The “Unhyphenated-Canadian” — An old idea whose time might have come
At the centennial celebration of the Canadian federation, the then Canadian Prime Minister, the Hon. Diefenbaker, advanced the idea of the Unhyphenated-Canadian. The late Diefenbaker was proud of the fact that he was the first Canadian prime minister whose lineage is not altogether English or French. Diefenbaker’s idea was greeted with rejection and skepticism in Quebec. Since Diefenbaker, Canada has evolved to become a more inclusive and multicultural society and exemplifies a modern and dynamic society for the 21st century. The patriation of the Constitution with the enactment of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, as well as the Bilingualism and Multiculturalism Acts are some of the major legislations that provided the framework for this profound change. Consequently, the face of Canadian society has transformed greatly since then. Demographically, Canadians belong to 200 ethnic groups, of which at least 13 groups have populations exceeding 1 million people. These changes, however, have led to critical and sometimes vigorous examination about immigration, culture, identity and belonging within the public discourse. At times, it signaled the unease about the massive change in the country’s face and presumed identity. Amidst all this, the country carried on, and the premise of multiculturalism was firmly being established as the next norm in the pursuit to build a unique Canadian identity. This occurred during a time when the world remains uneasy about the impact of globalization on the old established norms.
Today, we are at the epiphany of transitioning to the post-multicultural society, or what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the “first Post-National state”. A state in which the core identity is a continuum where the old is continuously adopting and adapting by infusing the new cultural pulses within the overarching Canadian culture. Arguably; the success of this Canadian experiment is possible because of a unique conception of Canadian nationalism that is not connected to blood and soil nor inspired by nativist ethos and myths. Neither it is confined to demarcated borders and imagined walls. It is more of an ideal than a thing. Further, the Canadian essayist and philosopher John Ralston Saul grounded this openness in Canadian nationalism in the Indigenous concept of welcome: “Space for multiple identities and multiple loyalties.”
There were two notable exceptions where resistance to this new norm is still strong. This first is Quebec where multiculturalism never found a fertile land or receptive hearts. This is in part due to the fact that unlike Canadian nationalism, Quebec nationalism is of the ethnocentric variety, both in character and form. Recently, this found expression in othering the immigrants through a divisive “Reasonable Accommodation” debate which culminated by the passing of Bill-21, under the premise of religious neutrality of the state. This law is under legal challenge for being discriminatory and particularly targeting Muslim women.
The second exception is a right-wing constituency of about 16% of the population, or what Bruce Anderson and David Coletto from Abacus termed the “ultra-nationalist” segment in their study. This group is not necessarily driven by racist impulses, but rather uneasy about the pace of change in the world around them and are apprehensive about their future. Unfortunately, this anxiety is being exploited for political expediency. A gross example of this is the Harper government use of Islamophobic impulses to deepen a tribal solidarity based on a divisive and exclusivist nationalistic discourse. It is used as a tool to consolidate and expand their core political base. This is done through promoting militarism, attacking Muslim women rights, and demonizing and disenfranchising the Muslim community through the infamous “barbaric cultural practices” snitch line, revocable citizenship, and Citizenship swearing-ins.
Despite all of this, the Canadian experiment did endure the test of time and the political challenges along the way. With every passing Canada Day, this unique experiment is evolving and will be in need of continuous work to ensure progress is maintained and social cohesion is kept intact. Equally important, the collective Canadian social contract will be continuously renegotiated.
What John Ralston Saul termed the “perpetually incomplete” Canada experiment will be complete when the hyphen disappears and all the parts have equal claim to the whole. This might be a natural outcome for a population the majority of which is projected to be hyphenated by 2021. To reach that, more work will be needed to transform the economic, political, social, and cultural structures so that to flatten the unequal distribution of privileges, resources and power among Canadians.
Happy Canada Day…
