ORDINARY IDENTITY OF TIME AND PLACE

By

JIM HIGGINSON

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Management

Project Advisors: Eileen M. Doherty and Paul F. Salipante, Jr.

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY

May 1998 ORDINARY CANADIANS IDENTITY OF TIME AND PLACE

Abstract

By

JIM HIGGINSON

Previous studies on national identity have centred around national identity

formation by individuals because of the influence of values and preferences; social

connectedness through social interactions; and values orientation of individuals and

groups and their ability to change. Talking to a cross section of ordinary Canadians in

their own setting about their experiences, stories and thoughts on what is happening in

Canada provides an opportunity to assess their thoughts and ideas about a unique

Canadian identity.

The design of the research is qualitative utilizing experience-based information gathering. Oral histories were conducted with 64 ordinary Canadians from all and , ethnic backgrounds, ages and walks of life. The oral histories were analysed for emerging themes.

Canadians are perplexed, within the vast geographic area, about their position in time and place. There is a feeling that they must continually attempt to define and redefine themselves in terms of their identity. Themes or categorization identified were: a) deference and conformity, b) complexity, ) historical dimensions, d) participation and patriotism, e) diversity, f) continuity, g) myth and reality, h) solitude and isolation, and i) relevance of time and place. The audience for this applied research project includes government policy makers, academic political scientists and target marketers. A future project in this area would include reenacting a similar project following the same methodology to determine whether the emerging themes and concerns identify change over time, and what are the lengths of those periods of time.

ACKNOWLEDGEI\1ENTS

I thank the many individuals who contributed directly or indirectly to this project. My soul mate Judy Langley who was my alter ego throughout the many steps of the project. My business partner and friend Mark McHugh who trusted my and never questioned my commitment to our company First , the

EDM program, or this project. David Lewis, PhD who shared his knowledge with me and discussed for many hours details about the history of and Canada's place in the world . It made me realize how much I didn't know about my own country. Most of all he showed me how understanding history can explain much about why the present is the way it is and what the future may hold. Sue Pitts and

Joanne Zigurella for reviewing many interview transcripts and encouraging me along the way. Ursula Janes for her editing assistance and easygoing nature. To all my network of contacts who assisted me in referring potential interview candidates. Of course my young children Laura Higginson and Jamie Higginson who endured my many absences from family life. Needless to say the 64 ordinary Canadians who provided me with a wealth of personal experiences and thoughts on Canada. Their full cooperation and candidness was appreciated and moving. It said an extraordinary and revealing thing about the unique .

Thanks to Eiieen Doherty and Paul Salipante my advisors who encouraged me to pursue the oral history method and kept me on track throughout the project.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Pg

Abstract 11

Acknowledgements lV

Table of contents V

1. Introduction

a) Reflections on Canadians in the Contemporary World l

b) Finding and Talking with Ordinary Canadians 4

2. Theoretical Background 18

a) National Identity 19

b) Social Connectedness 21

c) Values Orientation 24

3. Methodology 27

a) Recruitment of Interview Candidates 27

b) Findings 30

i) Gender

ii)

iii) Social Value Category

iv) Founding Group Category

c) Oral Histories 32

4. Framework for Analysis 37

Chart-Framework for Social Connectedness 43

5. Example of Oral History 44

Tara Melnikel 44

6. Interpretations 53

a) Deference and Conformity 53

b) Complexity 66

c) Historical Dimensions 78

d) Participation and Patriotism 94

e) Diversity 108

f) Continuity 117

g) Myth and Reality 127

h) Solitude and Isolation 133

i) Relevance of Time and Place 140

7. Conclusions 149

8. Appendix

A) Example Oral History From Each Category 159

a) Deference and Conformity

Maria Radford 159

b) Complexity

Kenny MacDonald 176

c) Historical Dimensions

Marcel Charpentier 184

d) Participation and Patriotism

Jerry McCrae 199

e) Diversity

Bernard Baskin 211

f) Continuity

Elaine Crowder 228

g) Myth and Reality

Ronald Landry 239

h) Solitude and Isolation

Bonni-Anne Bender 256

i) Relevance of Time and Place

Cora Fydek 271

B) Canada's Social Value Tribes 290

9. References 292

1. Introduction

a) Reflections on Canadians in the Contemporary World

As I gaze out over the freshly fallen snow in Artemesia Township in the

snowbelt of Southern I view the sagging evergreens and birch trees

that are heavily laden with snow and ice. The thoughts that rush through my mind are

that of openness and vastness. This vastness before me makes me think about a sense

of place. So many ordinary Canadian people have told me about how much they love

living in Canada and being Canadian that I am beginning to question everything I hear

in the media about Canada being in a constant state of demise. I feel wonderful,

comfortable and elated about the journey I have made across Canada visiting ordinary

Canadians in their homes and businesses, talking to them about their experiences of

growing up in Canada and their concerns about the future.

Since Canada is a geographic entity rather than a ethnic or cultural entity, a sense of time and place is constant in peoples' mind. How to deal with this geographic vastness creates a sense of pride in being custodians of the rugged land in the northern-most part of . Most of the land is robust and the climate is intimidating but below the surface it is rich in resources and potential. Time and place creates, besides pride, an overwhelming sense of helplessness in defending it.

In addition to Canada being a vast country much of the population is made up of

newcomers who have little sense of the vastness but are full of the hope it will

provide a future for them and their families.

A sense of time is important for a country as young as Canada. Knowing that

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everyday actions taken by Canadians will be precedent setting, a sense of time is contextually relevant. Canada as a self-governing nation is young. Full authority for granting citizenship and final legal determination through its dates back only to the late 1940s. Prior to that, important issues were settled or deferred to

London to be confirmed in the context of membership in the British Commonwealth.

A sense of time is current and youthful. Ordinary Canadians know that what they do today will affect them, their families and future generations. They know they cannot defer to history as much as other nations for precedents. Because of this they appear to be optimistically sceptical of every situation. Time is important for citizens of all nations but it seems to be more relevant for ordinary Canadians.

Canada is a community of communities where Canadians feel safe and are civil to each other. However, those communities located in provinces and regions feel a sense of alienation among themselves and among groups because the perception, real or imagined, is that some are better off than others. Geography contributes to this along with a host of other differences ranging from regional to linguistic and cultural. Grasping the immensity of the country and its regional needs lead to a complex agenda of accommo-dation to all members. A sense of place is more tangible than its companion, a sense of time.

Canadians are losing touch with their collective identity. Anxiety induced domestically, externally and personally is creating unease among the country's constituents. They are also losing touch with their individual identity because of the anxieties about values, about institutions, about understanding their place in the world

j

and about the future of Canada, and whether it will be as they know it now. These changes are perpetuated by globalization, speed of and variety of communication techniques, the phenomenon of instant gratification and subversive and pervasive marketing of brand names so that young people identify with names and styles rather than values and friendships.

The journey I embarked on to talk to Canadians, between June 1996 and

1997, from various age groups, regions, genders and walks oflife provided support for my analysis of what ordinary Canadians think about themselves as Canadians and why they feel that way. Later in this document, in Section 6B I elaborate on some of the experiences and thoughts related to me under nine thematic categories:

o deference and conformity

o complexity

o historical dimensions

o participation and patriotism

o diversity

o continuity

o myth and reality

o solitude and isolation

o relevance of time and place.

Canada is not broken and does not need repairing. It just needs a bit of caring.

My feeling at the end of the journey is that there is indeed a sense of unique Canadian identity within the people who live in the geographic area of Canada. It isn't shouted

4

from the rooftops but there is that simple pleasure of belonging and of fellowship with other Canadians who have chosen directly or indirectly Canada as their home.

b) Finding and Talking with Ordinary Canadians

In June, 1996 I began my journey. I set out to meet my fellow Canadians to talk with them about their experiences and about what they thought about Canada. I came knocking. I found them in a valley Okanagan, in a small fishing port Badger's

Quay, on a park benchlvfontreal, in a lounge , around a pool

Vernon, in a sugar shack St. Marthe, on the waterfront Petit-de-Grat, on a board walk

Point Pelee, in a general store where coffee is 10 cents Roseisle, in a trailer Red Deer, in a hospital Hamilton, in a high school Westville, on farms--a potato farm South

Lake, a dairy farm St. Ann's, and in a church attic Hornby. My travels took me coast to coast, to places I had never been. I flew there, drove there, walked there and found them over and over again. I was not disappointed.

When July, 1997 came and my journey ended and I had shared the lives of 64 ordinary Canadians I rejoiced that I had found a deep and thoughtful cross-section of people who felt Canada was worth preserving. All these people I had talked to had offered me a part of them. I learned about their world, listened to their innermost thoughts, felt the strength from the moral person, understood commitment and found what respect meant. I met the working man that refused to retire, heard about suffering, death and rejection. I felt close to them and hoped they felt the contribution they made would allow me, in analysing their stories, to find a common identity. To

talk to ordinary Canadians about themselves and what it is like to live in Canada, understand what their roots meant to them--all this would tell me who my fellow

Canadian was. Seeing the vastness of the country and hearing peoples' stories made me think about myself and who I was in this country called Canada.

The ordinary Canadians I talked with were arranged through discussions with my network of contacts who were able to suggest potential people to contact. When I contacted the potential interviewees, most were eager to participate. Some declined because of conflicting schedules or lack of interest. See Methodology Section, 3 b) for more details on determination of potential interviewees.

The following is a description of one of my visits: this time to Edward

Island in mid-December, 1996.

It was a Saturday around 8:15 a.m. when I picked up a coffee at the Tim

Horton drive-through in Charlottetown. I was on my way to find Robertson.

I reviewed the directions he had given me over the phone a few days earlier. He told me to expect an hour-and-a-half drive when I hooked onto Hwy 2 and headed east from the airport. The sign to Souris said 76 km. Near the village of Frenchport I pulled over and felt for my camera on the seat beside me. I had spotted a photo opportunity. It would be one of hundreds of photographs that I would take in this beautiful province. The white barn in my camera lens looked quite -like with large red ribbon boughs positioned under each window. The temperature was about 4°C. Across the the sun was coming up. When I continued my drive I

6

spotted a sign with an arrow pointing down a narrow dirt that said "Pick Your

Own Christmas Tree." I thought of my kids.

There had been snow on the ground this season but most of it had melted.

What was left was dirty and disappearing fast. The farmers' fields on either side of the highway were muddy and reddish from the high iron content in the soil. This soil was great for growing potatoes. At 8:40 a.m. the sun was trying to get back out from behind grey clouds. The sky alternated from being a tiny bit bright to a basic grey. I noted a number of signs along the road pointing out 'bed and breakfast' locations and trailer camps. It would appear that in the time the area is popular with tourists. I passed a sign that said "Ten Mile House."

As I drove I reflected on my meeting of the previous afternoon. Angie

Mullally had been my first interviewee in this province of . She said it would take only 10 minutes to drive from the airport to the downtown area. I soon realized that it would have been impossible to get lost in such a small place as

Charlottetown. It is the capital city of Prince Edward Island with a population of about 20,000. It was foggy and a light rain was falling. I easily found a parking spot on the same side of the as the Parliament buildings on University Avenue. I deposited a loonie into the meter and searched for a coffee shop called Beanz where we were to meet.

Days earlier on the phone we had arranged our meeting place. I was to for The Three Soldiers monument which was a well-known reference spot for tourists. It stood impressive and proudly commemorated the Prince Edward Islanders

who had served in the two world wars. Just beyond and a few paces down the street I found her in the coffee shop as agreed. I walked in and picked her out immediately.

There she was, just as she had described herself She was sitting on a soda stool talking to one of the girls who worked behind the counter. She acknowledged me as I approached her and smiled. She was quite attractive with her long hair. The misty rain had caused some of her brown curls to hang down in ringlets. Some framed her face as they fell down and over her forehead. Once she spoke I noticed a distinct

Maritime accent.

Angie explained that she and her parents had moved to PEI about 10 years ago. She was born in New Glasgow, NS, so her accent was really a Nova Scotian accent she had never lost. She said her dad says she speaks too fast and this combined with her accent made it a bit difficult for me to understand her.

Fortunately, I got used to it after a while. I ordered a cafe latte and she ordered a glass of ice water. We found a quiet spot in the cafe to have our interview, I with my tape recorder in hand and she hesitantly with her pack of in hand. It was soon obvious that I didn't smoke and she took the cue and never tried to light up. We talked about many things. She had taken a hair-styling course the previous summer.

She admitted she had been unable to find employment in hairdressing locally. The full-time job she secured at KFC was keeping her busy. There were six locations of this restaurant around town and she worked shifts at more than one of them. She was hoping to move to Halifax next summer and take yet another course. This one would be to become an esthetician which is something to do with skin care and makeup

application. I admired her undaunting ambition. We talked on about the new to the mainland and what it meant to her. Like many others in PEI, she looked forward to how much easier it would make it to cross over to the mainland, Nova

Scotia and .

Back in my rental car continuing east on Hwy 2 at 8:45 a.m., I passed a sign that said "Tracadie Cross." As I drove I watched the clouds ahead. They moved along rapidly and then were replaced by white clouds and patches of blue sky. I was hoping that the day would be pleasant from a photographic point of view. I passed many signs indicating a location of some sort but there was never really any village or town, usually just a couple of farms with house and barns. I came upon a sideroad that had a sign pointing to something called Lakeside and Crowbrush. My curiosity for the unexpected led me to turn down. The road winds around and I come out at

Hwy 2 again further along. I don't think I ever did see Crowbrush. I'm now about an hour into my drive and I come into a little village called Morell and once again I feel for the camera on the seat beside me. I slow the car again and skim a look over my next . Through the lens it appears there may be some discernable activity here. There are a school, gas stations, a general store, a co-op store, municipal offices and much more. My hopes mount: I see a Legion, a restaurant, and a Bank of

Nova Scotia. My camera sights a white church with a small steeple in the distance. I lowered my aim. I realize in that instance the similarity in fixing the sight of a gun on a subject and focussing the lens of a camera. I shook the thought off; I'm far from a hunter and shiver my distaste. My telephoto lens draws the church up closer to me

for inspection. It was evident that it needed paint and the shingling on the roof looked aged. But still it stood proud, large and magnificent and I captured its beauty.

Someone was parking their car across the street and threw me a suspicious glance. I nodded hello and withdrew my intruding camera. I was forever on the alert to appear non-intrusive when taking my pictures. My rental car had PEI plates, which I was thankful for. I carried on.

Once back on the road I tuned the car radio in for some music. I soon found myself listening to a national CBC show. My stage was set. It seemed fitting as I drove through my Canada to be listing to a commentary on the radio about a discussion the prime minister had had. On the show, there had been some heated questions posed to the prime minister about jobs. Someone was talking about a study that was done within the Human Resources Department of the federal government indicating that the cost to the economy of unemployment at 10.3 per cent was anywhere from $30 billion to $90 billion in lost income tax, sales tax, and economic production. The announcer said that the costs did not include loss of self-worth caused by unemployment.

Continuing my journey to Souris I drove through a little village called Five

Houses. It took a blink to pass all five houses. I smiled at the simple country fashion of naming the town.

It was now 9:25 a.m. and I had to be getting close. The sky is grey again, the patches of blue becoming scarce. I passed a sign that indicates "Johnny Belinda

Creek." I recalled the movie Johnny Belinda in which Jane Wyman played a deaf and

10

dumb girl and won an Oscar for the role. The movie was based on a story that took place in PEI. My interest peaked as I imagined the movie happening on the very road

I travelled. I enjoy the possibility, never knowing the answer.

I continued to listen to the CBC show on the radio. They're talking to someone about the Krever Commission on the tainted blood supply. A woman is interviewed who had been infected with the AIDS virus through a blood transfusion.

She voiced her suspicion, "..those people are hiding something, look at their faces."

She was recounting the many scenarios where there had been formal requests made for 1984 Cabinet documents to be released that dealt with draft legislation regarding the handling of the blood supply back then. At the time, Jean Chretien was the deputy-prime minister. But all Cabinet documents are confidential and not even the courts can demand their release. As it turned out, the legislation was never presented to Parliament.

The radio show continued. Now they were on to talking about credit cards carrying anywhere from 16.5 per cent to 28 per cent interest. Apparently if you ask your bank you can probably get another type of Visa card that would carry only a nine per cent interest rate. Some listeners called in to say there were no such cards.

Other listeners said there were cards like that but the extra charges for fees and the like would put you over the hump and save you nothing in the end. Did I need a show to enlighten me on the subject of interest costs?

I passed a sign that indicates I'm coming up to "Rollo Bay." I felt another picture was in order. I could see in the distance what I thought must be Rollo Bay.

11

The sun had peeked out and was glinting off the water so I hoped it would be a dramatic photo.

I think that it is interesting in all these little towns in Prince Edward Island that the white wooden church with a steeple that dominates the town-scape is usually a

Roman , whereas I remember when I was driving through

Newfoundland the previous September, the village church, white with high steeples while not quite as big but still dominating, was Anglican.

I had just passed over a little bridge over the Souris River. It was 9:40 a. m. so

I guessed this was Souris. It looked like a fairly substantial little village. There is one of those mobile signs in the Sunoco parking lot announcing the Santa Claus parade on

Dec 17.

On the radio they're talking about the relations between and Ontario being worse than they are between and Ottawa right now. The host of the show was concluding with a commentary about the prime minister's performance at a recent televised town hall meeting.

I had arranged to meet Vaughan Robertson at around 10 a.m. He had indicated to me that his farm was seven miles past Souris where you can see Cape

Breton off in the distance on your right. I was a few minutes early. I saw a sign that said "Ferry to Isle de la Madeleine" so I turned down that road. The ferryboat was anchored there but it was off season. I carried on and arrived at Vaughan Robertson1s farm exactly at l O a.m. There were two houses on the property and a sign that said

"Robertson Potato Farm." His pick-up truck was covered in red mud. It was a black

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truck but it looked red. I picked out the house on the left and I guessed correctly. He was waiting for me and answered the door. With country hospitality I was greeted across the threshold and welcomed in. He had two small boys, Alan was the little one, maybe a year old and his older brother Evan was perhaps two. He introduced me to his wife, Linda, and led me to the dining room where we would have our interview. I warmed up to Linda right away. She told me she worked at the

RCMP office. To have a federal job on the island was more than noteworthy. I noticed her red hair as she served up chocolate chip muffins and coffee. She was gracious and hospitable, all the while keeping the two boys in check. The kids seemed to have a red tinge to their hair too. Vaughan and I basically chatted for an hour-and• a-half about what it's like to farm here on the island and about the natural resources on the island. We spoke of the new Bridge which was the big link up to the mainland. It was overwhelming how much effect this bridge would have on the island and the lives of the people on it. We spoke at great length about potato farming. Vaughan's family worked hundreds of acres. We talked about the three• year crop rotation. As for the 800 to 900 acres that were unworkable or in bush he described it in terms of the value of beautiful lumber. I learned that the veneer made from some of his birdseye maple was used on the dashboard of Mercedes Benzes. I didn't know much about potato farming when I arrived but felt informed somewhat when I left.

Afterwards Vaughan and I went for a short walk outside so I could take his photo in his environment. I couldn't quite see Cape Breton in the distance as there

13

was too much haze in the·air. He pointed out a beach in the distance. He suggested I go down to see it on my way out. It is called Beach Head and it has a museum. He said it's the best beach in Prince Edward Island. I thought to myself that someday I'm going to bring my family back to this beach for a holiday. It certainly looked beautiful, even in December. He says it runs for seven miles and has beautiful red sand. He had shared with me a well-kept secret. Most of the tourists went to the western part of the island.

I left Vaughan's place at about noon to meet my next interviewee in Souris.

Kenny was sitting in his red half-ton in the Esso parking lot waiting for me when I pulled up. I waved to him and he motioned me to follow him. He slowed to a full stop on the main street to let a lady pushing a stroller cross the street in front and then turned down a little road opposite the IGA.

His wife Frances served up some scallop burgers for lunch, and retreated to the living room but within earshot of our conversation. We enjoyed the tasty scallop burgers and carried on talking at the kitchen table. She would sometimes pipe up with a comment or two when Kenny hesitated or took his time to answer a question.

One time I asked how many doctors were there in town. He said, "three" and she said, "two," and I chuckled as they fought over the answer. He deferred to her for a couple more comments.

