How and why we differ from our closest neighbours
Since the American election, I’ve been thinking about the fundamental differences in the Canadian perception of patriotic identity and the American perception. I’ve been wondering about where precisely along our closely linked histories our identities so wildly differed from one another.
Before I get into the explanation, let me first openly acknowledge that the story I’m about to go into is a colonial story told on stolen land, and should be remembered as such.
I had a bit of a funny Canada-centric realization when I first started listening to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s astronomical hit musical Hamilton. It was strange to identify with the revolutionary cause, because as a Canadian, I have always been positioned on the British side. I’m about to delve into some shoddily-remembered North American history, so bear with me; I was only a history major for a year.
Before the revolutionary war, America was yet another British colony. When the majority of the colonies demanded independence and the British refused, the American colonies revolted. The Canadian connection is this: those in the American colonies who wished to maintain fealty to England—called Loyalists—sought passage through the colonies and into Canada. And here, at this critical moment, is where our identities differ.
As someone who went through the Canadian public school system, I had been taught to maintain sympathy for the Loyalists who fled to Canada. They understood the difficulties of sovereignty, especially in a “wild” land such as the north and had faith in the legislative and royal systems of power.
Decades later, the nation of “Canada” would literally be legislated into existence. To sum it up, we just kind of asked to be more or less an independent state and Britain was just kind of like, “Yeah, that’s okay.”
On the flip-side, American men and women died for their independence. They fought tooth and nail against British soldiers, and some of their greatest (and extremely problematic) heroes rose to the occasion. It’s the Great American Experiment for a reason; never before in the Western world had a people thrown a successful revolution to found their own nation.
Given the political turmoil that both of our countries have gone through over the past year or two, never have our differences appeared so stark. While we have turned towards our government to lead us, Americans (at least those who voted) have elected a soon-to-be president who has sworn to overturn governmental practices and “drain the swamp.”
I’ll make a point to say that while my experience, and thus my arguments, are singularly Canadian, I’m not trying to condemn Americans their identity. Theirs is an ideal born of war and independence.While I would never claim to live in the greatest country, they might, because Americans made their nation in their own image. That’s a heady concept to grapple with. Every decision made formed a unique precedent and their revolution predates and inspired the French revolution.
Our identities are so different because our conceptions are so different, but it doesn’t change the fact that now, more than ever, we must remember our intertwined histories.
Given the success of Hamilton, and the intertwining of politics and arts, artistic gestures will only become more important as they stand as our number one source of critical commentary. Artists continually have the unique capacity to transcend class, gender, race, and sexuality to disseminate important messages.
Photo courtesy of Travis Wise (CC BY 2.0).