English-speaking Canadians are having their cultural heritage undermined and erased, according to a University of Winnipeg professor..Malcolm Bird, who teaches political science, disagrees with the decision of The Forks in Winnipeg to rebrand Canada Day as “New Day,” a move that undermined overt pride in Canada in the name of reconciling with the indigenous. .“This is further illustration of the collapse of English Canada identity,” Bird said in an interview with the Western Standard..“The left is very anti-Canadian nationalism. With the CBC and much of the other media, arts communities and funding bodies being woke, there is no one articulating any vision of a distinctive English Canadian identity. Part of the reason for that is the dominant view is that public institutions and the state are oppressive and colonial, and the like.”.Bird says Quebec may be the last bastion in Canada where people proudly celebrate their European heritage and identity. He believes their French language puts a distance between them and American influences that English Canadians don’t enjoy. This leaves mainstream US culture and its politic washing over into Canada..“Everyone is tied to their American-content social media account. Look at the flap about Roe v. Wade in the USA and the response of the Canadian media and elites — for a policy that is not even relevant to our country!”.For many years, July 1 was known as Dominion Day, a nod to Psalm 72:8 which is on the Peace Tower of the Parliament buildings: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”.The holiday has been called Canada Day since the passage of the Constitution Act in 1982, a progression Bird believes is historically significant..“Contemporary Canadian nationalism is relatively new, starting in the 1960s or so, and thus is still quite fragile. It was a response to the failings of the ‘old’ Canadian nationalism — one tied to English, England, Protestantism, empire and such, and the other tied to French, Catholic, and rural, etc. Both were not able to adapt to industrialization, urbanization, and immigration that Canada experienced in the post war period,” Bird explained..“Pierre Trudeau and others set out to build a new nationalism that would be ‘soft’ and not based on ethnic or cultural essential characteristics, but rather on the shared values of equality, rule of law, etc.”.Bird says the idea that Canada is institutionally racist and oppressive doesn’t ring true. He says new friends from Zimbabwe recently became Canadian citizens, just one more of the hundreds of thousands who have been quite happy to make this nation home in the “Canada Day” era..“With a strong welfare state and your individual rights protected, the idea was that Canadian identity would be flexible and welcoming to all, and all could flourish. So far we have done pretty well, and if you ask any newcomer, they will agree, but not according to many others,” Bird said..While new Canadians celebrate the country, Bird says some urbanites don’t care if the party gets cancelled..“Most Winnipeg elites and professionals have cottages to go to and so are indifferent if the city has a Canada Day celebration or not,” Bird said, mentioning the city has more pressing issues..“Could we please focus on Winnipeg's real problems? We just had our 26th murder! This place is not doing that well.”
English-speaking Canadians are having their cultural heritage undermined and erased, according to a University of Winnipeg professor..Malcolm Bird, who teaches political science, disagrees with the decision of The Forks in Winnipeg to rebrand Canada Day as “New Day,” a move that undermined overt pride in Canada in the name of reconciling with the indigenous. .“This is further illustration of the collapse of English Canada identity,” Bird said in an interview with the Western Standard..“The left is very anti-Canadian nationalism. With the CBC and much of the other media, arts communities and funding bodies being woke, there is no one articulating any vision of a distinctive English Canadian identity. Part of the reason for that is the dominant view is that public institutions and the state are oppressive and colonial, and the like.”.Bird says Quebec may be the last bastion in Canada where people proudly celebrate their European heritage and identity. He believes their French language puts a distance between them and American influences that English Canadians don’t enjoy. This leaves mainstream US culture and its politic washing over into Canada..“Everyone is tied to their American-content social media account. Look at the flap about Roe v. Wade in the USA and the response of the Canadian media and elites — for a policy that is not even relevant to our country!”.For many years, July 1 was known as Dominion Day, a nod to Psalm 72:8 which is on the Peace Tower of the Parliament buildings: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”.The holiday has been called Canada Day since the passage of the Constitution Act in 1982, a progression Bird believes is historically significant..“Contemporary Canadian nationalism is relatively new, starting in the 1960s or so, and thus is still quite fragile. It was a response to the failings of the ‘old’ Canadian nationalism — one tied to English, England, Protestantism, empire and such, and the other tied to French, Catholic, and rural, etc. Both were not able to adapt to industrialization, urbanization, and immigration that Canada experienced in the post war period,” Bird explained..“Pierre Trudeau and others set out to build a new nationalism that would be ‘soft’ and not based on ethnic or cultural essential characteristics, but rather on the shared values of equality, rule of law, etc.”.Bird says the idea that Canada is institutionally racist and oppressive doesn’t ring true. He says new friends from Zimbabwe recently became Canadian citizens, just one more of the hundreds of thousands who have been quite happy to make this nation home in the “Canada Day” era..“With a strong welfare state and your individual rights protected, the idea was that Canadian identity would be flexible and welcoming to all, and all could flourish. So far we have done pretty well, and if you ask any newcomer, they will agree, but not according to many others,” Bird said..While new Canadians celebrate the country, Bird says some urbanites don’t care if the party gets cancelled..“Most Winnipeg elites and professionals have cottages to go to and so are indifferent if the city has a Canada Day celebration or not,” Bird said, mentioning the city has more pressing issues..“Could we please focus on Winnipeg's real problems? We just had our 26th murder! This place is not doing that well.”