After lunch Kenny and I went outside and he showed me his lobster boat, which sits on poles on a lot next to his house. He takes it out of the water around late

November. He had been cleaning up the boat before I arrived, and his next job was to

14

put Christmas lights around its perimeter. I noticed a Santa Claus cut-out in the boat's front window. He said that this was the first time that he had decorated it. He was building some new lobster nets in the off season and he explained to me how lobsters are caught. My curiosity got the best of me and I flipped down a lever on one of the traps. A resounding snap caught me off guard. I was thankful my other hand was in a safer place and was not injured. Perhaps I should stick to my talking and keep my hands out of the traps.

We next cruised down by car to the wharf and he showed me where he docks his boat in season. It was alongside the spot where the ferry arrives and departs for

Isle de la Madeleine. I took a few pictures. He described the daily activity of the harbour. We looked over some crab nets that were stacked up on the dock. I asked him what the bridge to the mainland meant to him. He replied that he voted for it in the referendum because it would be good for the transport trucks bringing in goods and delivering out PEI products.

It was 1:50 p.m. by the time I'd finished with Kenny so I drove around the town of Souris. There was a bit of activity, people hanging up their outdoor

Christmas lights and kids playing roller-blade hockey on the school pavement.

Rather than head back to Charlottetown the same way I came, I skirted round by another route and found myself on Hwy 4 going out towards Wood Islands. I noticed a ferry that would take me back to if I so desired. By June 1 the ferry would be out of commission when the fixed link bridge opened up to the mainland.

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It's 2:36 p.m. and I estimated that I probably had about two more hours of sunlight, if that. This was important to me as a photographer. The fields around me seemed a shade of red. I wondered if there was a different type of farmland here. There appeared to be more bush. It was 2:50 p.m. and the sun had gone behind a cloud. I stopped at 3:20 p.m. on Hwy 24 near a sign that said "Brooklin." I could pick out the highway in the distance with the yellow lines zig-zagging their way through the rolling hills. I stopped to take a photograph or 10. As always I enjoyed the fact that I was recording my trip frame by frame through the lens of the camera.

These photos of the lands and of all the people I would meet along my travels would forever be a reminder of my journey across Canada to meet my fellow Canadian. I would come to remember this as a high point in my life. I just didn't know it yet. The places I would see, the friendships I would make and all the nuances I would experience would be a part of my journey. At the end of my travels I would find out I had accomplished much more than I had set out to do. I got back into my rent-a-car and carried on down Hwy 24 to Charlottetown.

Now it was 3:37 p.m. and there was a clear blue sky ahead of me as I headed back towards Charlottetown. I wound past a sign noting I was approaching the

"Andrew McPhail Homestead" in about 1 km. I still had some daylight so I turned right and followed the signs. The building turned out to be closed however, the little lady struggling to put something into her car was just closing up. She said she was heading out to pick up some things for a private dinner that was going to be held that night. She said she still had some time and kindly led me through the house and took

16

time to explain a few things about Sir Andrew McPhail. The cooking turkey added a touch I can't describe. She said McPhail was the Canadian medical officer in charge of the front lines in in the First World War. He was knighted for this effort.

Later he was a professor at McGill University in . He retired to this homestead. The lady had this dog that she said was a border collie mix. It had one white eye and one black eye. I told her back home on the farm we had a couple of

Dobermans. She asked me if I could see any Doberman in her dog. She had heard a rumour about what mix of breed it was. I told her I'd have to really stretch it to say I could see Doberman, but maybe I lied.

By now I had about a half-hour of sunlight. I'm back on the road to

Charlottetown. All of a sudden I saw a half rainbow in the distance. I guessed I'd missed that rain. I snapped one more photo of my journey.

Next I saw the sun setting over a little body of water and I read a sign that indicated "Cherry Valley Cove." I drove down a "No Exit" road to the end and came upon an Anglican church sitting by itself The building seemed so white in the fading daylight. I was able to catch the sun glinting off the side of the steeple with the shimmering water reflecting in the background. I was hoping that this would turn out to be good because it had the makings of the best photo of the trip. Pleased with myself, I headed back to Charlottetown.

On the outskirts of Charlottetown the rain caught up to me. "Wow," I thought to myself "the weather's changeable here.'1 I was back into and decided I had better concentrate on my driving . I could see Charlottetown in the distance barely

17

over the bay. I settled back for the last leg of journey, pleased and satisfied with my

day.

It was 4:25 p.m., the sun was disappearing and it was getting dark at this point. My day had been eventful and I was tired and happy at the same time. The sun and I both slide out of view as I crested the next hill. I was on to my next part of my

Journey.

us

2. Theoretical Background

The general theme of Canadians in society provides a basic environmental platform in which to assess the common issues and knowledge that anyone considering the implication of emerging themes must have in order to put them in their proper perspective. I refer to this as the Canadian condition. The specific themes of the individual in society provides the routes for attaining a unique identity. Other routes for approaching a definition of unique identity are global condition, collective belonging and values and preferences. These are discussed in Section 4.

The major themes or issues relating to Canadians in society and which consequently affect individual Canadian' s identity are the ones that seek to separate rather than ones that seek to bring together. Even though it is an ominous theme, relevance of time and place brings together Canadians more so than others. Some of the major issues are unity, continued support for social programs which are being reduced for fiscal reasons, and . Unity encompasses francophone independence, regionalism and federal-provincial relations. Social programs include the various programs that ensure a minimum standard of living for any citizen regardless of geographic location or personal worth. The state of social programs is currently under heavy pressure. The funding for existing programs is being cut back by various levels of government to reduce fiscal deficits. Multiculturalism includes immigration and policies that relate to accommodating all ethnic groups within the larger Canadian society. Each of these three issues tends to cause fervour of debate among Canadians that in turn creates conflict rather than agreement.

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The theoretical framework for a discussion of unique identity of individual citizens of a nation includes:

a) National Identity

What an individual identifies with is germane to this project. This identity is formed and reformed because of the influence of values and preferences. Both

Russell F. Farnen (1994) and Anthony D. Smith (1991) indicate that national identity is a collective phenomenon. A national identity involves some sense of political community which in turn implies at least some common institutions and a code of rights and duties for members of that community. It usually means members relating to a society in a bounded territory within which members identify and feel they belong. Newer societies, such as that of Canada, have to contend with diverse groups of immigrants who adopt the country as home but continue to identify with their prior culture. The national agencies of mass socialization sometime take generations to convince the new groups that the national identity of their adopted society is theirs.

Smith defines a nation as, "a named human population sharing an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members." (1991, p. 14) is not mentioned as a defining characteristic. In Canada, Quebec separatists base their need to self-determine their future on ideology linked to language. What national identity does is provide self-definition for members, and a location for grounding themselves somewhere in the world. 20

Canada is made up of ten provinces, which are considered to be of equivalent power, in a partnership with the federal or central government. It is also made up of six geographic regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, North, Prairies and Pacific) of varying size, population, wealth and remoteness. It can almost be reasoned that each region has its own national identity based on Smith's definition. However, the term regional identity would be more appropriate. Based on their respective strengths and weaknesses each feels a combination of being exploited and ignored by the other regions. The sense of national identity that links the regions together is the "larger picture" approach that most Canadians recognize as an overall benefit. This compares with Kenichi Ohmae (1995) who rejects political definitions of identity and relates identity with economics and borderless regions. In terms of trade, each of the six regions trade primarily with specific regions of the world. For instance, British

Columbia trades with and the northwest US, Ontario trades with the central, industrial "rustbelt" states, and the Atlantic provinces trade with the northeast US.

S. Delbert Clark (1962) relates the growing complexity of forces that shape the character of society, using Canada as his model. His thesis is that changes must take place within the underlying structures of communities before they can affect society as a whole. He is an historian and as such is concerned about continuity in human society and why change comes about. Therefore it is important to understand the issues affecting the change on a grand scale but it is just as important to reach down to the local society, and small groups and determine where the change is coming from. Harry Hiller (1986) insists that national identity is acquired through 21

social learning, mainly in schools. Canada needs to re-educate not only her younger citizens but many of her older citizens as well. The key to Canadian survival lies not only in education but in the work of historians, artists, writers, unions, public servants, journalists, political parties and entertainers all of whom have a vested interest in preserving Canada.

b) Social Connectedness

Hunter Lewis (1991) suggests that individual members of society relate to other members, make socially conscious decisions, and integrate different ways of knowing by the way they synthesize their multidimensional values based on experience, intuition and logic. Some weave them together coherently, resulting in self- identification, while others are confused by their conflicting values and end up with a muddled self-identification. Kenneth Gergen (1991) attempts to clarify this self- identification conundrum by looking at the duality of experience. Meaning that one has to experience differences with others (groups or individuals) before he or she can appreciate the similarities. Most people are members of more than one group (some by choice, others by fate) and this multiple membership contributes to character and identity. His concern is that the self is becoming socially saturated relating to him(her)self and to social life. Meaning that individually, one is becoming unrecognizable, both by him(her)self and others, under the previous categories of romanticist or modernist definitions.

Peter Unger (1990) takes an individualistic, philosophic approach to social 22

connectedness. He feels that connectedness is through personal identity which is future oriented. The conditions of past survival are relevant but identity relates to what can be achieved with what is left of the rest of one's life. In order for what is left to be relevant there must be a conscious experience. If someone is asleep or in a coma, their life experiences are not relevant with regards to values. Appreciation of experiences must be in the context of one's values only when they are future oriented and they are aware when they are occurring. Unger' s approach to social connectedness is more proactive, whereas Lewis's approach is less dynamic.

Joanne Martin (1992, pg 12) offers two organizational approaches. The differentiation approach where there is consensus within each of an organization's subcultures but that among subcultures, the consensus often conflicts. Overall ambiguity is more or less managed so that it does not confuse the cultures of each subculture. There is also the fragmentation approach where there is not overall, consistent organizational consensus. When there happens to be consensus it is generally based on specific issues.

Similarly with a society, organizational values and beliefs condition how a member reacts or responds to events. Integrated, differentiated or fragmented consensus is the manifestation of the society's general attitude. Within the respective society, individuals form and reform their own values and preferences in this overall context.

Seymour Martin Lipset (1990) felt that the best way to understand cultures, values and characteristics of a particular nationality is to compare them to a similar 23

society. In his example he compares Americans with their neighbours, the Canadians.

The influence of values is of variations in national behaviour. He contends that the two societies differ in their basic organizing principles and in their basic beliefs about the sources of authority which are formed by their behaviour, institutions, and values. For example, the US society values individualism and individual achievement and therefore these rights are entrenched in the constitution.

On the other hand, Canada is organized differently because it wanted to continue to evolve based on the concept of government's legitimacy being derived from the monarchy which in turn was linked with the church institution. Canadian institutions were built within that framework. As opposed to US values and characteristics,

Canada has a statist tradition, extensive social policies, considerable government ownership, constitutional rights to ethnocultural survival, concern for equal treatment of collectivities, respect for authority, and support of hierarchal church organizations.

Lipset also develops the basic behaviour and attitude of a society, "culture sets boundaries and contexts within which action takes place. Values are the prescriptive parts" (1990, p. 8). In this regard, the US evolved as a classically liberal or Lockean society which rejected throne and altar, mercantilism and among others. In comparison, Canada evolved as more conservative inheriting an older set of beliefs or values from Great Britain and Europe almost in reaction to potential liberal revolutions which is evident in its elites, church and political structures. 24

Lipset acknowledges that there is an alternative modernist approach to his romanticist approach. Rather than values, it is structural factors such as geographic, economic and political differences that affect behaviour, beliefs and institutional arrangements that make the two countries distinct.

c) Values Orientation

Neil Nevitte (1996) utilizes the results of the 1990 World Values Survey conducted in 44 "societies" by 83 investigators. The resulting database builds on a similar 1981 survey conducted in Europe, and there is a limited basis for comparison over the previous 10 years. The author attempts to quantitatively compare the values mostly between Americans and Canadians but also with other societies. Orientations to change are consistently connected to the same background factors: age, education and value divide (materialists, mixed and post-materialists). For instance, he concludes about a society's ability to embrace change as part of political transformation that Canadians are not uniquely resistant to change and more open to it than Americans. Canadians are less worried than Americans about defending their society against subversive forces. These conclusions were the result of analysis of the portion of the survey that dealt with individual political participation.

Michael Adams (1997), the president of a market research firm, views

Canadian values as social values from a psychological and demographic approach.

He feels values contribute to interpreting the changing character of Canadians. He comments that "the better you know your neighbours the better you will know 25

yourself" Currently, there are three quests of individual Canadians that are causing them to alter and rethink their values. They are the quest for personal autonomy, quest for pleasure, and quest for spiritual fulfillment. He builds on the differing values that each generation holds important and how those values change from one generation to the next generation. For instance, for his parent's generation ("elders") rebellion was between Catholic and Protestant. For Adam's generation

(he's 50 and a "boomer") it was common-law marriage, or early for those that did marry. For "generation x", rebellion is interracial unions/marriage or normalization of gay/lesbian relationships.

Adams divides Canadians into twelve tribes based on social values within the three broad categories of elders, boomers, and generation x' ers. An example of one of the tribes is within the boomer category, called "disengaged Darwinists" who are the silent majority of the boomers (representing about 40 per cent of all boomers) and from which comes the current neo- mind-set. They are intimidated by change and the complexities of life. They are resentful about their diminishing prospects. See Methodology section 3 b) iii) and Appendix 8 B) for analysis of interviewees.

Throughout history one generation passes on its values to the next. There have been incidences of economic or technological turbulence where such continuity has been interrupted--examples are the US in 1776, Russia in 1917, and the social revolution throughout the world in the 19601s. In Canada I suggest that the inescapable issue during the 1980s and 1990s of national unity is equivalent to the 26

turbulence that Adams refers to. The in-your-face Quebec referendums and the public results of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords have had, more than anything else in history, the effect of Canadians questioning who they are and what relevance do they have in time and place. Adams indicates that economists and demographers should get together in order to predict human behaviour by paying closer attention to changing values and motivations of ordinary Canadians. 27

3. Methodology

The design of the research is qualitative. The topic is appropriate for this type of research because it lends itself to the oral history inquiry approach to data collection. It is one of exploration and discovery. Experience-based information gathering is not conducive to quantitative methods. Meaning of life through experience contributes to understanding which is within a qualitative research paradigm. The fieldwork consisted of going to "ordinary Canadians", observing the environment in which they live and listening to their experiences and comments in their own setting. Ordinary Canadians, for the purpose of this proposal, are individuals from any geographic region of Canada who are residing temporarily or permanently and who have experienced some aspect of Canadian life at the time of the interview. Accordingly, as John W. Cresswell indicates (1994, p 145), "the process of qualitative research is inductive in that the researcher builds abstractness, concepts, hypothesis and theories from details." The stories, experiences and thoughts of ordinary Canadians will provide the basis for analysing and determining emerging themes. The approach is issue driven rather than theory driven.

a) Recruitment of Interview Candidates

Sixty-four candidates or "ordinary Canadians" were interviewed from various geographic regions and walks of life. The interview candidates became available through referrals within my network of contacts. I asked my contacts, "Do you know of anyone who would be willing to talk to me for approximately 45 minutes about 28

what it is like living in Canada?" If they want to know more specifically who I am really targeting, I say: "young or old, male or female, educated or uneducated..." The main condition really was that the interview candidate has to converse with me in

English because, unfortunately, English is my only language. Another condition is that they be able to carry on a general conversation with me for approximately 45 minutes. When my network contacts suggested someone, I obtained that candidate's phone number and called them directly to explain what I was doing and arrange a meeting. In a limited number of cases, if I sensed they were uncomfortable or apprehensive about participating, I did not pressure them to cooperate. As it turned out, conversations averaged one hour. Some were as short as 20 minutes and some as long as two hours.

The sampling plan's emphasis was on diversity in order to give priority to securing a wide range of responses. Who the interview candidates were and what stories and values they expressed were unpredictable. There was diversity of candidates from geographic areas and walks of life which allowed for a variety of thematic responses. However this sampling plan did not permit claims of findings being representative of all Canadians, or of particular subgroups; rather, the sampling strategy of diversity enabled the identification of themes common to a wide range of

Canadians, and of some thematic areas in which important differences emerge.

I went to the candidate's location and/or environment and met them face-to• face. This allowed me some control over the conversation. In some cases candidates were more articulate than others. In all cases my presence and reason for asking the 29

questions may have induced a biased response or a response they think I wanted to hear. I attempted to make them feel at ease and comfortable, talked to them about themselves and not about me. In the interviews, candidates appeared to exhibit little inhibition about discussing their innermost thoughts. I am a stranger and there seems to be a certain level of comfort in this distance. I did not interview anyone I knew or knew anything about. I only permit my network contact to tell me a minimal of background information about a candidate in advance so that I would not become biased for any reason. For instance, I knew that the wife of one of my managers grew up in so I asked him if his wife could suggest someone out there who might be willing to talk to me about what it means to be a Canadian. The result was two candidates. I was referred to one, a young women who just graduated from university and was having trouble finding a job in her field and another, a retired farmer who had lived all his life on the farm where he was born. For all interview candidates, with their permission, I taped our conversations, transcribed them later and coded them for emerging theme categories. I also asked to take their photographs in their environment. But not all allowed me. In some cases, the sample oral histories in Appendix A and the balance of the oral histories have had names and specific references changed on request. But the points expressed have not been altered. In some cases the distinct, regional of the interviewee has been retained. 30

b) Findings

Of the 64 ordinary Canadians interviewed the following identifiable categories were noted: i) Gender

Gender # of Interviewees % Male 39 61 Female 25 39

Total 100 100%

ii) Region(Province)

Region(Province) # of Interviewees %

North (NT) 3 5

Pacific (BC) 6 10 Prairies (AB, SK, MB) 13 20 Ontario (ON) 28 43

Quebec (QC) 4 6

Atlantic (PE, NB, NS, 10 16

NF)

Total 64 100% 31

iii) Social Value Category

Based on social value tribes as explained in Michael Adams's Sex In The Snow (1997)

(see Appendix B for more details)

Social Value # of Interviewees % of Interviewees % of Canadian

Population

Elders (>50) 19 30 28

Boomers (30-49) 28 43 43

Gen X (15-29 17 27 29

Total 64 100% 100%

iv) Founding Group Category

Founding Group # of Interviewees %

Anglophone 38 59

Francophone 6 10

Aboriginal 5 8

New Canadian 15 23

Total 64 100% 32

c) Oral Histories

The results of the interviews are in the form of an oral history. A typical oral history is included in Section 5. In addition, one typical story from each of the nine sections is included in Appendix 8A. The complete package of 64 stories is available but not included in the project. However, discussions of each story are included in

Section 6B.

James Hoopes (1979) indicates that although the "oral tradition" is a document in the form of legends handed down from generation to generation, it is also dependent on the interviewer because he or she actively participates in creating the oral documents. The interviewer, must be genuine to deserve and win the confidence of other people. He or she must be able to deal sympathetically but honestly and imaginatively with their memories, but keep them true to themselves.

Oral histories are a form of participant observation and used frequently by social scientists, but relate more to spoken memories. It is a democratic form of research and shows that the (unfortunately I am limited to conducting the interviews in English) can be expressively and convincingly spoken by people at different status levels.

Some oral histories, such as those by Studs Terkel for example, lack context but the power of each individual interview enlighten and say more about the present condition, than the past. The author's point is made through the stories. However, a level of contextual grounding is necessary for relevance. Hoopes says, "The oral historian must not only engage in interviewing but must also do other sorts of 33

research in order to imaginatively recreate the historical context to which the interview refers and without which it will not often have much meaning" (1979, p.

13). Footnotes have been added to the stories where appropriate to provide background information.

The relationship between the interviewer and interviewee must be distant.

Generally, the interviewer must not have intimate knowledge of the interviewee. This sense of distance allows for a short-term, bonding relationship between the interviewer and interviewee. The rapport must be effective or the subject will not open up and share knowledge and experiences. Validity is evidenced by the level of trust garnered during the interview. It will be evident if confidence and trust are achieved. If they are, and clarity will freely emerge and consequently the unveiling of relevant personal experiences.

The oral history approach is appropriate for my project because I am focussing on listening to the of the ordinary citizen. Many ordinary citizens don't get their voice heard either because they think their contribution is unimportant, through passiveness or because they get drowned out in the turmoil of life. Hoopes feels that oral histories focus on personalities, "culture and society are discussed at such a of abstraction that we forget that only through the behaviour of individual personalities do the concepts of culture and society have meaning" (1979, p. 34).

