Kurt Kleiner's
Organized common sense

Canada released its revised guide for new citizens last week. After reading newspaper reports I looked at it with some trepidation. It’s not quite as bad as I feared.

Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship is a booklet given out to people applying for citizenship. As much as anything, it’s intended to instill a sense of national identity in the roughly 240,000 new immigrants that Canada welcomes every year (a number that gives the country the highest immigration rate in the world).

That’s a tall order — especially since national identity is the great Canadian insecurity.

Molson had an ad few years ago in which a guy named Joe proclaimed his Canadianess. Although the “I Am Canadian” rant is intentionally overblown and self-mocking, the self-effacing Canadian public took to it as an ironic but genuine symbol of national pride.

The odd thing about the spot is that it spends a lot of time asserting what Canadians are not (“I’m not a lumberjack or a fur trader”), or directly opposes Canada against the US (“I have a Prime Minister, not a President,” “It’s pronounced ‘zed.’ Not ‘zee,’ ‘zed’!).

Without meaning to, the spot put a finger on the main difficulty of forging a positive Canadian identity — the proximity of the United States. When you’re right next door to the world’s largest economy and only remaining superpower, you’re bound to try to define yourself against it. But that’s not easy, since English-speaking Canada and the US share a common North American culture. The accent, the political and economic systems, and even the popular entertainment are similar.

One way of carving out an identity is to play up minor differences — making a big deal of saying “chesterfield” for “couch,” or “toque” for “hat”, for instance. But that’s not especially satisfying.

Another strategy is to stress British heritage. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, nominally ruled by the Queen of Canada (otherwise known as the Queen of England). Prince Charles is currently touring the country, and there’s a small but vocal group of self-identified monarchists who love the royals and defend the institution. Most Canadians, however, don’t seem to care. And if you’re already having an identity crisis, “former British colony” isn’t a lot of help.

So the writers of Discover Canada have their work cut out for them. What they’ve come up with is about as good as you would expect. The tone is self-congratulatory, but not belligerently so. The short history of Canada pays tribute to aboriginal people, recognizes the contributions of the French, but is especially heavy on the English heritage. There’s a run-down of how government works. To its credit, right up front is a strong statement that women and men are treated equally in Canada. Pride in cultural diversity is emphasized.

There are also pictures of the the great outdoors, kayaks, Mounties, the Canadarm, the maple leaf, hockey players — there’s even a short appreciation of the beaver, and what I can only take as a facetious reference to “this industrious rodent.”

The most disappointing aspect of the new guide is the heavy emphasis on Canadian military might and military history. There’s a lot about valorous service and national honor. There’s even what looks like a recruitment ad — military service “is a noble way to contribute to Canada and an excellent career choice.” The statement is followed immediately by the URL for the Canadian Forces website.

In the US this would be unremarkable. In Canada it’s part of a recent drift towards militarism and muscle-flexing. Some of that change might be inevitable for a country heavily involved in a foreign war. But part of it is the result of the ruling Conservative’s glorification of the military.

I think Canada still retains a sense of proportion about its military. Most of us see it as an unfortunate necessity, and respect the men and women who undertake a difficult duty. It will be a shame if Canada begins to see military might as a defining feature of itself.

Since I moved here 10 years ago, I’ve found Canada to be a refreshing alternative to the United States — a US with most of the crazy and stupid parts removed.

In fact, as a naturalized Canadian, I’d like to propose my own motto for the Canadian national identity: I’m not crazy, and I’m not stupid. I am Canadian.