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7/1/1989 - Shadows of Doubt by Stephen B. Maly

INSTITUTEOFCURRENTWORLDAFFAIRS SM I Shadows Doubt Knox Crescent Ottawa Ontario KIG July Mr Peter Bird Martin Institute Current World Affairs Wheelock House West Wheelock Street Hanover New Hampshire 03755 Dear Peter All I offer introductory communique pastiche first impressions about Canada My observations wholly fresh since I studying Canada years wholly original either I spent working hours first month clipping daily newspapers chatting federal bureaucrats monitoring radio television programs listening speeches watching people reading books No doubt opinions country articulate political journalists become conveniently mixed confusion about seems happening So melange informal activity inspired serious questioning number cliches about distingu ishes Canadians Americans Comparing neighboring peoples become cottage industry among academics recently although litany distinctions quickly grows tiresome repetitive unavoidable first topic discussion Along these lines I would direct attention special report July edition Maclean magazine entitled Portrait Two Nations The series articles cover familiar themes include surprising percent Quebeckers asked compared percent Canadians whole favored Canada becoming state Stephen Maly Institute Fellow studying ethnic cultural nations within Canada Since theInstituteofCurrentWorldAffairs theCrane Rogers Foundation hasprovidedlong termfellowships enable outstanding young adults outside United States write about international areas issues Endowed bythelateCharlesR Crane theInstituteisalsosupporte dbycontributionsfromlike mindedindividualsand foundations I beginning wienin9 cracks edifice established about Canadian identity another subject generated unending discourse literature politics culture I sinking feeling Canada I admired distance witness first might beyond century unanticipated perhaps premature skepticism tends undermine basic premise Canada conscious embrace bilingualism multiculturalism model other societies emulate Before venturing further these darkening waters however undramatic crossing world longest undefended international boundary Let U S Canada border nothing Iron Curtain guarded frontiers between China Soviet Union Driving through customs immigration station along parallel minor thrill minor inconvenience abiding citizens either country Canadian author Peter Newman nevertheless refers political demarcation topographical ethnic economic justification important about Canada It defines citizenship behave collectively think individually It difficult fathom surveyor political abstractions carry weight especially recalls fondness cynical truths Ambrose Bierce defined territorial boundaries imaginary lines between nations separating imaginary rights imaginary rights another No matter perhaps permanent significance border itself political drama Canada appears psychological It going inside Canadians heads matters especially everyday goings ordinary people material world throughout western industrialized world obviously North America What Canadians thinking learn global events confront contemplate nature welcome foreigners their midst Americans Eminent sociologists their answer questions Some studies Seymour Martin Lipset example straight heart Canadian values manifested social attitudes public institutions But documented patterns starting shift noticeably If indeed border United States symbolizes What Canada happen smaller country processes economic integration cooperation continental defense border increasingly irrelevant commercial strategic Even important I think question Canadians respond changing values United States Canadianization certain policies regarding health insurance control example regional interests particularly West Quebec support closer U S already exist I jumping ahead myself answers undigested feast clues Let describe instances indications Canada current state metamorphosis Somewhere north shore Lake Superior TransCanada highway stopped purported world famous amethyst where passersby small collect bucketfuls crushed bearing gemstone crystals This working according littez signs posted shrewdly every driveway there little evidence activity finally arrived A rusted truck labelled viewing eroded gorge about I00 across discernible mineral merit puddles muddy water abandoned drums It depressing place encroaching moisture laden clouds My geologist enthusiastic about broken entered casual conversation middle woman managed This storekeep clearly happy customer before usual enquiries regarding place origin purpose visit Perhaps forgetting moment tourist still border crossing Alice curious clerk honest somewhat detailed reply included mention nationalism Quebec separatism ethnic minorities This brief summary elicited Madame cashier torrent invective against bilingualisin metric system immigration icies things French Canadian She Quebec implied serious violent confrontations horizon She capped argument sequitur about sorry state Canada defenses lamenting country could taken without fight forgetting perhaps purposefully considering audience specify This turned isolated overt hostility towards Quebec English Canadians A surprising number Canadians speak openly about their frustrations Francophone province A recent Gallup underscores sentiment percent English Canadians believe Quebeckers separate Canada The referendum sovereignty association defeated percent majority province apparently convince other Canadians Quebec loyalty confederation Much current wrangling conce pending amendment Constitution called Meech Lake accord controversial language legislation developments explored subsequent reports In short unusual anglophone Canadians spout about French especially after beers I shove school thought articulated mixed English French company fitting society known civility historic division solitudes Still political science professor federalist Alberta predicts ultimate failure urbane francophone economist Montreal admits rising level anger toward English several veteran Canadian diplomats remark sadness people given united Canada start backyard blustering seriously Public concerns about immigrants growing proportion Canada called visible minorities The views bristly amethyst merchant northern Ontario somewhat extreme isolated A friend Canadian Consulate Minneapolis worried about large influx Hong Kong Chinese other Asian people going hometown Vancouver He cited inflationary impacts soaring property values social impacts growing cadre Asian immigrant children whose habits discipline school making difficult others score marks This could trouble ahead students become seekers highly competitive environment In Sault Ste Marie pancakes shared coffee railroad dining couple holiday their southern Ontario remarked Toronto other cities Canada seemed foreign passed Third World immigrants flooded The flood perception reality according statistical reports visible minorities comprise percent population course public perception counts Coincidentally cover story July I0 Maclean entitled An Angry Racial Backlash Canada Ethnic Mosaic Under Attack You about issue future newsletters None tension evident streets Ottawa where roughly percent residents French descent where bilingualism basic requirement promotion where multiculturalism especially