The oral histories that came out of this project (see examples in Section 5 and

Appendix 8A) are the end product of a process. The process began with audio recording an interactive discussion between the author and interviewee. From the 34

initial written transcription of the text, portions were reduced that were superfluous to the purpose of the project. The next step was coding the transcripts for emerging themes. After analysing and identifying potential themes, the next step was to reduce the text for further eliminating unassociated information. The next step was rearranging information in a coherent context. The final step was to present the stories and ideas in a readable and grammatically-correct format without losing the spirit, essence or context of the way it was told to the author.

The existing models I used for guidance were Conversations With

Palestinians In Israel, Sleeping On A Wire by David Grossman (1993), Red Lights On

The Prairies by James H. Gray (1971), and Coming of Age by Studs Terkel (1995).

Gray's work deals with the history of brothels in in the late

1800's. The was being built linking to

Eastern Canada. As the work crews constructed their tracks, towns sprang up along the way in , Saskatchewan, and BC. In some cases, these towns became permanent and grew later on. Because the workers we young males and usually unmarried, brothels inevitably popped up. When Gray did his research he was able to get primary information from people still alive at the time who recalled and were close to the topic. People interviewed were various stakeholders including service suppliers, clients, law and church officials and others. Because of the sensitivity of the topic, the interviewees are not identified. The quotes and references used are footnoted as "oral report to the author." The book is not entirely oral histories. Along with other research sources, he integrates newspaper reports from

35

the time and oral histories. His approach enables him to present the context and background of events with his commentary and quotes from his interviews.

Terkel's work deals with the first-person stories of people over 70 years old who recount some of their life and work experiences in the context of current society nearing the 20th century. Most of it is how they have coped with change. The stories stand on their own. The author adds no commentary except for a few sentences as introduction to each story which grounds the story as to geography or era. His approach is appealing because the results of the interview will be determined by the strength of the questions asked and the interest shown by both the interviewer and interviewee.

Grossman's work deals with Palestinians living within the borders of Israel.

He interviews people from all ethnic sides and integrates their stories and experiences together to show that life is complex for all parties in Israel. His approach is appealing because stories are woven together to form real snapshots of life that are interesting and involving. The author is very much part of the work and makes comments throughout.

All three approaches are different. Gray's oral histories are integrated with other research sources to tell a history of brothels in western Canada. Terkel's oral histories are strong enough to stand alone as part of a collage of similar stories to illustrate the point of the author's work. Grossman's oral histories are integrated into a bigger story of life along with the author's commentaries. All three models will serve as guidelines. The final form of my own followed Terkel's model. My driving

36

goal was to draw out personal experiences and stories from people which would hopefully lead to insights on values and preferences that could affect their identity.

37

4. Framework For Analysis

Social connectedness is the feeling an individual has when he or she feels

comfortable with themselves in their particular domain. It is not easy to reach this

stage because there are obvious and hidden barriers and obstacles to dodge and

circumvent. The framework of social connectedness (Chart 1) to arrive at a sense of

unique identity consists of four levels. Starting at the bottom and working up toward

unique identity the following levels must be considered.

The first level is collective belonging in which there are two categories. The first category is passive membership. All individuals belong to one or more communities through biological dimensions of sex, colour, ethnicity, ability or disability, sexual orientation or age. These traits are entrenched and can be altered or cosmetically covered over but not changed. Individuals assume passive membership in a combination of these groups. The second category is active membership. The citizenship, class or religion that one is a member of is chosen more or less. Children assume all three that their parents have assumed. Later in life the children are to choose differently. The change is not easy in all cases and may, in fact, be painful; but positive steps can make for change.

Depending on the traits that dominate or influence a community, those will be the distinguishing features that affect that community. In a the will of the majority endures. The political policies enacted will secure advantages for that community and each individual within that collective community should feel comfortable to some extent in that domain.

38

Many individuals or groups are marginalized and, either by choice or prejudice, are not permitted to join the larger society on even terms. These individuals or groups must agree to bend before being allowed to join, thus possibly compromising their values. A democracy is the result of the will of the majority, but at the same time minorities cannot be besmirched. Minorities must be permitted an active role in a democracy, so that the majority does not overpower those who are not the same as everyone else. In this regard marginals must not be excluded but be allowed at some level to interact with the mainstream. Some individuals or groups, although they bend in order to be accepted, hang on to their differences because it makes them feel unique and special.

A very important part of collective belonging is an individual's self-perception as well as how others perceive them to be. A sense of individualism is important to both the perceiver and preceptor because collective belonging begins and ends with the individuals.

The second level is global condition. An individual's identity relates to several levels in a global context. An identity crisis at this level is a result of too many components making for complexity. Individualism, tribalism and nationalism are examples of many components. Nations form or are formed as a result of either ethnic nationalism or civic nationalism. Political boundaries are becoming less important economically because of trade agreements. Other types of barriers are being eliminated leading to membership in a global community. Technology leads to the lessening in importance of barriers through instant electronic communication and

knowledge promulgation.

The concept of nation state requires formalization and patriotism. A nation state which is diverse in many categories such as Canada requires participation more than patriotism. Economic and cultural interaction with other nation states makes for a larger appreciation of the global condition.

The third level is the Canadian condition. This condition is most perplexing in the context as exhibited by the experiences related to me in the interviews. The unique identities are however often not clearly delineated within the larger influential and complex Canadian condition. Reaching down to the individual and community level it comes more into focus. There is a shared sensibility among Canadians. This sensibility is garnered through common experiences and learning of myths attained through public education and public policies. Conformity is often the norm.

There is a solitude unique to Canada. It is somewhat like isolation but not in the same negative term. It is a pleasantness that is difficult to explain to others and is more often than not an individual experience that means different things to different people.

Relevance of time and place is complex. Geography contributes to this.

Grasping the immensity of the country and its regional needs leads to a complex agenda of accommodation to all members. There are a host of differences ranging from regional to linguistic to cultural. Time is important for a country as young as

Canada. Know that every-day actions taken by ordinary Canadians will be precedent setting then sense of time is contextually relevant.

40

The social setting is a historical combination of four important contributors: anglophones, francophones, aboriginals and new immigrants, each of which has contributed in one way or another some historical dimensions to the current theatre.

Elimination of one of them means less relevance of the whole to the remaining parties.

Canadians and new Canadians are required to participate in society. They need not be patriotic and indeed are encouraged to cherish their former culture. But overall they must keep the Canadian society moving ahead by socially interacting and supporting social initiatives.

Since Canadian society is made up of many groups and extensive regional differences, there is a constant sense of alienation where one group feels like they are considered beneath the others. This sensibility comes out of political correctness and past inequities being adjusted as much as from the transfer of wealth from have to have-not areas.

Canada is a . Free enterprise mixed with government intervention and initiative along with a good dose of a sense of social equality make for a unique democracy. Canada is not necessarily unique in this sense. However the customized way that it has cobbled together patchwork of initiatives that has met the of time is particularized. This has been accomplished through public policy and social principles through the years in the areas of public education, government intervention in society and economy, and programs for the redistribution of wealth from "have" provinces to "have-not" provinces.

41

There is the ongoing, perplexing and frustrating question of francophone separation. The unity issue consumes the energies of leaders and ordinary Canadians alike. It takes away from the positive and accentuates the negative. Francophones lead a separate and distinct existence within the larger context. In many regards it is legitimized as such and has added much to the Canadian condition. Concentration on the legalizing of separation will mean less to both parties and devalue the Canadian condition.

The fourth level is the values, behaviours and preferences of individuals.

Individuals think, emote and act based on their values. These values are grounded on tradition, heritage, religion and upbringing and as such rooted on such things as memberships, experiences and myths. Individual values can be categorized into three areas: empathetic ones which allow one to look beyond themselves to others; agency ones which involve actions such as thinking, doing, strategizing, and changing and involve others; and accountability ones which are the measures of commitment to others.

Behaviour is the outward actions individuals engage in which demonstrate the above values or combination of values. A dollop of healthy skepticism keeps most individuals from engaging in irrational acts of overdosing on values. Some level of self doubt balances out in the long term.

Preferences are exhibited in the way individuals carry out their lives in combination with their values. It is the way they let their individual needs dominate over what they perceive of themselves or what others' perceive. It is a way of

42

lending a rational balance to situations rife with potentially irrational consequences.

The peak to which all the other levels lead is unique identity. It is difficult to summarize. Having a unique identity is important to the individual but sometimes not easy to self-identify. It is integrity and dignity. It is goal oriented. It is self• actualization. It cannot be measured in financial terms. It is that quality that contributes to the greater society one step at a time. It is individual power. It is looking beyond perfection and making the best of flux, mystery and diversity. It looks beyond day-to-day frustrations of social interaction. It looks beyond minor differences. It is taking personal responsibility for control over one's own outlook, conduct and character. It allows a space to be cobbled out for one's self in society. It allows one to go beyond the superficial relevance of instant gratification.

Within this framework I looked at the experiences, stories and opinions of my interviewees to better define what is the unique identity of Canadians.

4.J

Chart 1

Framework for Social Connectedness

Fulfi 11ment of Individual or Group Identity

This chart indicates :he :evels of identification that an individual Canadian or group within Canada must :Jass through to attain fulfillment in the form of unique identity.

Unique The !eve! reached in which the identity of llldividuals and groups is fulfilled. Identity t Values/Behaviour Experiences. traditions. and upbringing are among the many influences that cause /Preferences individuals and groups to think. emote and behave in the way that they do

t Complexities of social interaction within Canada which may not be unique to Canada. However, the way in which they are dealt with are customized to meet the particular needs of Canadians. Examples include social setting, alienation. and implications of time and place.

Complexities of social interaction that influences beyond geographic borders. Examples include Individualism, tribalism, nationalism, technology, communications.

Passive membership (ie gender, colour. age, ethnicity) and/or Active membership /citizenship, religion, class)

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5. Example of Oral History

The following oral history is an example of the type of stories, life experiences, and thoughts and reflections on what is currently happening in Canada that were collected for this project from 64 ordinary Canadians.

Tara Melnikel Interviewed November 2, 1996 in the home of a friend in Occupation Shipper Predisposition Wants to pursue education and health care in her community and have a family Age 22 Values Family, community, egalitarianism Concerns Create jobs for people of Saskatchewan and old age security Social Connectedness: Autonomous post-materialist Ethnic Heritage Welsh on mother's side, Gennan on father's side Quote "Not everybody can be a high-level, educated person because what's going to happen to the bus driver, the warehouse people and so on? The type of companies we have here don't need highly educated people."

I talked to Tara in Saskatoon, SK on Saturday morning, November 2, l 996. She was so excited because she just got her engagement ring the night he.fore.

My last name is Melnikel, which is a German name. My dad is German and on my mom's side is Welsh. I'm 22 and have lived in Saskatoon all my life. I

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graduated high school in 1992 and then I took a year of university at University of

Saskatchewan. I was going to go into nursing but I could see there weren't going to be any nursing jobs in Saskatoon, so I quit university. I didn't want to have to move from Saskatoon to find a nursing job.

I work at a jewellery wholesaler. rve been there for close to two years. We sell to stores all over Canada. We supply Hallmark and small-town jewellery stores all over Canada with costume jewellery, plus gold, diamonds, and wedding sets. We also sell giftware frames and grad things and that type of thing. We have five salespeople across Canada who go into schools and sell them customized rings. They also sell to stores. We've been established for 35 years or so.

It's hard for a young person to get a job in Saskatoon. If you want to work at

McDonald's then fine, you can get a job. Trade-type jobs are kind of difficult. I was pretty lucky that I got the job I have. When I got it I was one out of close to 100 people who applied for it. rm a shipper now. I guess I made a good impression on the people who were hiring.

I have one twin sister, identical. Her name is Tasha. She also lives in

Saskatoon. She's married and has one little boy. We were best friends growing up and we still are.

We went to summer bible camp together every summer and in fact we did everything together. We went to camp until we were about 14. Around then we started to develop some relationships with boys. lt was all pretty innocent, you know, and it was a lot of fun.

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We shared a room until we were 14 because we wanted to. There was always the opportunity for us to have separate rooms but we were always very close. We were very similar and had exactly the same size figures; even our voices were and are still identical. Mom dressed us the same until about Grade 5. Then we got the idea that if we had different clothes then we'd have twice the wardrobe. Our friends can tell the difference between us but sometimes it's hard. It's really interesting how some people can tell right away the differences between us, and others like my aunt still can't tell us apart. Saskatoon is fairly small and you get to know quite a few people.

I'll pass by people downtown or at the university and they'll say, "Hi" and I have no idea who they are but I just say, "Hi" back.

I went to Sunday school. Actually my sister and I went for about four years but it turned out that she and I were the only girls in the class. In our class they were all boys so we just quit and started attending church upstairs with Mom.

My dad's dad came to Canada in the 1920s from Russia. They had been forced off the land in Germany earlier and had moved to Russia. Then they were forced off the land again, in Russia after the revolution, and came to Canada. They got the land here cheap, I don't know how much they paid, but close to nothing. My dad's brother is still on the same original homestead in Millet, AB. It's between

Edmonton and , but closer to Edmonton.

My last name, Melnikel, is the Russian equivalent of Mueller, which is

German for Miller. When they moved to Russia the Russian pronunciation of Miller sounded like Melnikel so then they just kept Melnikel when they came to Canada.

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My dad is only 49 years old. He had 11 brothers and sisters. He's in the middle somewhere. He came here to Saskatchewan to find work. Now, he's a truck driver, long hauls. He goes down to California a lot, back and forth. He used to go to

Florida. He kind of goes all over. He runs to and as well.

My mom and dad were divorced when I was four so I didn 1 t have much of a relationship with him the whole time I was growing up. A couple of years ago, since my dad got separated from his second wife, he's been attempting to find a place in my life.

We1 re kind of just getting to know each other now. Sometimes I feel like it is too late.

When we were growing up he wasn1t there a lot and now he says it was because of his wife but I still don1t know if it was. He tried but he was a truck driver and he wasn1t in

Saskatoon very often you know. It was just that he was there ifhe wasthere and if he wasn1t, he wasn't. He's trying to get back together with my sister too. He's really trying, though. I don't really know what to make of it. I don't feel really attached to him like the way I should, to a father. I feel more of an attachment to my grandfather, my mom's dad. He was the one that was a father figure to me. I'm not saying that I don't want a relationship with my dad, I do, but it's hard for me. I don't know how to try and love him. Maybe I eventually will. It's hard to talk to him.

He's like a stranger to me but yet I get the feeling that he wants me to think of him as a father. It must be hard for him too. He doesn't have any other children.

I 1 m sure some people want to leave Saskatoon but I don't. I love it here. I think it 1 s just the right size and I like the seasons. Winters are hard and cold but I don't mind it. The are beautiful and hot. I like the extremes and we get a bit

48

of everything. I know I haven't lived anywhere else but, "If something1s not broke, why fix it?" I'm happy here.

Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, is dirtier than Saskatoon. It's bigger and the are not kept up as well. There are more native people in Regina; not that I have anything against native people. Sometimes I believe that the natives are getting too much. A lot of them come to find jobs in Saskatoon but mostly they just get in trouble. I don't really have to deal with them in my everyday life. I realize that they were the first people here but I don't think that means they should have first rights to everything. I've heard that they're allowed to hunt any season, anytime. Well, I believe they abuse that because of the stories that I've heard. I don't really believe in putting natives on reserves and allowing them to just do whatever they want. I think it should be that Canada's Canada and every citizen should be exactly the same.

Whether they were here thousands of years before us doesn't matter to me. I mean I was born here and I believe that this is my country just as much as it is theirs.

Therefore, I think we should all be treated equally and if they don't want to work I think they should be forced to work. We build houses for them. They can hunt anytime they want to. They don't pay provincial tax. I don't think it's fair. I mean, I'm struggling. I have to pay bills and pay taxes and why should they not have to? To have self- determination means they have to find a way to make their own money.

It kind of scares me, the thing with Quebec. It's fine if they separate but you know Canada is Canada. I'd like it to stay together. I don't know why we can't just get along. If they did form their own country it would split up Canada.

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We feel hard done by out here. Sometimes we feel like we're forgotten.

Mostly it comes up when the 649 lottery winner is announced. Every single time it's someone from Quebec or Toronto but never anybody in the West, I guess it's just because of population. I mean more people buy more tickets. It's also because of geography. We are further away from the centre of Canada. Calgary's pretty important and Vancouver is pretty big.

I don't blame immigrants for wanting to come here. I see a lot of Orientals but

I'm sure not as many as in Vancouver or Toronto. This part of the world is a big draw because we live in the breadbasket of the world.

Gas prices are a big thing in Saskatoon. Next door is Alberta where we get our oil from so why should Toronto pay less for their gas than we do? Even in

Saskatoon it's always been an issue because gas in Saskatoon is higher than any other place in Saskatchewan.

There aren't a lot of jobs in Saskatchewan because we have small cities and there are a lot of people who want the same job. Our two universities keep turning out all these educated people but there's nowhere for them to go or anywhere for them to work. I think we're going to have to start changing. I don't see the point in

Saskatchewan spending all this money on educating people just to send them somewhere else. We have to create somewhere for our own educated people to work.

The politicians keep saying they want to create jobs but I've never really seen it. I think the whole idea of university is changing, at least here, because we have to have more trade-type jobs. Not everybody can be a high-level, educated person, because

50

what's going to happen to the bus driver, the warehouse people and so on? The type of

companies we have here don't need highly educated people.

When Saskatchewan was established it was a toss-up between who got the capital and who got the university. Regina got the capital city and we got the university. Saskatchewan has a lot of potash and uranium.

There are some good opportunities here, but it just seems there are not enough and I guess there isn't enough funding in areas like education and health care, which are the two major things for me anyway. Those would be the two areas that I'd like to get into. In nursing there are absolutely no jobs. There are other cut backs in health care and that scares me partly because Saskatchewan was the birthplace of medicare.

A lot of my friends are okay about moving away, but I want to stay with my mom and my family and my nephew. I'd like to stay here. I think my fiance does too.

Right now, my career isn 1t my main priority in life. I guess it's my fiance now. He 1s a biologist for Agriculture Canada. He's working term-to-term but there is opportunity to stay here, I think. He's from Unity, SK. He graduated from U of S and now this job he's got at Agriculture Canada is on campus. It's all funded by the government.

Right now he's working on crop research like biological control of pests instead of chemical control. He's doing work with the Bertha worm and diamondback moths; they are pests on canola.

I'm a real homebody. I think a lot of Saskatchewan people are like that for some reason. Toronto's about the only place I've been to. Just this summer my dad asked me to go on a run with him to Sacramento. That was exciting, but it was

enough for me, I could take it or leave it. Driving in the truck wasn't really travelling, but he stopped a little bit for me. It allowed me to get to know him better.

We spent eight days together. We stopped in Reno and gambled for an hour.

I think our social system is one of the things that makes Canada what it is. If we didn't have these social programs we might as well be in the . I think it's important to keep medicare and to keep our system of welfare. There is a place for it and there are times when people genuinely do need it and I'd always like to believe that it would be there for anyone when they need it. I think that things like the CBC13 and unemployment insurance are what makes Canada Canada.

It scares me about the Canada Pension Plan because I just know that when I retire it's not going to be there and I'm just glad that I'm young enough to start saving now. I'm worried for my mom because she's 40 and she always believed that Canada

Pension would be there for her and I hope it is. but sometimes I worry that she's going to suffer. I have already started buying RRSPs. 14

I do feel positive about the future, but I worry about money and my retirement already and I'm only 22. I know I have time to save, but that's probably the biggest thing I worry about. As far as my future I know I'll always be happy here.

I know a few people who either lost their job or quit their job, because they didn't like it, and say, "Well, I'll just live on 'pogey' for six months." I don't really have that frame of mind. I would think I would use it if I had to use it, but some people are just there to take advantage of whatever they can. I don't know any way to fix that other than taking away the benefits from everybody. I don't think that 1s fair to

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take it from the people who actually need it.

I think Canada will stay together. I would like see us all treated as equals as far as aboriginals are concerned. I wish that they would say that we can just share this country.

References (for Section 5)

13. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or CBC has two networks, one in English and one in French. It is funded 80% by the government. It is one of the so-called binding institutions (along with the post office, trans-Canada highway and Air

Canada) that join Canadians from coast to coast. The corporation is highly criticized for not contributing more to defining a Canadian identity.

14. RRSP or registered retirement savings plan, is a form of personal tax deferral pension plan.

J.)

