what it means

i have sort of procrastinated on the question of what it means to be a canadian, because it is not an easy one to answer.

the first answer that jumps gratefully to my mind is freedom. we have immense freedom enjoyed by few countries. many countries have sophisticated cities where tolerance is enjoyed, but in canada, even in small towns, you are likely to find that tolerance.

a canadian often describes themself by what they are NOT. and often, they are comparing themselves to americans. or european french. in our defense, it is usually because the person we are enlightening has asked us if we are american.

psychologically, how does it affect someone to describe themselves defensively? reactively? does that instill pride? or to say, no that's another province....

what does it mean to be a canadian? to have the opportunity to read the books you want, live the life you want, speak the language you want, and be encouraged to do so. there is freedom in canada. and yes, your tax dollars will go towards paying for programs you think are ridiculous, and you will wonder why your tax dollars are going towards something you will never use...but someone will, and that's all part of canada. having your rights and beliefs respected and promoted.

what it means to be canadian is that chinese, even the younger generation of chinese will leap up and say "norman bethune"! a huge canadian hero, a martyr for china. the chinese love norman bethune.

it is no mistake that many backpackers sew the canadian flag on to their backpacks. they are proud to be canadian, but why? what have we done? what haven't we done? i have some thoughts, but i want to hear yours.

tourists that feel they are seeing canada after a 5 day 4 night trip are akin to tourists who think they have seen all the carribbean islands because their cruise ship docked for five hours at each location. the stunningly awesome niagara falls, quaint victoria (it's staid demeanor even more entertaining when you consider the whole drug culture of vancouver island), vancouver's, coastal living lifestyle, the lush okanagan valley, the stupendous rocky mountains, the rippling wheatfields of the prairies, the surprising beauty of saskatoon, the chilling rock of hudson's bay, the canadian shield of the northwest territories that slides into tundra, the newfoundland coastline, pei...anne of green gables, ottawa, the nation's capital, skating along the rideau canal and then just a quick drive over to the hills and you're into quebec. charming montreal, quebec city, the cafe cultures.

not so surprisingly, many canadians don't get a chance to see the incredible panorama their own country offers. gas is expensive and getting across the country is challenging. many people own summer homes and spend their summers on the lakes and parts of seas that have been home to their earliest and best memories. and airfare is prohibitive. while you can get great flights across the united states, canada doesn't offer those, particularly geared towards families. so many canadians haven't visited outside their province.

many national magazines and newspapers don't really cover "the nation". they have to respond to demographics, so they end up focusing their energies on mainly ontario, then british columbia, then a calgary story, then somewhere else. they don't strive to make a "national" magazine at all. it's hard to feel included when your country isn't included. the big guns have a way of making the smaller ones feel that they do not count, or they are not worth counting, because they have the smaller voices. is that because advertisers have control over what sort of articles are published, or because in order to sell, powers that be want to stick with their current demographics?

canada has had some great heroes - sebastian has these cool books on canadian heroes that i love reading and i tell him about my hero, terry fox. and canada stood up to george bush and told him that the war didn't make sense and they wouldn't get involved. OH CANADA! on that day being canadian meant being proud.

there are a sector of canadians who would say that because canada is increasingly becoming a home to immigrants, that there is no national identity. 52 per cent of the population is apparently esl. caucausian is no longer the dominant "race". but that is a huge indicator of who canada is. what it means to be canadian. it means you can be who you are.

one of the things i love best about canada, although it is frustrating, is that they try to put people first. and their sensitivities. and their rights. makes for a loopy, ultra politically correct path, (can you say seven official languages in the north west territories? translating fees are v/ cheap)..but the idealism is good.

there are laws, but not many. for better or worse, canada does not have a pledge of allegiance. we have the national anthem, our one song of unity. we don't have united weather, culture, religion. we are united in our right to be unique.

is national unity a priority for canadians? for citizens of any country? what about national pride?

these are very rough thoughts. thanks to the people who wrote in, i didn't know that about the globe. doesn't surprise me about chatelaine!

Comments

[Polly]

on Sept 11, 2001 I was in my first month of law school and had a brilliant canadian contracts professor. on that awful day we still went on with classes, but we didn't discuss the law, we discussed the day. i remember that my professor said it had been interesting for him to watch the reactions of the american students as well as things on TV because he said that we seem to have a national pride/patriotism that he doesn't feel towards his own country. I was surprised by that, thinking that everyone felt about their country the way that we do.
but perhaps he was generalizing for all canadians, and not everyone felt or feels that way. he was just one man.

I really enjoyed this post because I love seeing a country from its citizen's eyes--instead of neighbors' eyes.

national pride is very important here in the us, patriotism is a big deal and to be called unpatriotic is an insult. but people define that different. I will admit that I love my country, my homeland, very much. not so much national pride as it is a love of my terra mater. but as an american I have extremely mixed emotions because of the actions our government has taken in foreign countries. it is a very weird thing to be so glad to be an american, to love the US, but to not want to say that because I don't want it to be confused with agreeing with our foreign policy. i'm terrified of our country's perception in the world. so while national pride or patriotism is an emotion I cannot deny it is a double-edged sword that is coupled with both fear of saying i'm american when i'm in another country and a desire to separate myself from whatever the american 'stereotype' might be (as brought on by the government? or by citizens who travel and never try to delve into a culture? both?!)

I envy canadians the tolerance/sensitivity. i would love to live in a place that i felt respected people's sensitivities etc. interesting post, thank you for it!

[Elaine]

As I read your post, I started feeling lucky about some of the vacations my family took. We drove and camped, not only across the U.S. -- our farthest west was Montana, quite a distance from our home in New Jersey -- but also across Canada. Almost literally: on our trip to Montana, we also went to Banff and Jasper, then DROVE non-stop for several days across all the prairie provinces. On other trips, we visited the Maritime provinces and Quebec.

Just the way I got an indelible sense of much of the United States, I also got this for Canada, and feel lucky. Actually, I was such a Canada fan that in high school, I thought it was a much better country than the U.S. (precocious little cynic that I was) and considered both a Canadian university and immigrating.

As it turned out, I was talked out of McGill and ended up living in Japan! But Canada still has a special place in my heart even today.