking of course) and agree with just about everything he says in that commercial. But the reality is that for the vast majority of us, we would seriously have to pause and consider, what exactly does it mean to be Canadian?  We can point to items which are distinctly Canadian and take pride in them like poutine, the RCMP, the moose and the beaver, as well as hockey, and our love/hate relationship with winter, Tim Horton's and a few other things that scream "Canadiana" but these are items, tangible things. In and of themselves these items do not truly fit the idea of what an actual culture would be, they don not define who we are as a people.   

Remember this guy? 

 

We have a secular based government in a Christian based society. Those are the facts. Our country was founded on the premise of responsible secular Government, with the Queen of England as the Monarch who gave us our freedoms. What we have been seeing lately is a rebuke of just about every single one of the institutions that were put into place in order to protect our citizens from things like corruption (unions losing their power), Government demands (collective bargaining rights being stripped away at the whim of an idiot running the Ontario Government) and greedy corporations who place the value of a dollar as their #1 goal. 

The problem isn't necessarily that things are changing. The world changes a little every single day. Many of the things that change over time are for the better like giving women the right to vote in Canada (1929), the elimination of segregationist policies in the United States (1960's), allowing women the right to choose (Roe vs Wade in the US in the 1970's and the subsequent codification of the same laws in Canada in the mid to late 1980's), the elimination of sexual harassment in the workplace in the 1990's. All of these changes took time to happen. All of them show that as time has gone on, our society has matured and evolved as the people have changed as well. It takes time to enact real change. As a society, Canada has shown the ability to accommodate to everyone else and their beliefs but what are the actual foundational beliefs of Canada as a whole? If they keep changing, then how do we know what the actual moral base of this country actually was to start?

Our institutions, our accomplishment, our traditions, our past, are all embedded deeply in our Christian heritage and indeed we are still a predominantly Christian based society. That is where Canada has always found it's moral compass: Judeo-Christian beliefs about the world. As all Christians were once immigrants, so too are the many new Canadians that make up today’s diverse demographics.  We now are comprised of every nationality and every culture on earth, as well as every religious affiliation and we are now faced with the challenges of such diversity.  In particular Christians (practicing or not) are feeling threatened, I dare say even persecuted to a certain degree, for hanging on to what some call "ancient" beliefs about the world and how Canada fits into it. 

While globalization may one day lead to a world culture, there still are and will be for many years, distinct national and international borders which help define where a person comes from, and, in essence, defines their cultural identity. These countries should be allowed to protect their culture without being deemed racist.  While discrimination and intolerance must be fought, countries should also be allowed to stand up and defend their cultures, institutions, and way of life instead of having to constantly fight to explain their rationale behind their policies.  

 The Underground Railroad was the first example of Canada being a moral leader in the

fight against an unjust system of slavery in the USA

While intolerance and discrimination has been on the steady decline for decades (and rightfully so) for our newest Canadians, what we are seeing in its' place is a slow rise in the intolerance shown towards the people who settled this country over a century ago.This new disenfranchised portion of Canada, this segment of Canadians that are the real fabric of this country (the 4th, 5th and 6th generation Canadian Christians), are being marginalized and pushed aside by people who are arriving here each and every day with their own beliefs (both religious and political). The Canada that they knew and helped establish is in jeopardy of completely disappearing. Are these people not the ones who should be protecting their culture at all costs, which in turn would help preserve one form of Canadian Culture?

 

The real question we should be asking is if it is an outdated notion to fight to protect the culture of a people in the era of globalization or is it more important then ever. We see the aboriginal people of this country, who were very nearly wiped out by the ways in which early pioneers settled here and displaced and/or killed, raped and murdered them to the brink of extinction, fight tooth and nail to get some of it back and protect what remains of their almost destroyed heritage and culture. These native tribes are applauded for their initiatives. The Federal Government (out of a rightful sense of guilt) even goes so far as to throw some money towards some of the more thorough programs created in order to attempt to help them achieve their goals. But while the media falls all over itself to promote Native issues and attempts of this nature, they chastise and criticize the same types of concepts espoused by the Province of Quebec.  

Historians always point to the fact that if we do not know our own history, we are doomed to make the same mistakes we did in the past, we are doomed to repeat them. Canada has been evolving culturally since its inception and, given how much more diverse we have become over the last 40 years, some would say we we have evolved too quickly and have lost sight of what it means to be Canadian. It’s a conversation that is extremely sensitive and difficult to have in a politically correct and yet very intolerant world but Canadians need to question what it is exactly we consider to be our own culture.

As a nation that is comprised of immigrants, stretching well across thousands of kilometers, we are as diverse a people to the core as there is. From the people of Newfoudnland, to Alberta's Cowboys, from East Coasters to Saskatchewan's farm boys, from the Quebecois to the mosaic of cultures that there are in South Western Ontario, there are people of every type that comprise what it is to be Canadian. All of these different regions have their own distinct traits and, some would argue, their own historical an culture basis. But that in and of itself is not a national identity or culture that all of Canada can get behind and point to as being the culture of Canada. They are sub-cultures that define the regions from which those people come from. 

 The RCMP are a part of our history and a Cultural Icon in Canada

Here is my opinion. If we say that Canadian culture is really based upon the Christian values of its' forefathers, that it is an all-welcoming and inclusive culture based upon the traditions, customs and institutions created over the first few decades of its existence, then what does it say that there are now many among us who are fighting to bring down those same institutions or change them so dramatically that we would not be able to recognize them? Why is it that only the people of Quebec seem willing to fight to protect their culture? 

We are a country founded by immigrants who fled Europe due to religious and political persecution. We continue to attract people to immigrate to our country for the exact same reasons. It is a symbol of national pride in that we are seen by people all over the world as an inviting and welcoming country where anyone can come and be free that (in part) defines us. It is pride in our institutions and the unity of our people and lands that defines us.  Who we are today is because of who we once were.

Canada is made up of a nation of people that are open and fair, honest, hard working and welcoming of any and all people from all over the world. In order for us to continue to attract immigrants to this nation, and to ensure Canada remains the magnificent place it is, we have to keep those positive traits at the forefront of what it means to be Canadian. It is difficult sometimes to retain certain specific traits that make a culture so valued and vital to the national identity . 

 This one picture best exemplifies the diverse cultures that make up Canada

What makes Canadian culture so magnificent and draws so many to this land is all of those traits I mentioned above (The ability to be open and fair, the ability to be welcoming and accepting of others, our shared commitment to hard work and honesty in all areas). If we are to move forward as a unified and distinct nation then those are the traits that will keep this country at the front of the line when people want to emigrate for a chance at a better life. Those are the traits that make Canada one of the most desirable places to live in the world. Those are the traits that are a part of our shared cultural fabric, our national identity. And those are the traits that will continue to make us distinctively different from our neighbours to the south.