6. Interpretations of Oral Histories

Several themes arose from the analysis of the 64 oral histories. To segment these in relevant categories some reliance was made on ideas discerned in books, media and personal discussions. Nine categories of general themes relevant to

Canadian identity were determined. Within each category, the oral histories most relating to those themes were placed. A short discussion of the author's analysis of each oral history is included. At the end of each category is a list of the indicators found within each category. Quotes or examples from oral histories are used to enhance the author's interpretation of the idea or points expressed.

In Appendix 8 A) one complete oral histories is included for each category.

In addition, a sample is included in Section 5. Each was chosen because it provided a clear story to support the theme of the category. Others not included were just as appropriate.

a) Deference and Conformity

In this section five ordinary Canadians explain how their ethnic circumstances, life experiences and thoughts on what is happening in Canada today might aid in identifying the traits of deference and conformity in Canadians.

These ordinary Canadians are concerned with aspects of life that challenge two very important aspects of Canadian identity: deference and conformity.

Deference means deferring to a higher authority to lead the way. This higher authority may be the government, the church, or individual parents or community

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leaders. Canadians have generally followed this principle, established originally through the mechanism of Confederation. Decisions were ultimately deferred to the

British Empire. The cutting of this umbilical cord evolved over time but was not finally cut until the late 1940s when Canada began issuing its own passports and the

Canadian Supreme Court became the final legal institution rather than the British

Privy Council.

The reason that Canadians have adopted the attributes of deference and conformity can be partly explained by Canada's evolvement as a social democracy.

Its economy is a combination of private enterprise--often times financed by foreign capital, and public enterprise consisting of crown corporations, co-operatives and government-regulated corporations. Throughout its history the country has been rich in natural resources but without the internal ability, experience or financial resources to fully exploit them to advantage. Foreign capital was needed to exploit natural resources which were exported and then imported back again in some further state of manufacture. In the early part of Canada's development the commodity pricing of natural resources was not stable and the resultant market swings created an unbalanced economy. This unbalance was one of the reasons public solutions such as social welfare programs were developed to protect those hurt in these swings. The prairie province of Saskatchewan was an early incubator for social programs such as public-funded healthcare, farmer support programs and collectives and co-ops. A sparsely populated region covering massive geographic areas contributed to a community-oriented, collective approach. John Rogoshewsky, a retired

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Saskatchewan farmer explained how when he was much younger, his community

dealt with its medical needs, "There was a town near here which had a municipal

doctor. The community hired the doctor to look after the people. When you were

sick you went to see the doctor, they paid his wages. They had a hospital and had it

for years. It was all local initiative."

Canada, being a social democracy allows for all members to belong socially.

It is more inviting and allows for fairer distribution of common support. Support of belonging is shown through the values that people hold and the general attitude of

Canadians for each other. While Canadians belong they tend to defer to a greater authority and conform to win collective acceptance.

Anoka Salisbury

Anoka Salisbury, an 18 year-old Metis, is proud of her heritage. She has an independent attitude and has had part-time jobs since she was 13. Her values are based upon her strong relationship with her aboriginal mother and her involvement with the Christian church since she was very young. She maintains a distant relationship with her English father. Also her experiences working and being brought up in a single-parent home have contributed to her maturity.

Anoka is concerned about being unable to get off the social welfare treadmill should she ever be forced on it like her mother is from time to time. She explains,

"Once you're on it, it's too hard to get off" She didn't like the attitude that was shown to her at least two times in a pharmacy when she went to get medication for

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her hearing problem. Just because it was covered by social assistance, "They waited on me last and they looked at me bad and they said, 'oh those are the social assistance people'."

Her security and her world is in , Manitoba to which she and her mother returned after her parents split up. Her mother's family was there.

She recognizes the benefits of higher learning and wants to go to college or university to pursue a degree in social work. She is taking a year off between high school and university to work and experience life. But she is scared of the costs of getting an education and it bothers her that she will be saddled with a large student loan debt when she graduates. She fears that the achievement of an education is only obtainable by the rich.

One of the things that bothers her is technology. She fears not being able to keep up with the quickly changing state of technology and doubts her ability to understand it. Will she be able to take advantage of what it offers?

She is predisposed by what life has to offer and at her early stage recognizes the pitfalls of making some wrong moves early in life. She knows that mistakes such as getting married young or choosing not to continue her education, could unalterably affect the rest of her life.

Anoka is bilingual and tells an interesting story of meeting two young, French• speaking males from Quebec in a bar one summer evening. They were hitch-hiking across Canada to pick apples in BC for the summer. Because they couldn't speak

English, she was the only person in the establishment they could communicate with.

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During the discussion, they told her that they just wanted to promote Quebec "not so much putting you guys down, we're just bringing us up." This passionate statement illustrated the view of feeling second-class. This statement voiced by two youths speaks for the francophone attitude. They expressed their differences and feel they must show it by separating from what they have been part of for centuries. Anoka admired their sincerity but rejected their strategy.

Michael Kazeil

Michael Kazeil is a 26-year-old systems analyst living in Edmonton, Alberta.

His father is Lebanese and mother is Slovakian. Both parents were born in Canada but still make a point to celebrate their heritage and culture through food and family events.

Michael was educated in a private which he credits for instilling family and ethical values. He regards himself as lucky that his parents were able to afford to send him to such a school. He has maintained close ties with some of his former classmates and they form his social and business network to this day.

He learned the value of volunteer work through his school experience. He feels that he has a responsibility as a member of society to volunteer and participate in the political process.

He is concerned about the proliferation of gambling and the availability of video lottery terminals (VLTs) in Alberta. "It attracts clientele that can't afford to be there, let alone play these gambling machines." He feels it is not a fair way to gain

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funds from the pockets of those who can least afford it. He is a member of the Liberal party and was active in the recent provincial election pursuing the issue of excess availability of VLT gambling. He believes that a more appropriate social issue to pursue in Alberta is reducing the level of child poverty.

He is at odds with the current conservative/reform philosophy regarding social welfare in Alberta. Alberta is a have province and one of three provinces that provide transfer funds to the other have-not provinces. It is lucky that its wealth comes from oil resources. This fact makes Albertans feel self-congratulatory, but at the same time tends to make them feel underappreciated by the rest of Canada. In general, he does not condone a policy where everyone should pay their own health and education costs. He feels these are benefits the state should provide on an equal and standardized basis. His feelings are that through government, "They don't care about the poor, the hungry or the meek." However he believes deep down Albertans and

Canadians as a people do care and showed their support with the level of relief they gave to the flood victims in Southern Manitoba in the Spring of 1997.

He is proud of being a Canadian and refers to himself as a Canadian first and

Westerner second. His measurement of what is Canadian is by comparing them to

American traits, "...we're ourselves, we're a more polite culture, we're not quite as forceful, less wasteful and not as self-absorbed."

He does believe that Quebec is distinct but the separatists are premature in believing they can separate and survive on their own. He wants to ensure that if the province does separate they assume their fair share of Canada's debts, which he

assumes they will never be able to repay. He wonders further what they will do for a postal system or the military and other such things.

Maria Radford

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A a)

Maria Radford is a teacher and administrator at a private girls' school in

Toronto. She is from the US but emigrated to Canada with her husband when he got a professorship at a Canadian university. She is concerned with the state of social welfare in Canada and its ability to promote a level of security and fairness for everyone which in turn inspires a mark from which to create some level of identity

"My attitude towards social programs is that they are part of the glue of our society, and without them we'd be meaner and not as nice a place to be."

She is also concerned with the effectiveness of volunteer-sector utility although she admits it is not a substitute for government programs. "I think volunteer work is wonderful. ..In my ethics course I require all students in Grade 10 to do at least eight hours community service throughout the year." Philanthropy is very much a part of the Canadian psyche. She's always seen Canadians as being relatively more willing to give of their time and money to charitable causes.

Being an American she sees the differences between the two countries as one of institutions. Americans fear of government has "translated into very weak institutions." In the United States the interest is more in "individual liberty.''

Canadians rely more on their governments to provide social programs and are willing

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to pay taxes for this "collective security." "Peace, order and good government" as compared to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," is her summary contrasting

Canada and the United States. She indicates that health care as an institution in

Canada is the one of the main differentiations between the two countries.

She feels that politicians act very professionally in Canada. The government is more accessible to the people but at the same time it follows party-line adherence, establishing the party in power to carry out its initiatives. There is not as much political defections or special-interest group persuasion as in the US. She feels

Canadian politicians have the public interest in mind, no matter what special-interest groups say, in a general sort of way. In addition to institutions being run professionally, she also has great respect for the Canadian police; they look professional and act in a caring manner. She does not fear them like she fears police in the US and sees them as people who help people.

Unfortunately with government cut backs and a rationalization of social welfare because of conservative sentiment, she comments that "I feel that changes are taking place..and I bemoan the change."

When she watched the discussion over Quebec separation leading up to the referendum of October, 1995 she was amazed that, "Beating the shit out of them," wasn't seen as an appropriate argument. But Canadians being as they are, their federation has not and probably won't be tested through war. Their approach is to talk politely and when a decision is made negotiate over the procedures. Where there might be profound tension will be over Canada protecting the rights of aboriginals

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and English-speaking Canadians in Quebec.

Where Maria hits the point of deference and conformity on the head is with her acknowledgement that the ruling class has always felt an obligation to look out for others less well off, "I think there is a type of elitism in Canada...I don't mean it in a negative sense necessarily. It's that respected professionals include a certain 'noblesse oblige' and they feel a responsibility to those not at the same social level as them."

Roy Geldart

Roy Geldart is a 36-year-old police officer in Moncton, New Brunswick. He left his hometown for training and had early police experience away from home but eventually returned to the Moncton area to live and work because his mother was there. He believes his values came from his great family life while he was growing up. "I would like to think that I have some of Dad's qualities, that I work hard because of what I learned from him." He is so appreciative of this value-set to this day, and remarks, " It makes me very sad to know what these kids are missing."

He believes people adapt to their environments. Some families see it as normal now to have single parents on welfare and parents on drugs or alcohol. "What you grow up around and what you see around you is the key to your learning." He is involved in the church and sings in the choir.

He is unilingual English in an area where there is a large French population.

In fact, his job with the Moncton police service is being monitored because of the pressure by certain groups to acquire more bilingual officers. He acknowledges that

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the , the French-speaking people of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, are protective about their heritage, identity and culture and he admits that if he was one he would also want to protect it They are able to gain respect and obtain certain rights without pushing for outright separation. In this regard, Quebec is pushing for too much. In the sense of deference and conformity, he says, "Call or

BC or Alberta a along with Quebec but I think that the rights should be the same across the board, west, down east, wherever. I know that's a pretty naive statement but it sounds good to me."

Angie lvfullally

Angie Mullally is a 21-year-old Fried Chicken cashier living in

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. She has recently moved away from her home in a small village, and moved to the big city with a girl friend. She doesn't fear change, desires independence, is open-minded and likes everybody. "I'm open• minded, I guess, I like whomever." This is commentary about Canadians as a whole.

She says, "I am a Maritimer too but I'd rather be thought of as a Canadian. I think I am a Canadian." One day when she was working in her store some tourists came in from the States and commented how friendly she was. But she was quick to add, "I'm nice to everyone."

Angie knows she may have to move out of the province to find a job. In fact she will be moving to Halifax in the near future to take an aesthetician course. She has many ideas for her future and has a positive attitude. She realizes that some of

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her friends will never leave the island. They will marry, have kids and live there forever. She candidly admits that she couldn't imagine not going anywhere. She believes people on the island are a little more sheltered than Canadians in other provmces.

Her family is quite religious and she is trying to keep up the routine of going to church while on her own. She and her friend will start going to church on Saturday evenings on a regular basis in Charlottetown.

She feels annoyed about the unemployed workers on the island who take advantage of the employment insurance (EI) program and don't look for work. She knows darn well that people leave the island, work for six months somewhere and then return to collect EI for the next six months. She doesn't approve of that. As a consequence she believes the island is looked upon as a province of unemployed. She thinks it is an unfair perception that some islanders don't do anything to change.

She doesn't want Quebec to separate because, "It's part of Canada. I just don't want them to leave...to just drive through and know that it's a part of Canada. You feel more comfortable like it's your own country still."

Deference and conformity are related principles that Canadians have unconsciously adopted and follow as distinguishing characteristics of their identity.

Both are in line with compromising and accommodating which are the more common references interviewees have offered. Conforming is a survival technique for co• operation and collective action.

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The platform for social democracy that is evident in Canada consists of three main parts, all regulated and fully or partly subsidized by the federal government so as to maintain minimum standards. The first, public education, is provided by the provinces but available more or less on the same standard regardless of rural or urban; the second, government intervention in social and economic activities through crown corporations, regulated industries or private industry grants and subsidies; and third, redistribution of money from have to have-not provinces by the federal government. These equality of access policies have served the country well through the years. However, it has created some level of alienation from provinces such as

Alberta and British Columbia which are have provinces supporting a have-not province such as Quebec which continues to appear to take and take without acknowledgement of the direct benefits it receives because of the policies. The provincial health care systems, which are supported and standardized by the federal government, are part of the redistribution policy. Free health care is a primary point brought up by interviewees as being the main differentiation between the lifestyles in

Canada and the US. Consequently, these three policies, to the point where they can be described as institutions, have been major contributors in forming the social democracy approach to the Canadian identity collectively and individually.

Institutions, structures and systems are the result of human interaction.

Canadians tend to structure these thoughtfully and with the interests of the whole as the basis. However, it is proven whenever human beings interact, negotiating interests of regional, linguistic, and multicultural groups tend to dilute their collective

0.)

effectiveness. Generally in Canada, even considering the number of issues that divide, this interaction tends to be cohesive and for the collective good rather than individualistic or transactional.

Indicators of deference and conformity:

-In Canada, being a social democracy where social programs and policies are in place to substitute for individuality, and provide minimal support levels, the tendency is that there is a level of passive conformity of acceptance or expectation that the programs be used. Breaking through this barrier so as not to have to use these programs is not rejecting conformity but accepting it on an individual's terms. A level of dissatisfaction with social programs is evident for two reasons: one, perceived abuse of programs, and two, the fact that because of cutbacks to programs to reduce fiscal deficits the continuation of social programs as enjoyed in the past is indeterminable.

-The formal institution of the church continues to be an influence. If parents can manage it they can send their children to religious-based private schools. With some young people it results in a life-influencing experience. It works because the institution provides the framework for thoughtful consideration of ideals resulting in an evolvement of personal, family and ethical values. These ideals hopefully carry on throughout life and influence society in the future.

-The structure of Canadian institutions has been fashioned in response to specific

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needs. There is an acceptance of political leadership that allows for structuring institutions that in turn provide for collective social needs. This trust goes both ways.

The common people trust their leaders, and the leaders or elite take this faith very seriously and professionally and are bound by that responsibility.

-The influence of family is evident. This deference to fathers and mothers goes way beyond their lifetime. Many have referenced that they hope they have some of the qualities and values they remember from their parents. It is a legacy that what was learned or impressed upon them is not lost. This deferential sensibility helps form an ongoing Canadian identity.

-Through conformity some citizens of communities or regions are satisfied with their circumstances because change would require adaptation. Complaining or blaming others for a situation is a comforting alternative to change.

b) Complexity

In this section seven ordinary Canadians explain how their experiences and interactions in Canadian society might result in traits and characteristics of social complexity being part of the Canadian identity.

Canadian society is complex. Multiculturalism, the four-founding-peoples concept (see Section 3 c) iv), regional alienation, questioning of spiritual guidance and massive geographical area contribute to this complexity.

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Moreover, the geographic area of Canada is vast and sparsely populated except along the US border. As well, Canada lacks a critical density of population which means among other things, social services are expensive to deliver in a uniform manner. The land is rich in resources but the cost to extract it is high. This stewardship of the land provides a relationship and pride with the land but also presents an undaunting responsibility. The ordinary Canadian has little say in the administration of the vastness and this contributes to the compromising sensibility of letting those in power administer it on their behalf Also the climate contributes to the complexity. Some areas such as Vancouver and are livable year round. But in other areas the extremes of winter and summer contribute to a lifestyle that must adapt. In parts of Canada, for instance in Edmonton and north, hours of daylight vary from 20 hours in the summer to eight in the winter. These factors imply a survival sensibility, one that favours cooperation over competition.

Ryan Visser

Ryan Visser, a young man going to university studying law enforcement, lives at home in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He was brought up with family values partly instilled by Christian church teachings. He is perplexed by breakdown in family structures and legal and general acceptance of same sex and single parent families as opposed to the traditional family structures. "...the church encourages

families and I believe in that. It's a building block for society and it's getting knocked

down which in turn knocks society down."

Shelly Anderson

Shelly Anderson is a 27-year-old living in Yellowknife, Northwest

Territories. She is married to a Newfoundlander of European descent and has one child. She and her husband hunt and fish but she does it for him so that he can appreciate the outdoors.

She works in the Dene Nation office and is personally very much concerned with aboriginal issues. She thinks of herself as a Canadian and proudly states, "No one can tell me to go home because I am home. I am a Dene." Respecting the hierarchy of the Dene Nation, she made it clear that she was not an elder and that therefore her stories were hers and that she was not to be taken as an official representative for the Dene Nation.

The Catholic church was very influential in her parents' and grandparents' lives. Her grandparents worked at the Catholic mission for a pittance. She freely admits that the church took advantage of them. A property was taken from them by the church and sold to the Hudsons Bay Company. Her grandparents got nothing.

The grandfather especially became quite bitter about the church. Shelly remembers her grandfather saying, "I will never go back to that church again. The next time that

I go in, I'll be laying in a coffin." Her grandmother went through life reconciling what the church said about her lifestyle. She was convinced she was a sinner if she didn't go to church on Sunday. Her children would be outcasts if she taught them anything but English.

She is very resentful for the role that mission schools played in aboriginal life.

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She knows that on one hand they allowed for the natives to learn about the

mainstream society but it also forced them to ignore their culture and past. The

English language plays an important role now because it is the communication link

between the past and the present and the method of studying heritage.

Western societal values have changed aboriginal lifestyle forever. She

indicated that, "Society says 'I' am number one."

She pointed out that women have an important role to play in native society.

Other societies think women are treated poorly. She explains how, "a woman has the

power to be both a woman and a man. A man does not."

She explains that the natives are "sleeping right now" because of the

destructive influence of alcohol and drugs. Although the natives are becoming more

empowered all the time, they still look to the Department of Indian Affairs and vice

versa for some master plan to combat the problem. It has to be dealt with for the

overall betterment of society.

Unemployment rates in the north are high for natives. It appears any skilled

jobs go to outsiders.

Michael Parise

Michael Parise is a young Italian in his early 20s out to seek adventure in

Canada for a three month stint, justifying the excursion in order to learn the English

language better. He recognizes that his future business prospects depend on his

knowing English. It is interesting that he chose to view the North American

/U

experience from Canada as opposed to the US.

He offers an interesting perspective on lifestyles and social interaction, "I also noticed when there are line ups at the bank or in a shop everyone stays in line. Back in Italy everybody just goes up to the counter and butts in."

He also offers an interesting comment on Italians living in Canada in that they want to converse with him in Italian whereas he wants to communicate with them in

English. Newly arrived immigrants still feel a part of their original heritage. He was referring to an Italian acquaintance, "His friends are there and he always speaks

Italian to his friends in Canada, rather than English. He's got Italy in the heart."

Michael comments that what is going on in Quebec is not unique to Canada.

Even in Italy there are differences between the north and south and resentment over the haves supporting the have-nots.

He concludes that, "I'm beginning to understand more about Canada since

I've been here. I've been here almost a month now and it is indeed different."

Mike Willis

Mike Willis is 40 years old. He lives in , Ontario with his wife and two- year-old son. When he was 21 and in the armed forces he had a bad traffic accident.

Because he was unable to collect welfare or receive any pensions he lowered himself to prostitution in order to live. This lifestyle eventually led to other activities with minors and eventually six years incarceration. The whole time he was in denial and would not personally accept he had an "addiction." He came to accept it

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as a chemical imbalance and not hereditary.

By accepting psychological help and following a program, he is now a productive part of society with a good job. The thing that keeps him going now is remembering the sound of the cell door slamming behind him. He is critical of others who deny their problems, "One thing I've always learned to say is, and never say anymore is 'but', because when you say 'but,' that means that you're never really sure that what you said was in your head or not...I've always said if somebody's got a perfect life then they' re obviously lying or they' re dodging the government really well."