during Canada Day festivities An outpouring visible audible homage multicultural ethic Canada national holiday weekend Since I served East Indian clerks Caribbean postal workers Portuguese barber Sikh security guard Most women children speak Spanish There Egyptians neighborhood A fellow party recently himself Spaniard recounted staff restaurant resembled United Nations India Ethiopia Vietnam Turkey Nicara Poland Iran Iraq others jokingly added Quebec represented kitchen Everyone seems along least setting Ottawa government Most approximately inhabitants federal agencies remainder province Ontario itself several universities service sector providing basic needs restaurants hotels mortgages recreation multi layered bureaucracy This concentration loyal servants state helps explain I believe difference between atmosphere federal capital troubled social environment elsewhere Ottawa centrepiece official Canada place where myths generated Cabinet ministers alive servants The multicultural harmony easily believable Ottawa The mosaic apparently smooth elsewhere country A recent indicates nearly quarter residents Toronto Canada largest claim victims racial ethnic discrimination And travel hundred kilometers capital going Pacific Ocean outside government university circles never about province people Quebec I I exaggerating about depth division between English French Canadians Afterall living together without violence nearly years But between official version Canadian state unofficial views country private citizens obvious The Governor General Canada Day address raised rhetorical question whether there country anywhere earth complain From vantage point Rideau Hall elegant residence Queen representative Canada French Canadian woman named Jean Sauve there cannot complain about Parliament session summer there usual thumping House Commons until September The Prime Minister Paris speaking Canada economic summit short while anyway range domestic critics Unemployment across Canada fallen lowest level percent nearly decade It looks President Bush serious about reducing ranking members Congress Streams tourists America Europe other parts world queuing Ottawa splendid attractions The weather perfect according clock newscast sleeping All peaceable kingdom It doesn spoil picture however Canadians surely among blessed peoples world richly endowed country fertile mixture human resources believers working nourish fortify democratic ideals through medium public sector But complaints ranging language immigration issues already mentioned planned imposition national sales dismantling Canada passenger service plethora minor political scandals Ontario other provinces undermining faith government A Maclean shows percent Canadians government hardly public interest Another percent never By comparison lesser proportion Americans percent respectively thing This remarkable given degree government intervention economy traditional respectability state institutions A myopic reading accounts might sombre speculation Canada slowly inexorably disassembling itself country On Canada Day about throngs people singing national anthem English French during official ceremony different crowd picketing front Legislative Assembly buildings Victoria British Columbia demonstrating support making English official language province During subsequent media carried stories about demise VIA continued Air Canada private investors budget Canadian Broadcasting Corporation signing mutual defense treaty native bands whose chiefs declared other avenues toward settlement claims other rights issues federal provincial governments exhausted The Council Canadians prominent outspoken group nationalists complaining loudly about recently forged trade greement between United States Canada Citing figures plant closures losses since entered effect January Council argues trade bring about Canada sovereign nation capable making economic decisions independently United States Privatization publicly owned enterprises shrinking commitments Canada poorer regions under pressure budget restraints inability settle fundamental disputes affecting country constitutional order mosaic peoples network interests Canada starting break apart national As newcomer Canada difficult distinguish routine complaints partisan politics controversies signify divisions I found however lends substance superficial apprehensions In The Patriot Game National Dreams Political Realities author Peter Brimelow former columnist Canada Financial Post newspaper forth these unflattering arguments about Canada I Canada merely geographical expression For historical reasons Canada acquired legal nation state nation Culturally geographically Anglophone Francophone communities growing separate There least conceivably seven incipient nations within Canada By important division between English French Canada there lesser distinctions within English Canada The divisions constitute political fault lines underlying Canadian polity Within Canadian framework Quebec emerging genuine nation state Quebec being treated separate entity But simultaneously Ottawa trying prolong Pierre Trudeau fantasy treat Anglophones Francophones blended bilingual whole All Anglophone Canada sentially greater English speaking North American nation Canada sectional variation within super nation American South Far West fundamentally shares culture Canada political system badly designed seriously misrepresents Canadian reality Brimelow several additional assertions proceeds develop wealth detail I copies The Patriot Game Canada since first published Key Porter Books Ltd Toronto I cannot imagine received least publicly denizens federal bureaucracy supporters Liberal party I Brimelow arguments truth though blemish vision Canada Trudeau vision brilliant prototype moulding tomorrow civiliation first attracted country This leads finally tervailing observation unaided scholars journalists definately keeping established myths about Canadians Myth Canadians patriotic Americans This patriotism measured outward signs devotion country Canadians going about wrapping themseIres Americans notwithstanding shreds while making point there beautiful maple symbol draped stretched etched emblazoned nearly everything sight It thing hoist flags national holidays flying above government buildings It another thing entirely maple beneath golden arches every McDonald country It mapleization commercial display aimed squarely world large confrontational expressing intense desire among Canadians never become American already There complaint common Canada generic about Americanization forms guises Because their regional ethnic linguistic divisions Canadians incapable authentic nationalism trouble asserting shared negatire added maple insignia suffices constitute visible patriotic spirit And spirit offers comfort Not being American example perhaps being nationalistic general means having endure taint imperialistic foreign policy Being Canadian positive terms collective sense means tolerant adept sharing great Americans That official Canadian governments perpetuate people Ottawa quite incerely Outside capital outside realm policy removed beneficence government grants government programs government funded employment North America these fundamental differences start sinking recesses psychology wherever truly private values reside Cheers Received Hanover