Does anyone still care about what it means to be Canadian? The matter of national identity has preoccupied us since before Confederation, but, to judge by the recent national conversation, we are increasingly at ease with our collective ambiguity. That’s because more than ever we inhabit a postmodern state in which the prevailing identity is a sort of non-identity, one that is capacious and democratic in the most inclusive sense.
Our 154-year-old country has a past scarred by collective shame, which we endeavour to recognize and redress, and a future characterized by the pluralism and diversity that sprang from earlier compromises. Our once mighty national identities survive mainly as the set of ideas and institutions that got things started, along with some vestigial eccentricities like Victoria Day and the governor general. And few are left to mourn this cultural shift.
Our neutral notion of belonging doesn’t arouse the same passions and hatreds as...
Jonathan Yazer holds a master’s in global governance from the University of Waterloo.
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