He feels that education is influenced from the home, "You have to have somebody at the home who understands about education. What good is knowledge if nobody else really cares."

He acknowledges that Quebec is a beautiful province. He goes on to say that,

"All they want is respect, to be recognized." He relates a story about how a French• speaking cop helped him tow his car 40 km up near Riviere du Loup because his radiator was frozen, "It was something he didn't have to do...If you look at them you can communicate. You don't have to talk French to get by in that province."

Based on his circumstances and experiences he has adopted a strong attitude about life in order to keep going, "Life is a gift and you have to make the best of it, even as the world around you is collapsing."

He sees the Canadian tradition of being benevolent to others both internally and externally as an identifying characteristic. However, in this sense the country

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goes overboard accommodating minority groups. He cites the examples of omitting the singing of the and the saying of The Lord's Prayer so as not to offend those with other beliefs. In this approach the majority becomes the victim. He gives an analogy about the multicultural policy in Canada, "We have to look at these traditions as sort of like turkey dressing. We realize that too many people were getting sick from the dressing because it wasn't being prepared properly. We have to look at how we prepare it and that's really all we've got to do. Just sort of reset our goals."

Pat Crcrn:ford

Pat Crawford is a 49-year-old mining supervisor who was raised in Northern

Ontario and has a whole family history of mining. Currently he works in a salt mine in western Ontario. He proudly points out that one can make a lot of money in mining but you have to adapt to the demands of small community life which often have limited social resources, "When you're back in those kind of places you can sock it away but when you go out you've got to be able to spend it too."

He related a story about how much the church can become a part of life in a community, "In Tungsten, with a population of just 300 there was a new minister who came in once a week to have a service. He usually came in Sunday night and there were always so few people showing up that the wife would go to church because she felt so terrible. So she used to drag me to the church just so it wouldn't look so bad." The town showed respect for the effort, and in turn there was

/.)

an outlet for religious needs.

He talks about the different immigrants who worked in the mines. Some groups stayed together and ancient animosities showed themselves. But they became

Canadianized very quickly, bought houses and cars and learned English from their children who were going to school. But people are people, "You might have different colour or you might speak with an accent, but you're not different, you're still a person."

He believes that there is a lot more to Canada's problems than unity. He thinks we are, and should be, all responsible for our own destiny. The future is going to be tough for everyone. This relates to aboriginals who must get back their dignity and win respect rather than look for continuous handouts. Young people must not be taken advantage of because they are the future. "Everybody is part-time help but they want them to be loyal employees as well."

Environmentally, regarding mining companies, he pointed out that they must now have plans and funding in place to ensure that after exploiting the site it can be returned to as close to its original state as possible.

Kenny MacDonald

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A b).

Kenny MacDonald is a lobster harvester in Prince Edward Island. He accepts the fact that he can only harvest two months per year. By accepting the reality he is able to continue enjoying the island to its fullest. He never has been lured away

'/4

for other opportunities. Although once, when he was a teen, he went to Ontario to pick leaves.

In the long off season he gets involved in community programs such as Meals on Wheels. He has lots of time for his wife, daughter and two grandsons.

He only went to Grade 8. He indicates that most of his school friends went into fishing. He recognizes there is a lifestyle on the island. He is not self-centred.

He doesn't think much of what is happening in Quebec. He finds they are unreasonable, that they are "Blackmailing everybody, they're never satisfied."

He related a story that in its basic format seemed acceptable but underlying it was the contempt of anyone who stood in the way of progress. "Back years ago whenever the Europeans started to settle you were allowed to shoot one and only one. They cleaned them out down there basically. That's how they did it but the law said you were only allowed to shoot one."

Gary Brooks

Gary Brooks is a self-employed glazier who lives and works north of Toronto.

His guiding light was the values he learned from his father who saw things black or white. "I don't think you'd find a straighter arrow than my father." He told the story of going to a hunting camp with a friend, "I remember once there were two jackknives in one of them so we each took one and brought it home proud as anything..,the next day my dad turned me around saying, 'You came out with it now you go back with it and put it back where you got it."' He had to walk ten more miles 75

to return that jackknife.

He doesn't believe in organized religion, though he believes strongly in a

Creator, "there's something that's in charge of perfection." He comments that humans have the ability to reason. But it is not used for the betterment of the future but for short term current needs.

Adding to the dimension of complexity, Canada is rife with regional dissatisfaction or alienation. There are at least six identifiable regions each consisting of their own unique culture and history. Each of these regions have some level of problems with differing aspects of the country's political organization. In addition, several groups including aboriginal, francophone and multicultural groups are unhappy with their respective roles and influence in the organization. This alienation stems from having a smaller say in the bigger picture and emanates from a sense of context. These regions and groups each have demands on the federal government and on what a larger collective society can provide. All these lead to a questioning of a central identity.

From this dissatisfaction, Canadian identity is further defined in respects to the individual whose knowledge and attempts to understand the root meaning of this dissatisfaction gives them a level of self-confidence of living and dealing with this complexity unlike any other citizen in the world. More often than not, fate plays a large role in the life of ordinary Canadians. Fate and complexity frustrate but at the same time further define identity. There is a constant search for balance among the 76

different antagonisms, not the elimination or vanquishing of them, but an equilibrium.

In this regard, those groups unhappy (ie women, natives, minorities etc) have to devise their own subset of stories and body of historical information in order to best describe their roles and responsibilities.

Indicators of complexity

-Jobs and the ability to obtain employment are an indication of the complexity of

Canadian society. Young people have gone into debt in order to get their education and are unable to get appropriate positions in their chosen fields.

-Traditions of social groups have been legalized through the evolvement of a society.

However some rights of emerging minorities, such as sexual-based relationships, are demanded causing consternation with those who have based their faith in acceptance of traditional ideals. This acceptance of tradition versus reality leads to complexity.

-Social values of different groups either must be accepted or rejected by others. This complex concept is the basis for the mosaic approach to Canada's official multicultural policy. This means the majority generally concedes to the minorities.

It is also painful for some groups to have to accept the values of others in order to proceed with life. This is especially important for aboriginals whose way of life has changed in order for them to extract the full benefits of society. 77

-Acceptance of a new home such as Canada has certain responsibilities. Some say the main responsibility is to communicate in one of the two official . Some immigrants can't bring themselves to do that because their heart is not in Canada but where they came from.

-Daily life is complex. It affects the physical and mental well being of all members.

Most cope, others don't. In Canada, those that do cope, have an unconscious drive to help those that don't.

-In a country as physically vast and sparsely populated as Canada, there is the added social complexity of accepting what small communities can offer to individuals in the sense that social services available there are often not as abundant as in larger communities.

-Complexity of the Canadian society is eased by the acceptance of reality. Rules and laws are made to ensure continuation of society. Rejection of these means using up scare resources and consequently a short-term view. Acceptance means continuation and a long-term view.

-The Creator casts a heavy hand over the complex society known as Canada. The feeling is that regardless of what has been shaped and organized by man, it is always subject to the acceptance thereof by a greater being.

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c) Historical Dimensions

In this section seven ordinary Canadians tell their personal stories and share their family roots from a historical dimension perspective in order to cast some light on its influence on determining the Canadian identity.

Part of Canada's complexity is rooted in its four-founding peoples concept.

This ethnocentric view of nationhood is valuable but tends to be exclusive and ultimately divisive. The anglophones and francophones along with the aboriginals, and immigrants (or new Canadians as they are referred to since the official multiculturalism policy was set in place in 1970) represent each category. At one time or another all Canadians were immigrants but this category now refers to the diversity of immigrants which for the most part are visible minorities. Aboriginals have trouble accepting this, because they have always been here. Shelly Anderson, a

Dene in the says, "I think of myself as Canadian because I was born here, but so were my ancestors prior to European contact. No one can tell me to go home because I am home." Aboriginals greatly influenced the shaping of

Canada's westward expansion because their support was utilized for guidance, food, tactics and negotiation. The Metis are a lasting reminder of the early cooperation with the French and English.

Because of this dimension of competitive roots each group creates conflict and a sense of questioning of identity. Some combination of the four provides a level of identification either as a whole or in relation to any of the groups respectively.

Anglophones imagine Canada as including francophones, without them there would

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not be that unique differentiation that Canada now has.

Francophones represent 25 per cent of the Canadian population. For the most part, the francophone majority is centred in the province of Quebec. Of that 25 per cent, 58 per cent can only speak French. This makes it difficult for them to conceive of themselves as part of the larger geographic area that they can't and most likely don't want to comprehend. Prime Minister 's vision for a united

Canada, in the early , was to turn the rest of Canada outside Quebec into a bilingual nation as a counter policy to the rising demands of a sovereign Quebec.

Throughout the and especially in the past 30 years, concerns about unity and the place and role for Quebec in the federation has sidetracked politicians and citizens from experiencing the fullness of a larger identity.

Willie Papineau

In the historical dimension sense, Willie Papineau represents aboriginals. He is a Mohawk which is part of the tribe. He was born on a reserve in the US.

But he could have come just as easily from the Canadian side, "The Indians believe that border is not for us." Aboriginals have gone through periods in history of forced assimilation to periods when they tried to distance themselves from their heritage.

"The life experience that has affected me the most, and clings to me like morning dew, is being brought up Christian in a white man's world..being told not to believe in the traditional values and way of life...They kept me away from a very beautiful body of beautiful information."

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Willie always wanted to be successful. He says a lot of that comes from your background and what your parents teach you. Willie says, "I am going to live here the rest of my life. A lot of Indians move off the reserve and that's their choice, but this is home to me because the relatives are here."

He worked for the Ministry of Indian Affairs for many years, but he wasn't getting promotions because, "I never kissed asses my whole life so I wasn't going to start then." He wanted to spend his free time with his family. In his 40s, he was able to realize his goal of having his own business by starting a restaurant in Cornwall,

Ontario.

Willie discusses the conflict between status natives and non-status natives.

Status natives are legally recognized by the federal government and entitled to certain benefits if they remain on a reserve. The point is even within homogeneous groups there are conflicts among subgroup; and it is no different within the native groups.

He feels the hurts all aboriginals because it doesn't allow them to stand on their own two feet. This cocoon encourages them not to fight for things because they get them by keeping quiet, "We are not ready to go out on our own...the Indian Act needs to be eliminated."

There is a renewed interest in Indian culture by Indians themselves. At one time it was uncool to show any interest. "A few years ago I wanted to be like a white man with short hair. It wasn't cool then to be an Indian." Now, encouraged by the multiculturalism policy there is a self-interest in the history and languages of cultures that were almost lost. Interestingly enough, English is the main link between the past,

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present and future.

Willie related an interesting story about intergenerational responsibility.

Indian traditional philosophy looks seven generations down the road, "What's good for those kids seven generations down the road is what you base your decision on today....those grand-grand-grandkids will look back and say that son-of-a-bitch back there, he did that. He used barrels of oil or contaminants so we can't live here and nothing can grow here."

Willie's identity is aboriginal and not necessarily rooted within the Canadian construct, ''I'm not a Canadian Mohawk or Mohawk Canadian. I'm a North

American Indian."

Simon Au

Simon Au represents new Canadians. He came with his parents from Hong

Kong to a distant and alien part of Canada in Newfoundland. Now at 20 years old and going to university in Vancouver, British Columbia, he admits that his parents didn't come to Canada to make it their home, it was more to establish an alterative for a base when was handed back to the Chinese. As a consequence, his parents have now returned to Hong Kong to reestablish themselves and Simon is left in Canada to get a Western education and decide for himself if he wants to remain in

Canada or return to where his family and roots are. His identity is in the air

"Since I have moved around so much and had so many changes, I don't really know where my home is. I don't really know where my roots are. It's sort of like I can't

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really see where I am and can't really see where I'm going." A problem that

immigrants have is that they come to Canada but do not really integrate themselves in

the bigger society. They are more comfortable communicating and dealing with their

own. As Simon indicates, "My parents could never speak much English. And they

never learned it. My dad ended up doing business in his own community and never

had to learn the language. And as a result ended up wanting to go back home."

He referred to his father as an "astronaut", one who flew back and forth to

Hong Kong because he had business interests there. He and other Chinese men used

the argument that they can't earn the money here that they were earning in China. So

they moved back to China to earn the money and send it to Canada for their families.

Most Chinese people want to get the most out of everything, even if they don't

need it. He pointed out that most people like to stick with their own because of the

common backgrounds. They develop the habit of doing the same thing over and over

again and it becomes difficult to get out of the cycle. Some try to integrate

themselves into the larger society but it's really hard. Some can't speak English or

don't know western culture. Some want to but get discouraged.

He says, "In high school some kids discriminated against me, but most were very, very nice." He feels it is better for immigrants to get into small communities without other Chinese or without other similar backgrounds because it's easier for them to integrate into the larger society. "We are forced to integrate rather than falling into the comfort of our group." He notes they mixed well in St. John's,

"They tried to make us feel at home. We were probably the only Chinese in the

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school...I had to force myself to learn English."

He is torn, "Between my family in China and the life I know in Canada.

That's really hard, it really bothers me."

He notes that in his culture the family looks after the grandparents, unlike the western culture which expects the society in general to provide the facilities.

He feels that Canada is a very nice place, with a very quiet, relaxed lifestyle.

"What I really like is that it is completely different from where I came from. Hong

Kong is very fast-paced and busy."

He astutely recognizes that Canada is now regionalized, each represented by a different agenda and political party. "In my point of view there are just too many different parties, it just can't be done. There are too many differences, differences will grow larger and larger and larger."

As a new immigrant, he believes the multicultural policy is good. But the danger is, "we can't compromise with all the different differences." He feels the common connection for those in the pot must be knowledge of English or French.

Bruce Con?fort

Bruce Comfort represents anglophones. He is 41 and can trace his family in

Canada back to the late , arriving from Pennsylvania as United Empire Loyalists

(UEL). UEL' s were the settlers who left the US for Canada at the time of the

American Revolution because they were loyal to the British. "Our farm has been a family farm since our family came here in about 1770." His identity springs from this

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sense of history, "We' re kind of proud of that. It would be difficult for me to just pick up and move somewhere else, because I know I've got a bit of heritage that I have to maintain. There's pride in responsibility." He told the story about the 100th annual reunion of the Comfort family when over 600 relatives showed up from all over North America.

He hopes that one of his young sons will take over the farm to continue the destiny. However, they are too young just now to show any indication of interest.

One of them is interested in dinosaur bones at this point in his life, more than anything else.

Bruce has done some travelling, including spending time in on an agricultural exchange program. His hobby is making wine and he is involved in the local fair, but is not in church too much.

He points out that Canada can't really compete globally, "We don't have much say in the world market. We don't have a big say in the future of agriculture really. We go along with what else is out there. I guess that is a Canadian kind of way."

Bruce believes that, "...Canadians are just natural complainers. But really deep down they're probably pretty proud to be a Canadian."

Marcel Charpentier

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A c).

Marcel Charpentier is 53 years old and retired from the Montreal police force.

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He points out that, "In Quebec the Catholic Church is very influential." However he has strong ideas about what the church has done to the . "They were encouraged to have many children and work the land. This left them impoverished and uneducated." In his opinion, "The French Canadians were hurt more in finances and education by the church than by the anglophones."

Marcel thinks that the French Canadians have a misplaced antagonism against the anglophones for keeping them down over the decades. What he feels is that it was more the influence of the Catholic church; "The church said they had to have kids. It's the will of God. You had French-Canadian families with 14 or 17 kids. It was misery, you know. It kept them in poverty. The only good education for the French

Canadians was either becoming nuns or going into the priesthood. This is the way the church wanted it, because it kept the order and it kept the rest of the population in ignorance."

Marcel made sure that when he was raising his son he gave him choices.

"After we enrolled him in school, a couple of years later, the francophones were forced to send their children to French school. They weren't allowed to go to English school anymore. I used to say to myself that this was stupid! You're handicapping our children, because if he learns English at school he will be better equipped to cope with the business world. I wanted his horizons to be North American. I didn't want his horizons to be just Quebec." After early schooling in French, his son studied at the University of Geneva for a year and then came back to Montreal and finished his university in English in Montreal, graduating in political science. Now his son is a

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sales rep for a German-owned company. "He has to speak to the company's head office in Toronto every day. So the fact that he's fully bilingual is a big plus."

He thinks that "Canada's approach to multiculturalism is wrong...The government is wrong to really bend backwards for other ethnic groups who are coming to Canada." It would seem to indicate here, that with the non-conformity of immigrants and the concessions we make for them we are ensuring that there will never be a Canadian culture. "Instead of promoting the Canadian identity and being proud of being a Canadian, you're sort of mixing with other cultures and eventually there won't be any Canadian identity. Next thing you know we'll amend our flag."

Marcel is categorically against Quebec separating. His opinion comes from an economic viewpoint, " Look at what Quebec would owe the rest of Canada and what Quebec would be left with, what it actually owns, then no way Quebec can make it. Let's face it, right now Quebec is owned by the Americans." His assessment suggests that, "If Quebec separates....down the road you'll have a choice to make.

They can't tell you tomorrow that you're not a Canadian citizen anymore. Separation is going to be hell."

John Rogoshewsky

John Rogoshewsky is a retired farmer living on a farm in a small town in

Saskatchewan. He is from Russia of German extraction. He tells how his parents heard about land going for $10 a section in western Canada. They came over and started homesteading the land east of Regina in 1905, just after the main

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Canadian Pacific Railway went through. John's story of how his parents managed to immigrate shows what strength and determination they had.

John explains the Depression years in the 193Os. It was tough. There was a lot of financial suffering brought on by a lack of crops due to a severe drought and bad farming practices. But they managed with a little bit of income to buy the basics and they survived.

John relates how multiculturalism applies to him. He says "When I started school I couldn't speak English." He explains how the other kids also spoke German and no English. "The next generation down from me, it's hard for them to speak

German because they don't need it. It's too bad. It would be nice to continue the language. But you can't have every language." He goes on with his opinion that have no problem with the multiculturalism policy," but he does see some areas of concern and mentions the accommodations we make now by allowing the RCMP uniform to include turbans. He feels, "There is a tradition to be upheld."

He does see the situation in Quebec as different though. He explains, "They have their rights and if they want to speak French there they should be able to speak

French." But he also thinks, "They should keep the right to speak English too." He goes on to say he can't see the sense of passing a law requiring everything in the country to be in both French and English. And in his opinion, "I don't think French should be forced down our throats." He says, "Laws won't help if you can't get along." He questions the fact that in Quebec, "If all they can speak is French, what are they going to do when the language of business is English across this ."

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He relates the Quebec situation to a that of a bad marriage. Sooner or later all constituents of Canada have to sit down and say, "Well either you're in or you're out."

He thinks, "Saskatchewan is unique because a lot of it has to do with the farming background. People and their families were survivors. They were survivors where they came from, and they were survivors here too.'' John's heritage is in farming and his roots taught him how to survive in agriculture which makes him at home in western Canada. He thinks of himself as a Saskatchewanian. "I am very sceptical of being a Canadian because of the Quebec stuff I'm more of a regular

Western Canadian. I associate more with the people living in or North

Dakota. They're my same type of people. It's agriculture, there's a different philosophy in western Canada."

John thinks part of Canada's problem is that the country is too big, "I think we're just too big a country to be governed as one."

Carol Skidmore

Carol Skidmore is 52 and has been an Anglican minister for l O years. She was born in Canada but her parents were born in .

When she was young she went to church and Sunday school although her mom and dad didn't go. She went because her parents thought it was important to have Christian values. She says, "I liked the sense that people cared for you. It was a family away from home."

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Carol tells, "I think the calling for me came from a sense of emptiness. My husband and I had reached certain goals and felt lost about what should be the next set of goals." Somewhere along the way they had lost their spiritually. They had acquired materials things, house, car and had raised their family. Then they got to a crossroad in their lives which forced them to reconsider what their life was about. She relates,

"It was at that time that I felt I had to show myself or get on with my life some other way. And thank God, He showed up. That was the key moment of conversion and from then on the world looked very different. Conversion is when you know that God loves you for all your worth, whoever you are."

Her husband and children were very supportive of her going into the ministry.

However, her parents and siblings did not support her as much. It was felt that within the structure of the English family anyone who went off to university to be an intellectual would discredit the family. Eventually her family came to accept her goals.

Carol believes that, "Canada's mosaic society is wonderful." She says that's what makes us so special.

