Canadian Culture And Identity

Canada’s media industries have played a huge role in the Canadian culture. The Canadian culture has integrated with other countries forming a successful globalization. Many countries including the United States have contributed to the success in Canada’s media industries. The success of globalization between all of the countries was predicted by Marshall McLuhan and ever since his prediction, the world can be depicted as a global village. The global village can be viewed as a tool, a tool that is bringing the world together, despite the different languages, locations, and diverse cultures. With new technologies being developed more often, the communication skills between different countries are very successful. Canada’s diversity in their media and policies has established a global village with people around the world, allowing them to relate to the Canadian culture.

Canada’s identity comes in many shapes and forms. Multiculturalism has been adopted and is at the forefront of Canadian identity. Following the Second World War, Canada’s multiculturalism policies became more acceptable and even successful in, not only accepting, but inviting multiple ethnic cultures in. In contrast to other countries, multiculturalism adaptation works for the Canadian culture. Canadian policies on multiculturalism have shifted over the past few decades; policies are now implemented for integration, not discrimination.

Canadian identity and history is grounded in the culture and the traditions of the Aboriginal peoples. Popularly known as being the first inhabitants of Canada, Aboriginals strive to enrich the country’s cultural mosaic through their existence and thus are an integral part of this nation. Although Aboriginals are deemed as an important part of the Canadian social fabric today, history (past and present) documents a contrasting image to this ideology where it is coloured by the economic, social, and physical hardships of Aboriginal societies in Canada. Scarred by the social and racial injustices of the past, Aboriginal education is a major continuing issue with regards to minority education in Canada. According to J. P. White and Dan Beavon (2009), “Aboriginal educational attainment lags significantly behind the Canadian population” (p. 3). Between 1981 and

Jocelyn Letourneau’s is a history professor that wrote the essay “Reconstructing the Canadian Identity”. The author argues that if one compares the Harper government's idea of conservatism against Trudeau’s idea of multiculturalism, the reader can infer that multiculturalism is failing and Canada should go back to its monarch roots. By bringing back symbols of monarchy, a new Canadian perspective would form. Letourneau’s essay is structured in a very well and composed matter. His arguments and connections are structured in proper format where his whole essay can be linked and understood easily by the average individual. Although Letourneau’s essay is structured in a proper format, it is without its faults. The essay contains many fallacies that give his arguments a weak perspective on the topic. Also throughout his essay, the author appears to be taking a side within his argument. His bias viewpoint makes himself, and his work uncredible to the reader.

Nationalism is an important aspect of national pride and identity for countries around the world. For example, Canada takes pride in its cultural identity, one that is claimed to be different from other ‘Western’ more ‘industrialized’ nations, such as countries in Europe, and the United States. Even though Canada currently has a national identity that differs greatly from that of other more established countries, history has dictated the way in which a particular national identity exists today. In Canada, Samuel De Champlain and the French established colonies that created a cultural clash between the French Europeans, and First-Nations Canadians within the country. However, this notion of French Canadian Nationalism isn’t necessarily embraced by all of the Canadian Population. This paper seeks to analyze important pieces of Canadian History that have contributed to a broken concept of what constitutes Canadian nationalism, with an emphasis on how historic events prevent and affect coherent Canadian Nationalism in modern society. Through the analysis of the notions and histories associated with ‘First-Nations Nationalism’, ‘Quebecois Nationalism’, and a broader ‘Anti-American’ identity embraced by many Canadians, this paper seeks to locate common ground within the culturally diverse Canadian population in order to progress toward a singular coherent

Being Canadian is so much more than just the cliché stereotype of living in igloos, playing hockey 24/7, and drinking Tim Hortans coffee every day. Being a part of the Canadian culture means that all Canadians are unified as one big family. Culture is defined as “a set of human made objective and subjective elements that have increased the probability of survival, and resulted in satisfaction for the participants” (Samovar, 1991). Every culture has their own attitudes, customs and beliefs that differentiate one culture from another. Canadian culture can be very distinctive from other cultures. Usually the first impression of Canadians is that we are very polite and we live in an extremely friendly and accepting country. Being Canadian is about having big hearts and appreciating our diverse environment. Our country shares a wide variety of different ethnic backgrounds which makes being Canadian unique.

