After Years of Self-Inflicted Erasure of the Canadian Identity, ‘51st State’ Push Serves as a Wake-Up Call

Commentary

Whether President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign for Canada to join the United States is a negotiation strategy, a passing fancy, or reflects a genuine belief, it has provoked a defiant and fiery “Never!” from Canadian politicians and public figures across the spectrum.

But the backlash against the idea of becoming the 51st U.S. state exposes a deep contradiction in a country where in recent years there’s been a systematic effort to erase the Canadian identity and founding history.

This eruption of patriotic fervour is taking place in a country which has been the subject of a statue-toppling campaign directed against its historical figures—more than a dozen from 2020 to 2022 alone. The targets have ranged from Queen Victoria to Egerton Ryerson, a pioneer of public education in Ontario, whose statue at what was formerly Ryerson University (renamed Toronto Metropolitan) was torn down and beheaded by a mob of demonstrators in 2021.

The most common target has been Canada’s first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, whose statues have been removed by city councils or pulled down by protesters as police stood by n in Hamilton, Kingston, Picton, Baden, Victoria, Charlottetown, Regina, and Montreal.

Vigorous discussion of all aspects of national history—including Macdonald’s role in the residential school system—is part of a healthy democracy. However, this all-out campaign to erase a founder’s memory strikes deep at uprooting a nation’s being.

Sir John A. Macdonald was a staunch British loyalist and a fervent Canadian nationalist who was a key figure in uniting the British North American colonies in Confederation and tying our sprawling Dominion together with the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway. It is often remarked that, without Macdonald’s effort, it is unlikely that Canada would exist at all.

In 1891, Canada-U.S. free trade was on the ballot. Macdonald, suspecting that economic union would lead to political union, launched a fierce campaign and defeated the free trade-supporting Liberals. Many of today’s statue-topplers would be cheering if Macdonald’s remarks on what he saw as the threat of absorbing Canada into America were uttered in modern times: “With my utmost effort, with my latest breath, will I oppose the ‘veiled treason’ which attempts by sordid means and mercenary proffers to lure our people from their allegiance.”

Thus, a nation that has watched the cancellation of many of its historical heroes finds itself ironically consumed once more by the same deep patriotism that animated and inspired these heroes. More interesting still, many perhaps are waking up to the reality that slogans such as “inclusivity”—which in fact were used to exclude people and historical aspects found undesired to the anti-traditional thinking—were what got us into this present situation where people are questioning what the Canadian identity is.

Inclusivity—the desire to strip away anything that might potentially offend the sensitivities of a few—is reflected in such absurd instances as a B.C. government writing guide which cautions against using the term “British Columbians” because it may exclude indigenous people who do not identify as British Columbian, along with newcomers and refugees.

We can also see this in the federal government’s unveiling of a new passport design in 2023 that emphasized “Canada’s diverse landscapes and people” and removed historical images of the Fathers of Confederation, Vimy Ridge, and Terry Fox. Similarly, internal documents have revealed that the Canadian Navy is discussing replacing the Heart of Oak, their historic marching anthem, with something “more inclusive.”

Controversies over old navy marching songs and symbolism in passports are debates over a more fundamental question: Do we value and wish to preserve certain particular attributes of our specific country that differentiate us from other countries?

The commitment to inclusivity has been put to the test by the 51st state proposal. If our national identity is truly inclusive to the whole world, would it not logically follow that our identity could be extended to encompass a political union with our neighbour, the United States?

For the vast majority of the country, this is a bridge too far. The past few weeks of backlash have revealed that Canadians remain convinced that we have a distinctive identity worth preserving, and that we are more than just an inclusive blank canvas—we are a nation, a people with our own history, culture, and virtues.

Recognizing that we do indeed have a unique national identity to fight for should spur Canadians to remember our forefathers who endowed us with many of the institutions, values, and heritage that make up this identity.

The sentiment Canadians feel towards their country is subtler, more understated than in most places in the world. But it took an external provocation for many to realize how deep their love of Canada really is, and what they have allowed to transpire in the erasing of the country’s roots by being complacent, or worse yet, complicit.

If that nationalist feeling leads to more reverence for the traditions, symbols, and historical heroes that make us who we are, all the better.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

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