Day 3 - There's no other country like Canada, is there?

The main topic of Grade 11 Social Studies in Alberta is Nationalism, more precisely, to what extent should we embrace nationalism. In the course of this discussion a very adept student, piped up with the title of this post (There's no other country like Canada, is there?) Further exploration of the question revealed that in his opinion, no other country promoted the individual national and cultural identities of all its citizens to the same extent as Canada. This is not to say that other nation-states aren't multi-cultural, but perhaps they do not allow for the same amount of pluralism as seen in Canada, especially its' urban centers. This got me thinking of some other ways that Canada is unlike other nation-states and nations.

1. Canada has no revolution in its' founding story - Unlike most modern nation-states that have been formed out of unrest, war, and violence, Canada was created by an act of the British Parliament. Even those who opposed confederation rarely did so through force of arms, but through the press or other democratic entities. From it's very origin, Canada has been based on the "Rule of Law", rather than the lawlessness of revolution and war.

2. Canada does not have an agreed upon history - Mainly due to the existence of 10+ education systems in a country of 33 million, Canada has not developed an agreed upon view of major historical events. Rather, provincial perspectives have been allowed to dominate. This has created a disjointed view of Canadian history where like people can have fundamental differences of opinion on these historical events.

3. Canada is an amalgam of cultures and religions - Few nations are able to balance the competing needs of multiple cultures and religions as effectively as Canada. Despite the tensions that exist globally between religions, incidences of carry over into Canadian society are exceedingly rare. At least up to this point.

Each of these differences create a situation where Canada does not have the same natural supports for its' nation as do other nation-states. There is no agreed upon Canadian ethnicity, language, religion, or even culture. As such, the polticial and legal basis of the Canadian nation becomes it's most important pillar and requires that Canadians, regardless of their language, culture, religion, or ethnicity participate in the process to ensure that this pluralism and open society are promoted and encourage.

Tomorrow - The Weekend