National identity depends on a shared set of values, often represented in our cultural products. These cultural products include the obvious: our songs, our statues, and our broadcast media – and the less obvious: the way we name roads, bridges, and neighborhoods. The great thing about Canadian national identity is that it’s (traditionally) based on the democratic tradition, where all citizens are equal under the law, regardless of background.
A Canadian’s ancestry can come from anywhere in the world, but his or her cultural heritage as a Canadian will always come from the British Crown and the French who joined Confederation.
There is a growing movement to strip away the liberal democratic – and necessarily colonial – aspect of our shared national identity. It’s called “decolonization.” It follows a simple formula.
First, proponents stigmatize the symbols of our common Canadian heritage, alienating the population from the many good things the country has accomplished.
Second, advocates rewrite and tear down the cultural products we use to remember our shared heritage.
Third, they often replace them with something Indigenous.
You saw this happen at the NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, anthem singer July Black changed the lyrics of “O Canada” from “Our home and native land” to “Our home on native land”. The change implies that Canada is somehow illegitimate…
It was a small change, but it was notable because it occurred at a high-profile event and because it quickly garnered a flood of media attention. The next day, it remained in the top five most popular stories in the National Post and on the CBC. Experts selected by the media applauded the change, including a music professor from the University of British Columbia and a research director from the Yellowhead Institute.
Because decolonization is so trendy right now, you can bet that a certain number of people will sing it and push for a formal change in the name of reconciliation. I don’t deny there is a shameful place in Canadian history where Indigenous children were taken from their families to force cultural conformity, but the solution is not to “overcorrect” by renaming cultural products and rewriting history. The solution is to ensure that Indigenous communities can be economically self-sufficient and cultivate even more culture to add to the Canadian identity, and we need to do it without destroying the heritage we already have.
The change to “O Canada” at the NBA All-Star game is the latest in a long line of decolonization events to hit Canadian culture.
Perhaps the most obvious act of decolonization is the outright destruction of art. A statue of Canada’s then-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, was toppled by activists in Winnipeg in July 2021. In the same protest, a statue of Queen Victoria was defaced, torn down, and decapitated. The latter would have cost $500,000 to repair, so the Manitoba government shrugged and decided not to replace it. Furthermore, no charges were laid, despite video evidence of the event and police presence.
Decolonization can also take place in municipal politics. Take Edmonton, for example. Before the fall of 2021, the city’s wards were numbered (there was a councilor for Ward 3, Ward 2, and so on). In September 2021, the race-neutral numbers were replaced with Indigenous words and group names. Now, Edmonton’s city wards include Ward Métis, Ward tastawiyiniwak (Cree for “LGBTQ2S+ community”), and Ward Ipiihkoohkanipiaohtsi (a Blackfoot term referring to bison hunting grounds).
One councilor put forward keeping the old numbers in parentheses at the end of the new ward names, but the motion was defeated. Now many Edmontonians live in wards they can’t yet pronounce – as if people weren’t alienated enough from city politics.
British Columbia has a similar disregard for readability and official language use. An elementary school named after Sir Matthew Begbie – where students are just beginning to learn English – was renamed “wək̓ʷan̓əs tə syaqʷəm”.
In April 2022, the Government of Prince Edward Island asked the federal government to change the name of the Confederation Bridge to the Epekwitk Crossing. “The Confederation Bridge got its name because it was built to fulfill the constitutional promise made by the Canadian government to build and maintain a link to P.E.I. when it became a province. The bridge itself is one of Canada’s greatest engineering feats – and a symbol of the Canadian Constitution. It literally connects an isolated province to the rest of Canada. Epekwitk is Mi’kmaq for “something that lies on the water. The change would pave over our constitutional history.
Other major infrastructure is also getting the decolonization treatment. The Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway will soon be given an Indigenous name, likely to be announced in June. Sign changes are planned for this fall.
Finally, you see decolonization worked into the polite society conventions of public institutions. Public officials often sign their email signatures with a land acknowledgement, giving oxygen to the idea that Canada is an illegitimate state. Public meetings and job descriptions also often begin with a country acknowledgement.
Canada’s strength has come from having a strong sense of nationality around our founding principles: liberal democracy and allegiance to the Crown. Anyone who buys into these positions, no matter how far removed from Britain, has a place in Canada. The decolonization movement asks us to reject this.
Decolonization seeks to prioritize ethnicity over national identity; in addition to building new indigenous cultural products (a good thing), it asks the nation to declare itself illegitimate by tearing down and relabeling old cultural products (a bad thing). O Canada was just the latest example, but there will be more