Culture can be defined as the behaviours and belief characteristics of a particular social, ethnic,

“Canada is the only country in the world that knows how to live without an identity”. This source claims that Canada doesn’t have an identity. The perspective in this source is anti-nationalism meaning that it doesn’t think Canada is a nation. A supporter of this source could be someone like John Breuilly because he believed that independence is what makes nations. An opponent of this source could be Benedict Anderson who believes that a nation is being connected to each other through imagined beliefs and values. I would agree with Benedict Anderson because the description he gave of nations fit into what Canada is. Although the identity of Canada is imagined, it does exist and for that reason, I disagree with the source. Canada is a civic nation and its Identity is made up of points such as reasonable accommodation/national myths, sovereignty/Quebec, and reconciliation/First Nations.

Most of the ethnic groups that have different value and belief systems in Canada are immigrants, and the process in which they become detach from their homeland and integrate into the Canadian society makes them feel different sense of their identity. In other words, the heterogeneous essence of the new society, and the inherent characteristic of the identity which is not constant and immutable, rather it is subject to dramatic variation across time and place make the ethnic identification even more important. This ethnic identification generates a sense of belonging in a diverse society. Moreover, the issues of power and identity in Canadian context show that how ethnic groups fit within the social stratification system. It seems that different

Art’s and Culture has and will continue to make a significant impact on Canadian identity. Media, Radio,Television,Film,Song,Book and Magazine industries have all helped to shape our society by using These industries show us who we really are as true canadians. (See For Yourself)(Blattberg)

Canada is considered to be a cultural mosaic, where all cultures are embraced opposed to a melting pot where it is expected to adopt one culture. Government regulated media is more favourable than policies based off of self-regulated solutions when addressing Canada’s media industries and cultural needs. Canadians place importance on national identity and without government regulated policies, the content in the media would have minimal Canadian information. According to the Aird Commission, when Canada’s media was operating through private enterprise, many stations expressed conflicting content, however, with state regulated media, broadcasting allows the nation to have a unified vocation. One unified message being sent to the nations citizens is more beneficial than multiple broadcasts on differentiated and insignificant information.

Canada is routinely defined as the exemplar multicultural society with the most diverse cities in the world such as Vancouver, Toronto and Quebec. The concepts of integrity and complexity are being shaped in Canadian society because of its co-existence of different cultures. Indeed, multiculturalism has been a keystone of Canadian policy for over 40 years with the aim of pursuing Canadian unity (Flegel 2002). Accordingly, Canada is generally estimated a country where people are all equal and where they can share fundamental values based upon freedom. Diversity is sustained and promoted by governmental policy, however, there are still racist interactions, which are destructive to minorities integration, especially recent ethnic groups’ arrival (Banting & Kymlicka 2010). This paper will examine challenges that multiculturalism has brought society and residents of Canada.

To what extent does the globalization of popular culture affect Canadian identity in positive ways? In today’s contemporary society, the globalization of popular culture can be seen around the globe. McDonalds, originating from the United States, is now a cultural icon, and K-pop, derived from Korea, is enjoyed by people from all over the world. As a result, a large number of people end up experiencing the same popular culture.

What is Canada? What is a Canadian? Canada, to employ Voltaire's analogy, is nothing but “a few acres of snow.”. Of course, the philosopher spoke of New France, when he made that analogy. More recently, a former Prime Minister, Joe Clark, said that the country was nothing but a “community of communities”. Both these images have helped us, in one way or another, try to interpret what could define this country. On the other hand, a Canadian could be a beer, a hockey-playing beaver or even a canoe floating in a summer day's sunset. A Canadian could also be a “sovereigntyphobe”, refusing to see the liquefaction, albeit political, of the second largest country in the world.

Have you ever glanced at a person who appears to be different and immediately averted your gaze to avoid eye contact? Of course you have, we are all guilty of this. Was this based on the person’s race? The way the dressed perhaps? Or maybe it was neither of these, but yet for some reason you felt as though you could not trust them. This concept of trust is the motivating factor for this paper. You will find that there are numerous ways that you interact in situations which require societal trust without even knowing. It begins at the very top, with our governments and policies, and then funnels through every network of the public sphere down to the diverse individuals whose identities are determined by differing levels of trust. Multiculturalism is found at the very centre of this. The appreciation of others and respect for other cultures is the premise of multiculturalism and is intended to prevent racial divides and conflict from arising. When executed correctly, it has the power and ability to allow for trust among one another, which is pivotal for a cohesive and ethnically diverse society.