She thinks it would be devastating for Quebec to separate. "I've travelled right across Canada and there's so many that are distinct societies. Because of my

Christian background, I always think reconciliation is possible and that the larger good should prevail...! don't think that we have to separate in order to find any kind of lasting happiness." She goes on to comment about dealing with change, "I think we've been quite happy with the walls that have been put up and now they're trying to

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push those walls and we're not happy with it."

She feels Canadians do not trust the leaders they put in leadership positions.

And this goes beyond politicians. She says, "It's easier to start a new church than it is to try to reform old ones."

John Benedict

John Benedict is 46 years old and has been a logger for most of his life. In an historical dimension context he represents the woodsman. The myth of the woodsman is dominant in the early history of Canada. They, along with fur trappers, helped open up the uncharted areas of the country looking for their natural resource.

He had a bad accident in which a saw bounced back and cut his jugular vein. Now it is physically impossible for him to work in his beloved field so he is going back to school to upgrade his prior engineering knowledge.

Since being an entrepreneur most of his life he has never looked for support, as he says "hand-outs...Anyone who can work should work." But seeing the other side as well, "I think there's got to be a middle ground" regarding social programs.

With respect to Canada he sees, "The biggest challenge for the future is to pay off the debt." He related the story of his own business as the way governments get their countries into trouble by overspending, "I know what it is to run a business. I know what it is to go into bankruptcy. I went into a partnership with a person up north and I had $150,000 equity IO years ago. He could spend money faster than I could earn it. The same thing happened to the country. Exactly the same."

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He is also concerned about intergenerational issues such as preserving the forest's resource for the future. In fact, over-exploiting can alter the way it comes back, "After I left up north last year, the guy I was working with went in and started clear-cutting. It was stupid because if you do a clear-cut you completely destroy the ecology. It never comes back and in fact it changes. Different plants come up.

Hardwoods come in first and they just take over the whole area. That changes your whole population of birds and animals."

Although , 1867 is recognized as the point in time Canada became a self-governing nation, it never really cut its umbilical cord with Great Britain until

1947 when the status of Canadian citizenship was created by parliament. Before that

Canadians were British subjects. Also in 1949, the became the final court of , taking over from the Privy Council in Great Britain. So in effect Canada was never really a country until that time. As well, after the Second

World War, the had lost its empirical clout around the world and was pleased to cast off its parental responsibilities to its matured (besides

Canada, they included at the time Australia, , Irish Free State,

Newfoundland and South ).

Coincidently around this time of Canada entering into full-nation status, the enlightenment of the French in Quebec began. This sense of enlightenment has increased exponentially to the point of holding referendums in 1980 and 1995 on unilateral cessation. Prior to the late 1940s, Canada was always able to fall back on

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the credibility of the British Empire to sort out domestic problems such as the many• pronged US influence and the francophone issue.

Indicators of historical dimensions:

-Aboriginals have had years of being conquered and assimilated and forced also to consider themselves as secondary citizens. Now encouraged by multiculturalism and a sense of fairness from other Canadians there is a revived interest, both from aboriginals people and non-aboriginals in the history and culture of aboriginal people of Canada. This allows a relationship with the other groups and this aids in defining the Canadian identity for each Canadian.

-Unless new Canadians come to Canada with a full and unqualified personal commitment there will never be any affinity to a new identity. Escaping persecution, servitude or poverty are unqualifying conditions. It will take the next generation born in Canada to meld.

-Anglophones have "pride in responsibility." In that sense, as the majority, making any and all minorities welcome and comfortable with the majority, concessions and accommodations have been made that make anglophones a minority regarding influence in the current Canadian society

-Francophones aspire to cleave off a uniqueness from a bigger whole. In doing this

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they are burning with their sovereign partners and causing antagonisms that may not be repairable. The sense that that distinctness can be better lived outside the

Canadian political arena rather than inside is one that has hung its basis on language.

The feeling that that oneness can not be sustained economically is widely held by other Canadians who wish that this common sense prevailed over cultural destiny

-Immigrants settling in potentially rich but geographically remote areas of Canada have succeeded because of the survival instinct. Throughout Canadian history they have made the most of what was available. They overcame adversity of climate, discrimination and language and cultural barriers to create a unique identity within the larger Canadian society.

-The spiritual dimension of identity within the context of historical dimensions is meaningful because the guidance and calling of that innate power can form a new social understanding of personal identification within that society.

-The mythical dimension of identity within the context of historical dimensions is important because through the activities of those such as the fur traders who chose to exploit the natural resources of the country opened it up through their quest for exploring uncharted land. Those who make a living from exploiting the natural resources can identify with some of the very first activities carried on before the term

Canada was ever thought of.

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d) Participation and Patriotism

In this section ten ordinary Canadians tell their stories and reflect on Canadian events and circumstances to help provide any evidence of participation and patriotism making up the Canadian identity.

Canada has always required a higher level of participation than that of patriotic fervour. It appears the duty of immigrants has been to participate in the democratic and cooperative structure that was created to make the Canadian society welcoming and mutually interactive.

Canadians must make the most of what they have. Irshad Manji (1997) suggests these assets are value based and include flux, mystery and diversity. These assets allow for a state of anticipation and excitement which both complements and enhances the routineness and demands of life. In order to utilize these fully people have worked out their understandings and approaches to life through their participation and institutional involvement through family, religion and community activities. Values are those principles that motivate people to certain behaviour.

Collective values are captured in society's institutions such as government, schools and business organizations. In deference and conformity terms, the vulnerable look to rewards and punishments from a higher authority such as God, parent or the state.

Tim Morgan

Tim Morgan is 37 and an Anglican minister. He was an active participant in society as a youth through his church, "Church was a lot of fun and I really got a lot

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of inspiration and friendships out of church activities. It was a really good feeling to be involved in the church and I really enjoyed the faith journey. It was a very comfortable and meaningful place for me." His commitment to this institution and the Lord helped determine his future career as an Anglican minister. He wanted to participate in society through politics but changed direction, "My real love was politics...I felt I could eventually become the Prime Minister someday..but not now that I've made my commitment."

JenyMcCrae

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A d).

Jerry McCrae is 57 and is a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer now working as a civilian crime prevention officer in the small British

Columbia community of Vernon. Through this effort he is involved in community relations with the police and public service initiatives that make for a more caring community. His social participation is through "Presentations to pre-schoolers, elementary kids, high school. I do talks to Rotaries, service clubs, I set up programs.

I do security reviews for industry and private homes. I do the neighbourhood watch program, everything...I like speaking engagements. Sometimes I have 500 people or more to talk to."

Howard Galganov

Howard Galganov lives in a small village in Quebec west of Montreal and

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owns his own marketing agency. He is a life-long activist, representing those who can't or won't stand up for themselves "I have a real problem. I can't walk away from people who take advantage of other people." Currently his commitment is to the

English minority in Quebec who's language rights have been trampled on by

provincial government policy and business apathy "People accept the fact that our language is illegal in Quebec. Nowhere in the world, that I'm aware of, is a language illegal."

Howard's story is particularly appropriate because of the separation issue.

The struggle of the francophones in Quebec and their desire to separate the entire province from the rest of Canada has been causing conflict across Canada for many decades. In response to Quebec's apparent burning desire to leave, the rest of Canada has been accommodating Quebec with concessions and more. One of the biggest accommodations has changed the face of Canada forever. The policy of official bilingualism, means any Canadian anywhere in Canada, may expect to receive government, education or court services in either English or French, the two official languages. This has been antagonistic in other areas of Canada, especially in the West where the French population is sparse to negligible. Public funding is required to support these programs on demand.

At opposite ends of the spectrum to this policy is the language policy followed in Quebec which makes French the primary language of government, business and education. Howard sums it all up by saying that the French in Quebec are "looking for an identity." The French are using language as the lever, but it is not effective.

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The rest of Canada knows Quebec is distinct, many have said when they visit there

the style of the architecture and the ambiance is different over and above the

language. The French have institutional differences. One example is their legal

system which is to entrench educational rights based on the Catholic religion. Their

style of doing business is more collectively oriented rather than individualistically

oriented.

But Howard sums it up is by saying, "What the hell is a Canadian?...I do know

that being a Canadian means you don't have to surrender your past...And everybody

should have the right to be who they want to be as long as it doesn't impose upon

somebody else's rights. Either we live in a society where everyone has equal right

and equal access or we don't."

He says, "Rights are rights...human rights. We have a fiduciary obligation to make sure that everyone's rights are respected regardless of your race or your culture.

I think Canada is really a country where we don't try to blend everybody into one melting pot right away. What makes Canada a really exciting country is that we're very inclusive. You can be a great Canadian and at the same time not have to sacrifice you history and your culture."

He is positive about the future. "I think all of us should be thrilled about the future of Canada."

He summarizes by saying, "I define myself now as a Canadian...I'm concerned

about my place in society."

Vaughan Robertson

Vaughan Robertson is a 36-year-old potato farmer in Prince Edward Island.

His family has been on the island for many generations and he and his brother took over the family farm. He loves PEI because no natural things there have been wrecked by man, "We're so far behind we're ahead." Tourism is the big draw, especially Anne of Green Gables' home in Cavendish. The new fixed link

Confederation Bridge opened in the summer of 1997 and will increase tourism and hopefully some level of industry. "We want to create industry here but we still want to have our own little paradise."

He is bothered by Quebec wanting to leave because the Maritimes will be shut off from Canada and will be more like one of the states rather than provinces of Canada.

Where he lives the community is family oriented. "If someone's ill or someone's hurt, and if you need something done then everybody pitches in to help.

We know everybody else's problems and we stick together."

Church is a big part of their lives. Amazingly his wife goes to one church and he goes to another. They go separately but he mentions that, "We never really upset the apple cart there either.''

He feels government policy must adapt to the changing circumstances of employment. The answer is not with fuller social programs but with training and attracting industry. Isolated areas with sparse populations such as PEI must deal with the economic situation at the provincial or local level without blaming the federal

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government for everything.

Regarding multiculturalism: "I don't think we should be throwing money at ethnic groups in order to teach them their own culture." He indicates you can't mould someone to be a Canadian but there should be guidelines, "You come into our country and there are few rules but don't expect the government to fund your cultural programs."

Bud Newman

Bud Newman is 82 years old and lives in Oakville, Ontario. Hockey has been his passion and driving force since he was young. His stories often use hockey as an analogy, for example: "I got my first introduction to organized labour...they fire the cook. The same thing's true with hockey teams. You don't fire 22 players, you fire the coach."

He has had many influencing events throughout his life such as the Depression and World War Two. He felt that during events like that the people pulled together

"There will never be another country like Canada and we' re letting it go down the drain."

His kids grew up in a mining community where it was all ethnic groups and everyone got along together. He uses a story of the many varied and complex ideological differences existing in Canada, "Joe Blow can have one sign on his lawn and Slick can have another-voice differences politically and even go to different churches--but after the election they are back out having a beer together." He knows

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that politics and religion do not mix and has seen countries in the world explode over this.

He is patriotic but with a positive-based, personal scepticism. He flies the

Union Jack and the Ontario ensign in his back yard. He doesn't like the not-so-new flag. "The Pearson rag in '65, that was the new flag, the just society in '75, the distinct society in '8 5 and the extinct society in '9 5. Where in the hell are we going to be in the year 20007"

He likes to see everyone get along and finds the Quebec situation troubling.

When he heard about the referendum in October 1995, he sat down and wrote a poem to ease his mind. A couple of lines: "Canada united, Canadians forever, Long live

Canada, Honour thy faith and may the great Spirit be with you always, Trust God and protect Mother Earth and nature."

Richard Chung

Richard Chung emigrated from British in 1968. He has a Chinese father and black mother. He has raised his family here. He is proud to be a Canadian.

He had reason to be discouraged because he was shown discrimination when he was first looking for jobs. But he feels he has been a strong enough person to rise above this adversity. He hopes his positive attitude will be followed by his three boys throughout their lives, because his parents taught him to respect human beings for who they are.

He believes young people are led to believe they don't have to earn their piece

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of the pie. People are too greedy as a society. "We have a belief you get now and

pay later."

He is involved as a leader in a non-denominational Christian church. He

attempts to teach young people to respect the Lord so that they may respect

themselves. This discipline will hopefully, then automatically, help them to respect

other people.

He thinks Canadians are negatively influenced about race from south of the

border. Canada is known and respected around the world as a peaceful country.

As an immigrant with first-hand knowledge of the situation he believes that people should conform to where they live and not impose their traditions on the society they are in "How can you be a melting pot and separate at the same time."

He goes on to say, "There is a freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of opportunity for every individual within our society to be happy with the life that is offered to them if they' re willing to pay some sort of a price and they are willing to work."

He feels education qualifies you so you have something to offer. He thinks it is unfortunate that some young people can not take full advantage of their education and skills.

He is community involved and wants to make an impact politically. He is considering running for elected office. He believes leadership is a responsibility. He believes in social programs because society has to look after its weaker citizens.

He sees the situation in Quebec being continued within a group of emotional

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people who have few leaders. People can be swayed emotionally. But he believes if separation was given a chance it would self-destruct because within this kind of leadership they fight and cannot agree on what is right or wrong. He believes the rest of Canada's caring for Quebec will help them stabilize "We have freedom of expression, religion and opportunity in Canada, you don't get that everywhere."

Paul Sun

Paul Sun is 25 years old and part Chinese and Bulgarian. He is a geologist and models part-time. He wants to experience what life has to offer but doesn't want to take the risk of giving up his geology career to pursue his modelling dream. Right now, "My company is great in terms of giving me the freedom to look the way I want to and partake in outside activities."

He was given a lot of freedom by his parents when he was growing up and doubts he will be able to permit his children when he has them, that type of leeway

"Whether I can give them the level of trust that my parents did, know what I've been exposed to."

He knows, because of his looks, he has been discriminated against. Looking at the positive side and because he has self-confidence he says, "My looks have opened some doors."

He feels that immigrant groups segregate themselves which does not make it easy for them to experience all of what Canada has to offer. In turn they alienate others who think they are not interested in exploring a Canadian identity, "I have

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some roommates that love real Chinese food but won't go to Chinatown themselves without me because they feel uncomfortable and feel that they aren't welcome.

That's not right."

Sharon Edwards

Sharon Edwards was born in Canada but raised in the area. She is 41, not married and has her own broadcasting company. When she lived in the US, she missed a few things about Canada, "One thing was crumpets, you couldn't get those down there. And butter tarts. Nobody knew from butter tarts down there."

Since she is in broadcasting she is interested in culture and how it is accepted abroad or how Canadians are portrayed internationally, "The market in Canada alone is not big enough. We love British comedies and bring those in all the time. No one thinks they aren't any good because they're from England, so I don't know why it doesn't go the other way."

She believes Canadians are caring but too compromising "I think Canadians as a whole care about their country but we almost have to be face-to-face or nose-to-nose with some kind of a disaster before we' re willing to say it out loud."

She feels that the language issue in Quebec is not about unity, "Language is something to hang the conflict on. One needs a pivotal point that everyone can relate to ...I don't understand how them leaving Canada is going to change that. They're already legislating whatever they need to try to make them feel unique."

Summing up Canadians, "I don't think we have enough collective self-

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esteem...We're always putting ourselves up against things we have told ourselves is more important than what we' re doing because it's theirs and not ours and it's too bad that we can't look around at what we've done and say, 'this is really good too."'

Joanne Clark

Joanne is 38 and has gone back to university to get her engineering degree at the . She was raised by a single parent and she still lives at home worrying about her mother as she gets older.

Being an Albertan, she has very definite thoughts about Quebec. "I think

Canadians are a distinct society. Quebec has a different lifestyle but it should not be formalized, it should just be a basic understanding. It should not confer power on different groups of Canadians." Talking about Alberta, "We feel left out...We're resource rich but we've had to fight for that, and continue to do so. We're still

Canadian but I still feel that we are far more separated.

She is very self-motivated, "I never worried about the future when I was younger." Her approach when faced with the ups and downs of life, "You cry in your soup for one day and then the next day you dry your eyes and keep going."

Chris Harhay

Chris Harhay is 23 years old. He recently graduated from university and travelled to Europe for a number of months because he wanted to "experience different styles oflife." He felt his trip changed his outlook on life a bit. His driving

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values are based on two things, his Ukrainian heritage and experiencing life to its fullest. He wants a career and is determined to succeed and make lots of money. His experiences in his formative years were dominated by moving around from school to school. He estimates that he went to 11 schools during his life before settling in to a high school in suburban Toronto.

Even though he has received a good education he knows it is going to be tough finding a job that matches his education and aspirations, "We've had it easier but in some ways we may have it harder...we've going to be paying the taxes to pay off that debt."

He is of Ukrainian heritage, but he thinks of himself as Canadian first. He told an interesting story about his Grandfather who, "knows everything about everyone who is Ukrainian." Chris asked him whether is Ukrainian or Polish, and he replied, "In his thick Ukrainian accent, 'He's Canadian.'"

Society is the sum of its individual experiences both actual and remembered.

Most of these experiences are gained at the community level. As a consequence,

Canadian approaches and solutions to their unique situations largely come from local experience. In that sense the Canadian identity achieved from this adaptation to uncommon situations is unique.

As mentioned before Canada is a social democracy. This type of collective solution to Canada's uniqueness requires participation. Patriotism tends to be more individualistic and singularly holistic. The challenge to the ordinary person is to 106

belong. Those who are marginal must interact with the mainstream in order to

maximize the benefits that society can offer. In some sense minorities can feel

victimized. But if marginals and minorities choose not to interact, society in the long

run suffers because the identity cliques created by them draw attention and resources

away from the overall goals of society.

Indicators of participation and patriotism:

-Participation is carried on through government-supported institutions, churches, schools or community-based organizations or activities. Social interactions through these organizations allows for motivation, inspiration and network building.

-Community building is important to Canadians and often enough to fully actualize their identity.

-Participation is through being true to one's own self regarding ideals. If someone sees something that they don't agree with, it is their responsibility to agree or disagree through acceptable processes. Patriotism is the result if successes are made by that activism.

-Participation and patriotism are at odds with economic growth. The statement "We

want to create industry here but we still want to have our own little paradise" does not

mean individual involvement has to be forsaken. Patriotism or pride can still be 107

attained through economic growth.

-Hockey is a passion of Canadians. One ordinary Canadian has fashioned his life, values and ideals around that passion. It has been an influencing activity along with living through events such as a war and the Depression.

-The thinking has been that immigrants are only required to participate in Canadian society. If they learn to become patriotic all the better, but only participation is required. The most vocal critics of this approach are immigrants themselves who in hindsight say it may have been better to require total assimilation rather than tepid participation.

-The soft participation requirement rather than hard patriotic requirement alienates those who have opened up their hearts and home to newcomers.

-A sense of identity created through home-based cultural situations is not being created and promulgated at a level acceptable to Canadians themselves or the rest of the world so that they can gain an understanding of what Canadian identity is. The distribution channels are not there because the vast physical land and sparse population do not allow for efficiencies.

-Canadians have not defined themselves as a whole and therefore defer to sub-groups 108

internally to define themselves as distinct. A defining component of this is the sense of being left out or feeling hard done by in relationship to other sub-groups.

-There is a paradox about which framework to use in experiencing life to its fullest.

Is it within the framework of original heritage or adopted-future?

e) Diversity

In this section six ordinary Canadians explain their experiences and comment on Canadian society in order to help shed light on the extent of diversity in Canadian society.

Diversity relates mostly to the numerous social groups interacting at all levels of society. Canada has always been a nation of newcomers. An ongoing influx of immigrants is required to make the country grow and maximize its potential. But since it takes several generations of living in Canada for families to feel a sense of

Canadian identity, whatever that may be, that identity is like a carrot being held out that some want to go for but are distracted by other life priorities.

Canada's diversity relates to aspects of social, political, cultural and economic makeup. It also relates to the geographic vastness which has uniquely spawned distinct regions which have their own demands and ways of looking at what is

Canadian. Garth Campbell, in a tongue-twisting description of why he was comfortable with his place in Manitoba, says "Well, I haven't been a lot of places but

I've been a lot of places but I've been to some places and I said every place I've been 109

so far I haven't found it any better than where I'm at...that's why I stay here."

Bernard Baskin

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A e).

