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Original article: https://theconversation.com/how-donald-trumps-attacks-on-canada-are-stoking-a-new-canadian-nationalism-247958
Is the threatened trade war between Canada and the United States igniting a new form of Canadian nationalism? Polls suggest Canadians are overwhelmingly opposed to any notion of becoming the 51st American state as the U.S. anthem is being roundly booed at sporting events in Canada.
If a new Canadian nationalism is emerging, what will it look like in a country that declared itself in 2015 the first post-national state, stoking envy around the world over Canada’s inclusive nationalism?
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to launch 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian exports in a month’s time after weeks of persistently provoking both Canadian leaders and citizens with his repeated calls to make Canada the 51st state.
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Such calls have led to significant outrage, prompting Canadian leaders that include Justin Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland and Doug Ford to respond that Canada is not for sale and that Canada is a country by choice.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Opposed to joining the U.S.
If there was any suggestion that being a “post-national” state would lead to an openness to join the U.S., recent polls show the opposite: 90 per cent of Canadians reject that scenario.
Two thirds of Canadians polled in 2021 felt that Canada is faring better than the U.S. on most counts, including quality of life, protection of rights, standards of living and opportunities to get ahead.
This percentage had significantly grown compared to the 1980s or 1990s.
So how does a feeling of being an inclusive, post-national state reconcile with a firm sentiment of patriotism that is growing stronger by the day? And what are the contradictory currents in Canadian identity today?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Contemporary Canadian identity
I have been studying nationalism for 30 years, with a special focus on how immigration, migration and national identity interact. My work suggests there are a few elements that buttress and support Canada’s identity today.
National identity is not a closed container of cultural elements. It develops interactively. As we’re seeing today, amid uncertainty, geopolitical competition as well as close socio-economic interdependence, national identity can emerge with a renewed force.
Diversity can lead either to a plural national identity that is open to change or a neo-tribal identity that is reactionary. Plural nationalism acknowledges the changing demographic or political circumstances of the nation, and through a process of tension, conflict and change, it creates something new.
This nationalism is plural not because it acknowledges diversity as a fact, but because it makes a commitment to engage with diversity.
But dealing with new challenges and increasing diversity may also lead to rejecting “the other.” I use the term tribal to emphasize that this type of nationalism, regardless of whether the in-group is defined in territorial-civic or blood-and-belonging terms, is predicated on an organic, homogenous conception of the nation.
In this situation, the nation is represented as a compact unit that does not allow for variation or change. The only way to deal with challenges of mobility and diversity is to close rank, resist and reject it.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
Neo-tribal nationalism is not static. It is dynamic and interactive too — although its reaction to new challenges and to diversity, from within or from outside, involves closure and rejection.
It is neo-tribal because it develops and thrives in a world that is ever more interconnected. Social media platforms play an important role here as their algorithms create neo-tribal digital ecochambers where everyone is closed within their digital bubble of like-minded people.
COVID-19 experiences
Challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, Canada faced important dilemmas. For instance, should temporary residents be encouraged to return home or or stay when the pandemic broke out and borders closed around the world? Canada opted for the latter.
Unlike Australia — where temporary workers and international students were encouraged to go home — the Canadian government stated that temporary migrants whose “effective residence” was in the country would be supported to stay.
The term “effective residence” defined membership on the basis of habitual residence; where people lived, worked, sent their kids to school and paid taxes. Living together formed a sense of common fate, reinforcing an expansive and inclusive view of who is a Canadian.
In addition, recognizing the essential work performed by many temporary residents, such as asylum-seekers employed in senior care homes, Canada introduced special measures to facilitate their transition to permanent status.
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THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
In August 2020, Marco Mendicino, Canada’s immigration minister at the time, announced a special path to permanent residency (now known as the Guardian Angels program), noting that “they demonstrated a uniquely Canadian quality …in that they were looking out for others, and so that is why today is so special.”
Mendicino emphasized that the behaviour of these workers qualified them as Canadians; their important contribution in “caring for the other” was defined as a very special element in the national identity.
National unity bolstered by diversity
The Canadian patriotism that is emerging today in the face of Trump’s actions — and in the words of almost all Liberal, Conservative and NDP leaders — builds on solid ground.
Canadian nationalism has not just been about being polite, but rather builds on decades of positive confrontation with challenges.
A July 2024 Environics poll suggested Canadians do not feel they need to choose among their multiple identities or to exclude others in order to revitalize their sense of identity and belonging.
National unity is strengthened by internal diversity. The looming trade war and threats of annexation by Trump may be having a beneficial impact in reminding Canadians of the values that unite them and that Canada is indeed “a country by choice.”