by Sam Hersh
Almost 150 years ago, Canada became an independent nation as a result of a series of lengthy discussions and political conferences. Canada’s founding is, in this way, unlike many other former colonies. It did not come of revolution or sweeping outbursts of nationalism; rather a polite exchange between Canadian and British politicians allowed Canada to exist as a self-governing entity, while remaining in the bosom of the British Empire. Perhaps this is a reason for the oft waning sense of patriotism that Canadians are perceived to have.
Depending on where you go, complacency can seem to be the norm in Canada. There is a pervading inclination to perceive ourselves as a progressive paradise, full of polite do-gooders, where issues such as oppression and bigotry no longer exist. This is certainly the kind of utopian image the rhetoric surrounding Canada 150 perpetuates.
There is a danger in this whitewashed, nationalistic rhetoric; to embrace it is to erase and ignore all of the ugly, albeit infinitely important, parts of our collective past. Instead of ignoring the past, we should confront it head-on and recognize how and why the Canadian national project came to fruition.
As historian Ian Mackay wrote in his seminal work, “The Liberal Order Framework,” Canada is a project of liberal rule. Classical liberalism was (and to some extent still is) the driving force behind Confederation and beyond. The core ideals of classical liberalism — most notably individualism and private property — were central to everyday life and had, for a large part of Canadian history (before Marxist historians notably), engulfed the national narrative.
It was these liberal ideals that led the fathers of Confederation to be complicit in the cultural genocide and assimilation of Indigenous people across the country, something they would not fully recover from even generations later and which is still ongoing today.
Furthermore, these liberal ideals also led to harsh repression of labour and other collective social movements. These movements were construed as having no place in Canadian society. For William Lyon Mackenzie King, our longest serving Prime Minister, internal labour and class conflict was falsely perceived as a grave threat: “In many particulars, the horrors in international war pale before the possibilities of civil conflicts begotten class hatreds.”
This classical liberalism that shaped early Canada has in the last thirty years morphed into an uncompromising neoliberalism that has led us onto a path of self-destruction. Beginning in the 1980s, with radical shifts in monetary policy and the subsequent Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, our economy has become one that is disproportionately unequal when it comes to average income and heavily reliant on resource extraction, particularly petroleum extraction.
The downsides of this liberal and neoliberal trend are seldom discussed in popular discourse, especially not by our Prime Minister who fully embraces the “do-gooder” motif. He, too, lives by the almighty mantra that: So long as there is growth and as long as the market prosperously serves the economy, everything is okay. Indigenous people are still suffering under the thumb of a government that does not adequately respect their rights as a nation; climate change is still ravaging our planet and yet our Prime Minister proclaims us to be the the solution to America’s energy concerns; poverty and systemic racism is still a massive problem — just look at those gearing to vote for self-proclaimed “heroine of Canadian values,” Kellie Leitch.
This upcoming year is a big one for Canada but it does not have to be an excess of rampant nationalism. It also can serve as a learning point for many people. We must look forward to a more socially progressive future but to do this it is also necessary to look back to address where it all began.
This article first appeared in the Leveller Vol. 9, No. 6 (Spring 2017)