Bernard Baskin is a retired rabbi, originally from the United States. He has been in Canada since 1949. He is concerned with the broad range of political and social issues affecting Canada in the latter part of the 1990s. One concern is about minorities in Canada and the multicultural policy formed around the mosaic approach,

"We () are a distinct minority and the only way our culture can persist is that it be given some kind of recognition and allowed to continue without molestation in any since." He goes on to describe the situation where groups become organized and demand things from society to the point that the larger majority feels abused and even within the minority groups themselves there are factions. He feels that, "one of

Canada's big challenges is the whole question of national identity versus the mosaic, what are our prime loyalties and which are the ancillary ones and how do they get worked out." Canada with or without Quebec will continue on. The US may not want parts or remnants of what is left but he speculates there is some reliance on manifest destiny after all.

He feels it is a very bad situation for young people to get their education and then not be able to find a job. The country fails them when people who are motivated and trained can't find an outlet for their ambitions and their training. questions, does the capitalist system, as we understand it, make for the kind of security which we 110

expect? "The capitalist system allows the cream to rise to the top. But what the

cream is, is questionable...the more gentle, the more concerned, the more spiritually

minded can't quite compete. Is there room for them?"

Laurent Mayville

Laurent Mayville is 63 and lives in Quebec. He feels that the French must be respected by the rest of Canada. They have to force their hand through separation in order to bring that respect. "People should respect my language...most do...in

Brockville...1 saw people walking on my flag, the Fleur de Lyse. That broke my heart...maybe one day I'll have my day...I hated them for that." He also said, "I would love to have a country where I would not be shy to speak my French, and when

I speak French I like people to listen."

Garth Campbell

Garth Campbell is a 36-year-old general store owner in Roseisle, Manitoba.

He still sells coffee for 10 cents a cup. The population of his community is 55. In winter 10 per cent of the population died.

He discusses how his community supports people down on their luck. If people lose their jobs he will usually run accounts for them, "When they get back on their feet hopefully they'll pay me."

He feels that morals have to be re-instilled in young people. The one thing

that hasn't been taught to them is respect.

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He believes that going to church is one way of learning about values.

It annoys him that big corporations don't want to deal with the little guy. This could show that the geography and population effect of Canada causes the little guy get lost in the shuffle. Garth points out that big guys get that way on the backs of the little guys. His establishment is the only place in town that pumps gasoline and the big oil companies won't let him use their brand. Suddenly after 30 years he is cut off because it is not worth it for them to deliver to him with the resulting potential environmental risks.

He thinks it's silly what's going on in Quebec. He doesn't believe in separation. "They have this right to their distinct society but they shouldn't have any more rights than anybody else in the country. I still think if you're Canadian, you're a

Canadian and that's the bottom line of the whole thing...we all deserve the same equal rights and as long as we're getting that that's all we should ask for. Once they're gone then Canada ceases to exist the way it is."

He doesn't support the multicultural policy for ethnic groups to get separate funding to promote their culture. "I think one of the worst things that our government has ever done was the multicultural policy. Now they think that they're different and they bring out all these differences instead of just letting them blend in with the rest of society and be part of Canada."

''I'm a Canadian first then I'm Manitoban." His philosophy is you fight for the good of the country first and then you fight for the good of your own because you have to look out for your own backyard too.

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He's positive about the future, but the education system "Needs a good swift kick in the butt." He still thinks the problem with kids is the morals that nobody instills in them anymore. He feels this is so important because the youth are going to be tomorrow's leaders.

His big fear is that eventually there will be no authority or respect for anything.

Art Wicks

Art Wicks is a 77-year-old fisherman living in Badger's Quay, Newfoundland.

He is an inveterate radio phone-in participant. "I'm an activist, nothing escapes me.

I'm not a yes man. By being critical you can be more constructive, it educates yourself. My motto is if there's a stone unturned I guarantee I'll dig it up.''

He told me the history of Newfoundland and why they chose to join Canada in

1949 as a province rather than remain independent or enter an economic union with the United States. One of the main enticements to join Canada was the baby bonus.

Just for having children, parents could receive $20 per month per child from the

Canadian government. Only 52 per cent of the people voted in favour.

He refers in many stories to how destiny is dictated by geography, low population and lack of industry. Many people have left Newfoundland to find jobs.

"It's a very sad commentary when you see our young people moving out. There's nothing left here in this province. The mainland usually means Toronto. Someone said where ever you go you'll find a man from Newfoundland." Home is always in

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their minds. They always love to come back.

He related stories of being disciplined in public school by wearing a dunce cap or standing on one leg. Now he points out, "the children are really ruling the parents,

I can guarantee that my son. Things are handed to them on a silver platter...If there is a kid now and the teacher would even smack him on the head then their parent might summon the Mountie to come in."

He says most Newfoundlanders are proud to be part of Canada. Some he calls the "conceited majority" want to separate like Quebec. But you will give up a lot.

"You can't separate and still have everything."

He feels one of Canada's strength is its communities where all the members work together to support each other.

He thinks Canada has a bright future, "providing we play our cards right."

Patrick Nicol

Patrick Nicol is a 45 year-old phone-in host of a local show and of an oldies show on the AM station in Vernon, British Columbia; plus he is a town councillor.

He is very much a take-charge type of person and organizes community events including the celebration every July 1st weekend "It's important that young people recognize the symbols." He is a community leader, but in turn the community is part of his makeup, "My personal capital is all in this community, so why would I go somewhere else?"

Naturally, national unity is a big thing to him. He recalled that one caller told

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him, "I've been listening and I've heard lots of wonderful things, but to me Canada is

a country where you can be idealistic." Patrick further commented, "...When you're

idealistic the opportunity is there." He commented on my personal journey of

talking to people across the country, "The fact that you would even be able to do what

you're doing here today, what an incredible thing...It's pretty idealistic to try and

capture the country by vacationing in part of it and writing about it."

Robert Olsen

Robert Olsen is a 70 year-old retired farmer living in Camrose, Alberta. His house is as neat as a pin. His values are very much based on religion, family and duty. His mother died when he was three and his father raised the eight children by himself.

He is very much an example of the western attitude of independence.

He is disappointed that he or his wife did not get a full education. It was interrupted by World War Two. As a consequence he made sure his daughters received as much education as they could.

He welcomes immigrants to Alberta as long as they are willing to contribute to society. This concept is very much in line with the Reform Party political movement in Alberta.

He identifies himself more as a North American than Canadian although he is proud to be Canadian. He supports the Reform political movement in Alberta which was begun as an alternative to Alberta separating from Canada. The purpose of the

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Reform was to create an awareness of the wasteful social programs and massive government debts and mismanagement that are pulling the country apart rather than bringing it together "One of its main planks is one that it is saying that every part of the country is equal. We want to feel that we are just as much a part of Canada as anybody else."

Unity is a major concern for all Canadians. It causes anxiety, frustration, jealousy and apprehension and overall is preventing Canada and its people from attaining full actualization.

There are so many views on the diversity of Canada. It is becoming more and more difficult to reconcile the issues. works because it has a balancing mechanism. The following two ways of looking at things creates a balance.

Quebec has always played an important role in the federation because its power and influence balances that of Ontario for competing with emotional and economic resources. However, the federalism Canada has know is being challenged by a competing series of nationalisms--civic, regional and identity. In this context citizens have a social identity which is pluralistic and may belong to several communities at various levels.

Regional alienation exists mainly because they are jealous of , especially Ontario which has 30 per cent of the population and a great proportion of the industrial power. The triangle formed by Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, better known as TOM, is where many major decisions are made that affect all parts of

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Canada. Those Canadians who are not part of this area feel a sense of not being in the centre of what counts in the country and therefore have an inner feeling of deficiency or unimportance.

Indicators of diversity:

-The diversity of society results in the flourishing of minorities. On the down side it means the majority accommodating which in turn means giving up clout and esteem.

-Diversity means gaining respect. If it is not perceived that there is respect, actions will be taken to ensure that it will be gained by seceding.

-Diversity also means dilution of traditional values and acceptance of new values or a watered-down versions of existing ones. The place where this is evident is the youth.

It is at this level that values are formed and determination of right and wrong is gained and set for the future.

-Diversity is affected by destiny. Geography, sparse population and resource allocation are variables. None-the-less, social groups represent Canada's strength.

-The glue that keeps a diverse organization such as Canada together is unity. Symbols need to be accepted and the young who are the future must be made to feel there is a commonality of which they are growing up to be a part of However idealistic this

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may be, a country must be perceived as being open enough that one can feel idealistic.

-Diversity is balancing different opinions and stances about issues. Canada is so diverse that regions have evolved and elected political groups that represent their best interests. The west has the Reform Party, Quebec the Bloc Quebecois, central Canada the Liberal Party and so on.

f) Continuity

In this section ten ordinary Canadians reveal their thoughts and experiences that might help explain, somewhat, the part of the piece in the Canadian identity puzzle known as continuity.

Canadian society is fluid, always changing and reforming. Reconciliation is a great human quality that Canadians seem to have more then their share of

Reconciliation and accommodation have been at the heart of Canadian history from its initiation through to now for continuing survival. There are certain public policies implemented over time to reinforce a sense of equality. This sense of equality provides a platform in which change and reform can be optimistically undertaken.

Examples of policies to create equality include the redistribution of money from have provinces to have-note provinces by the federal government; and standardization of services through institutions such as the post office, transportation and broadcasting system.

An awareness of reality and a healthy mythology are key to change. Canada's

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myths are few. They have to be general enough to apply to and be accepted by various constituents. Myths of the fur traders, the RCJ\1P, and the transcontinental railway are general enough to be acceptable. In the absence of myths, Canadians have to keep adjusting their identity grounding in specific symbols and stories. Often there is social dissatisfaction combined with these stories and this continuing ability to adjust is a unique identity point for dealing with this complexity.

Robert Lavigne

Robert Lavigne is 24 and represents the idealistic francophone. He feels that the French must separate in order to fully progress in their culture and attainment of sovereignty, "..a lot of Quebecers feel that they should have their own country no matter what. It doesn't matter if they won't be economically viable with Canada as a unit. They just feel that way. It's not necessarily an educated choice. It doesn't have to be a good or bad one. It's more of an emotional thing."

John Metz

John Metz has had to reconcile his lifestyle several times. He went from hiding his homosexuality to the point where he needed the cover of a large city in order to hide from it. "I wanted to move to a larger city...there was more freedom than I could ever have at home in a small town." He then went to the level of needing to be proud of his gay lifestyle. Then to the point where he was bothered by the aggressiveness of gay activists in changing the laws to force society legally to accept

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it "The one thing I don't agree with is the fight to adopt children."

Camellea Konkin

Camellea Konkin is 31 years old and comes from a religious minority, the

Doukhobors. Through continuous change and reform she as an individual got to a point where she could freely practice her religious and personal values under a not so strict organization "Now I go to an inter-denominational church at the other end of the city...I enjoy going there, plus the service is lively and there's a lot of children's programs...you apply that to your life, which is really good."

She is a musician and an artist. As children the music and art kept her and her sister busy. "My art and my music were something I was just given. I feel very blessed."

She explains that you have to look at everything as a positive and growing experience. "Your life goes through many changes, and with it you have to accept those changes."

She does not approve of the multicultural approach. "I think it's absolutely ridiculous how our country is trying to accommodate everyone so that nobody's discriminated against." She says, "Even is not sung in some schools anymore...if you're proud to live in Canada, why can't we be proud to be Canadian?"

Dorothy Crabtree

Dorothy Crabtree is 81 years old and buys and sells antiques in St. Catharines,

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Ontario.

Her big story is about saving the carousel. "That's the only thing I've ever done in my life worth talking about." Twenty-five years ago, she rallied support to save the old community carousel from being sold to Americans. She raised the money to buy it on behalf of the town and it remains the centre of the town park to this day.

Her current obsession is concern about the Carolinian forest in the outskirts of town, being cut down for development. "I would love to save it but I'm getting too old to do that kind of thing now and I feel so bad about it. But, it is just as important to me as the carousel, more so, because God made those trees and the carousel is man- made."

Her personal goal throughout her life was, "To live a good, decent life and be decent to your fellow man." She's had her ups and downs in life. "The only way I can put up with all these things that have happened is just to put them out of my mind. I don't have anniversaries. They made me sad and they make me cry. I just forget all about it. All the good memories are still there and the sad things, I can't dwell on them all the time." She is so glad her children live close by so she doesn't have to worry about them travelling back and forth to visit her.

Elaine Crowder

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A f).

Elaine Crowder is 42 years old and moved to Yellowknife from Ontario to be

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a community college administrator.

She admires Canada for being open to newcomers. But she criticizes those that come and continually relate back to their home countries as at the time they left it. They don't keep up with how it is evolving. They keep alive what they remember and place importance on that. She once worked in a factory with many immigrant women. However, she found them very interesting and fun to work with.

From the time she was young she has placed much value on justice and equity and wanted people treated fairly. When she was small she felt bad if she saw unfairness. These values have always been part of her life and come from her family's influence.

When she was 13 she gained independence by choosing to leave the Catholic church because the priest at the time did not share her views on the boycotting of

Californian grapes.

She wishes people had a stronger sense of Canadian identity. She feels the political power should be more centralized so that provinces and regions do not sap off benefits.

She likes living in Yellowknife and comments, "You don't see how drastically the face of Canada has changed until you see what is happening up here in

Yellowknife."

Janet Boychuk

Janet Boychuk is 40 years old, has her MBA and is a sales manager in Toronto

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for a multinational firm. She has seen some of her friends leave the company through restructurings. She has seen the company's culture become less Canadian and more

North American.

She is married with two young children. Her husband is a public-school teacher. Her values are family, education and job security. She is very much driven by career success.

She thinks she is more distinctly Canadian rather than uniquely Canadian.

Canadians are very aware of what is going on in the world. "When we watch

Canadian news it centres on a wide spectrum from local to national to US to world...I really feel that that is unique to us." In addition, "...Canadians have a different sense of the whole social environment, and not social in the sense of interaction with one another, but more of looking after one another as a larger community."

She believes that the leadership and ethics in politics and business is weak.

Everybody has to pitch in to make Canada better than what is accepted now. "I think people have got to put a little less faith in what the media says, a little less belief in that, and learn to do a little less complaining, take a little bit more initiative themselves to where they can contribute and help out."

Arlie Melnikel

Arlie Melnikel is 42, lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and has twin daughters and is already a grandmother. She is concerned about the future for her two children and her grandchild. She has a secure job and visits her ailing father everyday. She

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thinks Saskatoon is a fine place to live, regardless of its size or distance from anywhere else. "I don't think we, in Saskatchewan, feel inferior. I think

Saskatchewanians are proud of Saskatchewan and proud of what we have."

She told a sad tale of wanting to learn to play the when she was small, but her parents couldn't afford the lessons or have access to a piano to practice on.

Her aunt had a piano but she wouldn't let her use it.

Although she realizes people are responsible for their own destiny, she thinks fate is responsible for a lot of what happens. "Whatever direction you go in, something will happen. An experience will sort of change the way you're going."

She thinks multiculturalism is good for Canada, but it bothers her, "When people come to Canada and reap the benefits here but don't learn our language."

Becky Ganann

Becky Ganann is a 23 years old and studying to be a nurse in Hamilton,

Ontario. She is very socially conscious and her values are fairness and equality. She is determined to personally make a difference through her volunteer work. "I take on a lot. I do as much as I can do but within the limitations of my expectations. I don't want to do a sloppy job at something."

At one time she wanted to study in an area that was non-traditional for females. At first she chose chemical engineering but soon found out it wasn't social enough. "I switched to nursing because of the interaction with people."

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She is working in a volunteer outreach program in City for a month in

the summer. She wanted to learn about different cultures and see the problems of

poverty firsthand to determine if her thoughts about helping people were real or just

idealistic from a distance.

Regarding unity, she says, "We have to realize that ultimately we are a team

and a country. We have to work together and acknowledge that there are strengths

and weaknesses within everyone. We have to take into account the context and why

everyone is the way that they are."

Joanna Nguyen

Joanna Nguyen is 15 years old and was born in Canada but her parents are

from . Her values emanate from respect for human rights and self•

fulfillment.

She has had some problems fitting in, in a small town in Nova Scotia. She

feels it is the adults that cause her problems. "The kids don't give as hard-time as the

adults. I never thought it was a big thing, but I can still feel when I go to the mall;

people stare." She describes herself as a "segregated Canadian."

She astutely comments on the Quebec situation as, " ...they're still tied into the

land. They need us and we need them. There are a lot of people who don't live in

Quebec that are tied into those people, so it will hurt the whole country."

She thinks that Canada isn't dealing with its problems as well as it should.

"They just let it linger and linger until finally it explodes. Unemployment is an

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example. Around here there are a lot of people who do fishing but it's shut down. A lot of the other people around here don't want to leave."

Maxime Lalonde

Maxime Lalonde is a 78 year-old harness maker by trade. Although the myth is that this is a dying profession, in reality it was always the profession he could come back to when other enterprises didn't work out. "I always had my job anytime I wanted to go back." He is well known for his horse harnesses, dog collars and belts.

There is always some demand. He is old and winding down his business and his children are not interested in taking over his shop.

Regional, language and cultural differences are characteristics of a complex

Canadian society. Some see these as obstacles. But these differences are those things that allow people to feel unique and special. Because Canada is a nation of compromisers, we have trouble seeing ourselves acting together to resolve problems.

In this sense Canada has allowed a forum for marginal Canadians to feel like a part of society.

In a period of continuous change and reconciliation, the post-modernist thinking of no ideal , unifying institutions, or objective understandings is that everything should be deconstructed to be meaningful. In this regard, Canada can be termed a post-modern nation. It appears to be continually deconstructing its social makeup to find meaning. While this may be what is required to ensure continued

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meaning to a Canadian identity, it creates a level of anxiety that some find intolerable.

Indicators of continuity:

-Change is stimulated just as much by irrational emotion as by rationality.

-Reconciliation oflife based on political thought has to be constantly revised to be congruent with an ever-changing modern society.

-There are places in Canadian society for those marginal groups who chose not to follow the mainstream.

-Living a good, decent life is difficult when everyone around appears to be challenging the systems and sub-systems.

-Newcomers or immigrants need to relate to a time and place and look forward rather than back to the time and place they left. Societal changes are not standing still so newcomers' thinking shouldn't as well.

-Canadians are very aware of what's going on in the world. This awareness should make them only more cognizant of how their identity differs from that of others.

-No matter where one is located at a particular point in time the place they call home is what they are proud of

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-All members of Canada should think of themselves as a team and a country and move forward on that basis.

-Fitting into society can be a frightening prospect for those who visibly look different or feel the least bit insecure.

-The security of a skill or interest roots one in place and time because no matter how other enterprises or activities work out, one can always fall back on that security.

g) Myth and Reality

In this section five ordinary Canadians reveal their stories and thoughts about life in Canada in order to shed light on aspects of myth and reality.

Canadian reality is large and complex. Myths help us to express things about ourselves that we want to believe.

Canada lacks a common religion, language or ethnicity. Also these are dispersed over a massive area of geography, more so than any other. What Canadians have is honed civic ideology of ideas and aspirations that express themselves in public policies and institutions. Part of identity is the acceptance that these things are part of our uniqueness. The CBC, social safety net, universal health care, even hockey are components of civil ideology. None-the-less, in the reference to continuity, Canadian identity must be continually recreated and acceptance and buy-

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off sought.

There are some core myths, such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

(RCMP) and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), the first transcontinental railway, which contain ideals and give our varied experiences continuity and purpose. This shared experience contributes a seed of unique national identity. In this regard, history explains where our institutions and values evolved from.

Bob Lindsay

Bob Lindsay, 44 years old, related an interesting story that revealed the complexity of Canadian society and the difficult task of pleasing everyone. He attempted to get the image of stamped on the new $2 coins, better know as the "tooney," issued in 1995. "I felt this guy was a hero for what he accomplished. I felt Canada does not recognize enough of our own. We don't have enough heroes. I wanted to see a person being recognized who has made a difference in this country."

But in a complex and diverse society, a common hero is all but impossible to discover. "When they called me to tell me there were going to use the polar bear. I said 'Frigging polar bear, are you nuts...what's Canadian about that?' Our politicians probably considered Terry Fox didn't represent all the diverse groups and was rejected or not even considered."

Jean Walton

Jean Walton is 80 years old and takes great pride in her United Empire

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Loyalist (UEL) heritage. She in fact writes a regular column about UEL history in her local newspaper. It was only later in life that she did some digging to more exactly establish her family tree. "I knew in my mind I was (UEL) but did not know how to go about proving it. I think it is worse for someone to take away your heritage than it is to take away your money."

