Saskatchewan’s Multicultural Week is upon us until Nov. 26 and it doesn’t seem like anyone should have a single concern about it. Why would they? Who would complain about Canada’s great diversity? The backbone that is the very fibre of our country? No one. But peel back the layers, and you start to see where the cookie crumbles.
I’m not sure about anyone else, but when I was growing up, Canada was lauded as a cultural mosaic while the United States was discreetly mocked as a “melting pot.” The term refers to a country in which cultures become homogenous and assimilate together into one culture. The “mosaic,” however, refers to a nation in which cultures can mix, yet still remain distinct. With our strong multicultural and First Nations diversity, Canadians can obviously see where we turn up our noses at American assimilation.
But what if we’re wrong? When we look a little closer at the melting pot versus the mosaic metaphors, the lines between national identity and cultural diversity begin to blur.
During the First World War, Canada began its struggle towards identifying as a nation independent of Britain. In between those first steps up until now, we’ve managed to establish ourselves as a nation that accepts and tolerates all cultures without trying to assimilate people. This can be seen in the constant challenging and modifying of our laws to illustrate inclusion and acceptance. Yet despite these noble efforts, our efforts at tolerance have created a double-edged sword.
By focusing so much on the individual and his or her cultural rights, Canada seems to have forgotten that it also needs to establish a national identity. Without that, we can see rising struggles and tensions between various cultures and religions. Take for example the recent arguments for and against Christmas terminology. Certain individuals have argued for – and won – that “Merry Christmas” should be changed to “Season’s Greetings.” In response, many have risen in outrage, saying that Canada was founded on Christianity (debatable in and of itself) and that if immigrants were going to live here, they’d have to tolerate our religion just as we tolerate theirs. Those aren’t my words; those are the words of countless chain emails I’ve gotten over the years to that effect.
This example brings us back to my original point: national identity. On the one hand, cultural equality means that Christianity shouldn’t be given a position of exclusivity. On the other hand, no Canadians would move to another country and demand that their government not be allowed to publicly state its traditional holiday greeting because that’s a part of their culture. Their culture encompasses their national identity. So what’s ours?
Are we a god-fearing nation or are we “heathens”? Are we just one great big mix of immigrants living on the same plot of land? We can’t simply identify as multicultural because that basically leaves us as cultural nomads, laying claim to whatever culture our ancestors descended from. It’s not enough to just say that we’re a country built on immigrants. That may be true, but we now have to figure out what the essence of our country is, what it is that inspires patriotism. If we can clearly figure out what our national identity is, we’ll be able to smooth the friction that results from the culture clashes.
So far, a Google search and preliminary research can only tell us where we come from and what we’re made of historically, but it can’t tell us who we are now or who to become. In 2007, a journalist by the name of Andrew Cohen wrote: “The Canadian Identity, as it has come to be known, is as elusive as the Sasquatch and Ogopogo. It has animated—and frustrated—generations of statesmen, historians, writers, artists, philosophers, and the National Film Board ... Canada resists easy definition.”
Until we figure it out, events such as Multicultural Week mean we’re just celebrating parts of a whole.
MJ
