I'm new to this forum.
I wanted to know what individual Canadians here believe Canadian identity is truly about, as opposed to the common mainstream narratives that we're usually exposed to.
I was born and raised in Canada, but I lived in one of the major cities, and watched as my hometown turned into an enclave. I've been going all over the internet, seeing current trends in Eurocentric countries, and I recently bought a book called "Canada In Decay", written by Ricardo Duchesne via Amazon (I haven't yet read it, though).
In the mean time, I've been watching documentaries and renting library books, trying to familiarize myself with Canadian history. My hope is to find out what core Canadian identity is, what the original, homegrown culture is (I was raised to believe that Canada had no culture, and that's why we needed "Diversity"). For example, Canadian traditional clothes, food/dishes, social norms, dance, festivals, religion/spirituality, political consciousness, etc.
So far, I haven't completed much reading, but I have learned that Canada was originally meant to be a farming country (which may explain why so many Canadian of older generations that I meet love country music). I've also learned - for instance - in Newfoundland, some local dialects are of Irish origin, their "mummering" tradition is based on a form of traditional street performance from the British Isles (originally Rome, according to some sources). I'm also reading on the Acadians/Cajuns of New Brunswick, and I'm currently learning French, so hopefully Quebec doesn't secede from the country.
Anyways, I don't live in the aforementioned provinces. However, I did take a political test yesterday, in order to find out what my political persuasion is. The website was called "I Side With", and my results for Canada were Right Wing Libertarian, and the site said I would be better off in Saskatchewan. Oh well...
Having said all that, what does being Canadian mean to you. It's amazing how living in a highly "multicultural" region made me so unaware of my own country's culture and history...
I wanted to know what individual Canadians here believe Canadian identity is truly about, as opposed to the common mainstream narratives that we're usually exposed to.
I was born and raised in Canada, but I lived in one of the major cities, and watched as my hometown turned into an enclave. I've been going all over the internet, seeing current trends in Eurocentric countries, and I recently bought a book called "Canada In Decay", written by Ricardo Duchesne via Amazon (I haven't yet read it, though).
In the mean time, I've been watching documentaries and renting library books, trying to familiarize myself with Canadian history. My hope is to find out what core Canadian identity is, what the original, homegrown culture is (I was raised to believe that Canada had no culture, and that's why we needed "Diversity"). For example, Canadian traditional clothes, food/dishes, social norms, dance, festivals, religion/spirituality, political consciousness, etc.
So far, I haven't completed much reading, but I have learned that Canada was originally meant to be a farming country (which may explain why so many Canadian of older generations that I meet love country music). I've also learned - for instance - in Newfoundland, some local dialects are of Irish origin, their "mummering" tradition is based on a form of traditional street performance from the British Isles (originally Rome, according to some sources). I'm also reading on the Acadians/Cajuns of New Brunswick, and I'm currently learning French, so hopefully Quebec doesn't secede from the country.
Anyways, I don't live in the aforementioned provinces. However, I did take a political test yesterday, in order to find out what my political persuasion is. The website was called "I Side With", and my results for Canada were Right Wing Libertarian, and the site said I would be better off in Saskatchewan. Oh well...
Having said all that, what does being Canadian mean to you. It's amazing how living in a highly "multicultural" region made me so unaware of my own country's culture and history...