This Loyalist myth is in some sense a negative reaction myth, because it justifies a defensive reaction to not being American. Turning it around with a positive twist, and Jean is an example of Canadians being unique because they are not

American.

Ina Frey

Ina Frey is 62 years old and a modern Mennonite. Her parents were from the

Old Order but left when she was quite young. They left because life was too strict regarding the use of modern conveniences in areas of communications and transportation.

She and her husband had five children. One child died in an accident at an early age and this has had quite an impact on the family even to this day.

None of the children wanted to take over the farm so they had to sell.

They are very involved in church activities such as Habitat for Man.

She feels there is a bigger and bigger gap between the haves and the have-nots

/ in Canada. She feels you can't change things through the welfare system and although Canada is trying to alter things that way, but there is not enough money to do

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so. People are so used to welfare benefits that we've gotten to like them. "We think we're entitled to them but maybe we're not."

Ina feels that Canadians need to be more responsible in carrying their weight.

They have to give as much as they expect to get. She explained they were self• employed as farmers and had to be productive or they wouldn't survive. That kind of loyalty also has to be fostered by the person who owns the organization by showing appreciation for the effort put in by employees.

She thinks everything in Canada is over-governed. "I think there are far too many people in administrative categories...far too few people doing the actual work."

Ina enjoys her life and feels, "Canadians can be of many dimensions and that is one of our unique strengths."

Ronald Landry

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A g).

Ronald Landry is 41 years old and an Acadian artist living in Cape Breton,

Nova Scotia. He is preserving his French culture through his painting of Acadian architecture. He feels that a lot of Acadians don't know how interesting their heritage is. "There's more to it than language, it's the culture." He goes on to say, "Heritage is not only language, it's the architecture, it's the food, it's the dancing, it's many things. If we don't watch out we're going to lose everything."

He feels that by not having opportunities for jobs, young people are not building a personal pride in a more solid future.

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When he feels despair, he walks the coast line and thinks to himself how lucky

he was to be born in his part of and be Canadian.

Larissa Klimkiw

Larissa Klimkiw is a 19-year-old university student in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

She involves herself in the Ukrainian culture and traditions. "I explore the culture through the musical side of the whole thing." She never felt comfortable in social groups except for Ukrainian groups. "That was the common denominator, and it was great. You know who your true friends are and it's not that we love each other because we're Ukrainian. It's just what happened to and it's a beautiful thing."

She has a part-time job as a lifeguard. It gives her some independence and helps pay some of the costs of her education so her mother isn't stuck with all the cost. She feels lucky that so far she hasn't had to take out any student loans.

She fears not getting a good job. "There's so many university students at the end of a degree who are still flipping burgers."

She uses the analogy of a family to describe Canada,"...is like a family. It's expensive to raise a family but you can't just turn your back and say, 'Oh it's too much I can't afford this.' You find ways of doing things."

Canada developed with an east-west strategy. Myths that support this are the that was headquartered in Montreal and expanded west into the prairies via

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the "." The transcontinental railway that connected British Columbia was east-west, as was trade with Great Britain. The natural flow of geography and transportation might better be looked at in terms of north-south. Only now, with

NAFTA, cultural information exchange, and globalization has the east-west or north• south configurations been cast aside.

Myths are important but so are nationalism, self-respect, and values. The balance among these create pride and in turn a sense of identity. Where Canada falls short regarding myths is the fact that it is difficult to have one that to diverse groups. Canada is too complex because of things such as dual official languages, various cultures and myriad of found peoples.

Indicators of myth and reality:

-In a complex and diverse society a national hero that appeals to all group is hard to choose. A regional hero is more easily determined.

-The myth of the is relevant to the majority of anglophones but this myth creates hostilities in other groups. Rather than creating a warm-hearted myth about why Canada is the way it has become, UE Loyalism it is just another of those things that allowed the country to cling too long to the monarchy and other vestiges of the empire.

-Canadians have a big responsibility to ensure their geographic area is maintained.

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Those who carry their weight in this regard contribute to the Canadian identity The myth of this trusteeship shows itself in reality when there is any threat to the geographic sovereignty.

-Myths of minority groups such as the Acadians in the Maritimes are encouraging to all Canadians. The perpetuation of the myths contribute to identity.

-The security within sub-groups contributes to the multicultural mosaic. However it has negative effects on the acceptance of a national identity.

h) Solitude and Isolation

In this section seven ordinary Canadians reveal, through their experiences and thoughts about current happenings in Canada, aspects of identity relating to solitude and isolation.

Canada has interactive solitudes. Solitude is not isolation. Solitude permits one to feel comfortable with their self and place in life. Whereas isolation is an anxious state of feeling regarding self and place in life. A family living on the prairies with no neighbours for l O km is isolated but they may feel solitude because everything comes together and is comfortable for them. One can refer to a well• known novel written in 1945 by Hugh MacLennan entitled which relates the impenetrable barrier between the anglophone solitude and the francophone

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solitude.

George B. Martin

George B. Martin is a old order Mennonite. He and his group have solitude because of their shared values, belief in God and life expectations. "You would almost think knowing more about the world and other lifestyles would make the outside more alluring but it's not really that way. Maybe if it was totally prohibited there would be more of a yearning for the things that set us apart."

He feels Quebec should not separate and it will be better for all of us if they remain, "There is probably strength in numbers and unity. If they all lived by the golden rule and did a little more for the other fellow then they'd get returns and wouldn't have to separate. It's almost like children quarrelling."

He feels Canada is good but more of us should practice the Christian virtues of striving to have just enough for ourselves and help our fellow man who has less.

He has environmental concerns. "There'll be a time where this world will have to stop because we won't be able to go on."

Man is able to do what he does because he is empowered from above. "God will make an end to the world when it gets to the point where he can't condone it anymore. We don't have the power in ourselves. We just have to realize that. We can do a lot of things but only because He allows it."

He believes values were a big part of what built this country. "I think that concessions to certain groups makes the country a weaker place...I don't believe that

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some minorities should override what the majority wants."

Being an old order Mennonite, George B. Martin finds that life is what you

make it. "There are lots of things I don't like about farming but it's diversified and if

you don't like it, it's going to change soon to another season and you can do

something else. We don't walk in the doorway and face the same machine and just do

the same thing for eight hours. You have to have your routine chores, no job can be

perfect I guess. But if you're doing something that you like it helps to make it more

pleasant that's for sure."

Bonni-Anne Bender

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A h).

Bonni-Anne Bender is a 19 year-old girl living in Winnipeg, Manitoba suffering from depression. Medication has enabled her to live her life on an more even keel. Her parents' support and medication allowed her to find some level of solitude. She is isolated through personal torment. But she is none-the-less isolated.

"Nobody could tell. I didn't let it show and my outgoingness and my happiness came in handy because I could hide it very easily. The medication helped put up that front.

It was an artificial front but it was a front that I put up. Nobody had a clue at all."

Noreen Brooks

Noreen Brooks is 40 years old and lives in Sharon, Ontario north of Toronto.

Her predisposition is to find herself She has tried different jobs and is currently

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running her own small company promoting business training and seminars in the area of wellness.

Her values are family, integrity and respect for authority.

She feels Canadians have a collective identity even though they don't have a lot to do with each other.

She sums up her thoughts about Canada, "I feel positive about the future of

Canada as a people and as a community. More so I worry about the world because I think Canada will hold her own. I think we' re a smart, intelligent bunch. I think we' re compassionate. I see us lagging behind in what we could be, based on our resources and our freedom. I wouldn't live anywhere else in the world."

Craig Burgess

Craig Burgess lives in Truro, Nova Scotia and is 29 years old. He is the director of a non-profit organization. His wife and young child are the most important thing in his live, closely followed by work.

Sports was and is a big part of his life. "I was Male Athlete of the Year in high school, junior high and even in elementary school. I played football, soccer, curled and ran track, so I was heavily involved in sports." He feels sports or music or extra curricular activities are great outlets for kids. He describes some of the kids in his organization, "...come through here at the club and have no direction and no desire to do anything."

He loves the Maritimes, especially its rugged geography. But despairs that,

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"to get any job people have to leave the Maritimes." He believes that jobs are

Canada's biggest issue.

Kristian Currie

Kristian Currie is a 16-year-old high school student in a small town in Nova

Scotia. He does well in his studies, is interested in computers and belongs to a group called Police Venturers.

He has a part-time job working in a greenhouse. Many of his friends don't have jobs, either because they can't find them or just don't care. He recognizes there is a lot of unemployment in his town and in the Maritimes.

He likes growing up in a small town, but is embarrassed sometimes when he tries to describe where it is to people and they have no idea what he is talking about.

He has a positive outlook on life and will succeed. 'Tm not apprehensive about the future. There are a lot of people that are really hung up about what they're going to do in five years. You can't really change it much till it's there."

Patrice Steele

Patrice Steele is 42 years old and a police officer in Toronto, ON. She likes the rush of the work and the instant gratification it gives. "There are days that I have looked back and said geeze I'm really glad I didn't die today. I have no idea from minute to minute about what is going to happen next...that's the part that I really enjoy."

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Her Catholic upbringing was quite strict. Her home was very busy with both parents working and all the three girls involved in some social activity. She is single, has two grown children and is pretty much independent to pursue her career.

Through her job she sees a lot of things that happen in Toronto that are not apparent to most people.

Gerry Mungham

Gerry Mungham is a 56-year-old former Catholic priest. He left the priesthood after seven years because his commitment was not as strong as it should have been. He feels lucky that he was able to make a decision. There are people in situations they can't get out of. "There are a lot of people that would want to do that.

Whatever their circumstances are they just can't do it. They can't get out. They don't have the education, they don't have the background, whatever it might be." Now he is married and is a concierge at a hotel. His values are still based on religious beliefs, traditions and duty to authority.

He feels Quebec should not leave Canada. "They do not have the right to say that they' re a people apart so I don't think they can just leave whenever they want to.

But it is not our style to resort to violence to stop it."

Gerry has found solace within. Prior to that he was isolated even within a nesting environment. First he was raised in a company town where everything was provided for the family from housing to food to cultural events. Later he went into the priesthood where basically all life activities were looked after. It is only now that

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he appears to be at peace with himself and found a personal solitude.

Problems of isolation can be overcome if there is a desire. Compromise is a tool, and in the case of Bonni-Anne so is medication. Canadians appear to be able to overcome problems that create isolation through their ability to compromise.

Indicators of solitude and isolation:

-Shared values in God and in life expectations provide a sense of solitude.

-Isolation is not necessarily a physical state, it can be emotional or aggravated by artificial stimulants or depressants.

-Isolation can be brought on by being at odds with one's personal situation in life.

Being at a crossroads in life requires a transformation either to a new career, to a higher power or a new way of life.

-Solitude can be found in interests such as sports, music or art. Some skills are learned or acquired while others are innate.

-Isolation can be embarrassment when others do not have instant recognition of the place where you live.

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-Isolation can be had from strict upbringing of values placed by the church. Solitude can be the rush of work and instant gratification derived from accomplishing some activity.

-Isolation can be found within a cocoon such as a calling when it is not really what the person wanted. Solace can be obtained from within once reconciliation has been made and a balance achieved.

i) Relevance of Time and Place

In this section seven ordinary Canadians explain how their particular experiences, circumstances and thoughts on the Canadian condition reveal the frustrations and satisfactions faced by Canadians relating to the relevance of their respective time and place in Canada.

As with most people in other nations, some Canadians think what they do and where they live in their little part of the world is irrelevant and that others are always doing something more exciting. This is a result of a combination of extensive communications in that anyone anywhere can know just about anything going on in the world when they want. This 'greener fields' or 'pot at the end of the rainbow' analogies emanate from human nature. It is a counter balancing technique used by

Canadians to justify their place. The Internet creates an overwhelming sense of immediacy and desire for instant gratification.

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The reality is that most citizens in most countries spend a great percentage of time in very limited areas. This enhances the feeling of roots and family values but takes away from grasping the scope of the vastness of the geography that every

Canadian has some aspect of trusteeship for. A shared sensibility of unconquered social and geographic stimulate healthy tension and make for an interesting society.

Barriers created by time and place, by climate and great geographic distances are constant reminders about Canada to those who live here. In this sense, progress is made through cooperative alliances and interdependence. As long as group conflicts and regional jealousies are healthy and positive, it can only help build a positive

Canadian attitude.

Darcy Beck

Darcy Beck is a 30 year-old Metis living in Yellowknife, NT who finds solace in hunting, dog running and other outdoor activities. When he was 17, he lived in a cabin for six months. "I basically lived off the land thing, trapping and hunting. Just by myself, I trapped and hunted by dog team. It was something I wanted to do."

He is married to a white woman and both are content with giving Yellowknife a chance to be their home forever. He points out that the cost of living is high in the north but so are the wages. He has seen things change a lot there in the past 20 years.

People had to adapt to the bigger community where they couldn't make their livelihoods from hunting and trapping and bypass the appeal of government

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assistance. They were more than capable of providing a good home and a good environment for their family doing what they had been doing. With the collapse of the fur prices it forced a lot of hard-working people to go on welfare.

He notes that younger natives are acquiring more skills. They're starting to adapt for different types of employment, such as learning computer skills and trades.

His identity is formed by his particular spot within the place and time. "If I was to describe myself it would be Canadian then Metis then Northerner. But I'd rather be called Man of the Land."

He hates to see regional differences which are increased through political parties such as the Bloc Quebecois in Quebec and the Reform Party in the west. They appear to him to have anti-Quebec, anti-immigration and anti-social policy stances.

"I've always said I'm Canadian first and everything else comes second and I look at it as the best country in the world and I think that Quebec is part of it." But he sees the positive side. "Where else but in Canada could you run a party that is intent on breaking up Canada? I disagree with the Bloc but I sure agree with their right to do what they're doing. At least by doing it this way it stops any violence."

Conrad Girroir

Conrad Girroir is a priest in Nova Scotia. Although he is 79 and not wanting to retire, he finds relevance in time and place by studying the geology of his piece of

Canada. "Nova Scotia once was part of Africa. You can see where Nova Scotia was detached from the western coast of Africa. There was one continent at the beginning

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of time, the Pangean continent. There was one mass ofland surrounded by water and it broke up."

Cora Fedyk

This complete oral history is included in Appendix 8A i).

Cora Fedyk is a 67-year-old Metis living in Red Deer, Alberta. She is married to a Ukrainian. Her first marriage was to a chosen by her parents. It lasted only six years. She had a total of nine children. She says they all have good jobs.

She is a Metis elder, giving freely of her time to counsel Metis and work with community groups. Before that she worked as a cook in hospitals for 22 years.

She is involved deeply in preserving the Metis heritage. "I never forced my kids to believe in their roots, but they know I was always involved with Metis and even to this day, some are eventually coming around and showing an interest..like I always say, 'You never force nobody, they'll come.'"

Much of Cora's story is about her large extended family, and about her personal gains and restrictions and gaining recognition for the Metis. She is quite proud of her individual gains throughout her life and self-respect gained through recognition. "So when I got my letter of recommendation they said that they didn't have to worry about me because I knew what I was doing and that when the new staff came in I would show them what to do. It made me feel good."

Her vision for Canada would be seeing everyone get together as one "because

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we're no different from one another." She would like to see Canadians praise each other for all the work they do together. "We've got everything here. We don't appreciate what we have."

She doesn't really understand what is going on in Quebec. "I think it would be foolish to see Quebec pull away. Because it seems like the power and industry would leave, what would you do without all the industry going on? Because of this I think the natives there will suffer." She sees them basing everything on the language but it goes beyond that. They want to preserve their language and the culture and their distinct way oflife. "It's not unlike us (Metis), they' re trying to re-establish themselves or not even re-establish but establish themselves as a distinct culture."

Patrick Sparrow

Patrick Sparrow is 71 years old and lives in Drumheller, Alberta. He is a retired prison guard. He is single and lives in the same house his parents had since the 1940s. His values are respect for institutions, religion, family and deferred gratification.

His whole life revolves around community events. He is the town Santa

Claus, was Citizen of the Year in 1992 and acts in church community plays. At the boys camp where he volunteered for years he was known as "Chief Spit-em-in-the• eye-shoot-em-on-four-sides."

He feels that Canadians are not working hard enough for their country.

"People have got to work. I want to go and travel, I want to do this, I want to do that,

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but I can't do it without working for it."

He sums up his thoughts about Canada. " Canada's a land of compromise, but too much. I think we're too tolerant."

Nena Pangan

Nena Pangan is in her 30s and is part Chinese. She emigrated from the

Philippines with her family. She has family values and seeks experiences. She is a part-time artist.

She's still finding it difficult to get used to Canadian winters. She described how she had to be outside for a long period when her company was on strike, "I had four layers of clothes and then two bonnets and a hat...I got really sick for a week after that."

She feels Quebecers have felt neglected because they don't speak English.

"They have the but the English have the power--still have the monarchy, so they think that by not speaking English they think they are put down."

Tara Melnikel

This complete oral history is included in Section 5.

Tara Melnikel is 22 years old, lives in Saskatoon, SK and is engaged. She studied to be a nurse but quit because she knew she would have to move away to get a job. "A lot of my friends are okay about moving away but I want to stay with my mom and my family and my nephew."

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Her values are family and community. She is very close to her twin sister.

She was raised by a single mother. Her father is now attempting to become part of her life. "He's really trying...I don't really know what to make of it...I'm not saying that I don't want a relationship with my dad, I do, but it's hard for me. I don't know how to try and love him...It must be hard for him too."

She feels that other Canadians don't consider people in Saskatchewan relevant. "We feel hard done by out here. Sometimes we feel like we're forgotten."

Astutely, she points out, "I think it's just because of population and geography. We are further away from the centre of Canada."

She feels that Canada's social system is the thing that makes Canada what it

1s. "If we didn't have these social programs we might as well be in the United

States."

She's worried about the future. "I've already started buying RRSPs."

Nancy Bullock

Nancy Bullock is 43 years old and runs the family orchard in Kelowna, British

Columbia. "I've pretty much got orchards in my blood. That's all we've done all our lives. Plus we want to continue the farm for the family." Her value set consists of family and community.

Her three daughters and husband run the orchard and provide agri-tours for tourists. Nancy set out on a journalism career but decided in her 30s to return to the family farm. She acknowledges that it is tough making a living in fruit growing and it

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has to be run like a business in order to succeed.

She commented on the fact that people in Canada think their life is boring when in fact other people think it is enduring. "Of course young people always think where they live is boring and that the grass is greener on the other side. My 16-year• old, the other day, said she hears all the time that it is so beautiful here. I think she is starting to agree."

She comments that, "We feel ignored. But in a sense it's not necessarily the rest of Canada's fault. Central Canada has the population base and we don't. There's not much you can do about that."

Canadians concentrate on culture offerings from other countries because they reject what is available internally because they feel it doesn't express their identity and there is difficulty relating to the message being expressed. Often it is more exciting to view cultural offerings and information from other because it is more interesting and exotic. One of the problems with Canadian culture is that the population is not large enough to allow for an extensive-enough distribution system.

As a consequence we rely on the interests and tastes of others.

Canadians have an overwhelming sense of responsibility to leave what they have to the next generation in good shape, whether it be environmental, economic or institutional. This is why the feeling is that the Quebec sovereignty issue will be negotiated to an acceptable consultation rather than unilaterally determined.

A positive acceptance of place and time are expressions of complexity.

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Canadians do this very well.

Indicators of relevance of time and place:

-"Man of the Land" was used as an expression of place.

-The further study of the physical geography where a person is located.

-Promoting and preserving the heritage of a native group is making relevance of time.

-Relevance of time and place revolves around community events.

-Relevance of time and place can relate to the harsh realities of extremes of climate.

-Time and place can be encapsulated by not wanting to leave the community or nest that one is comfortable with.

-Relevance of time and place can relate to grounding oneself in the things that one knows well on the land that it has always been done on, either through self, organization or society.

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7. Conclusions

Canadians know deep down who they are but are perplexed, within the vast geographic area, about their position in time and place because of all the pushing and pulling of self-interest groups positioning themselves with their own respective interests. Because of this confusion Canadians are compelled to continually attempt to define and redefine themselves in terms of their identity. This project is my contribution to providing some level of rational summation of what elements or combination of them make up Canadian identity.

From the discussions with a cross section of ordinary Canadians from all provinces, regions and walks of life, the following themes of identity emerged that consider all aspects of the social connectedness framework. The most common concerns were centred around that of collective belonging: the passive membership ones of gender, colour, age, ethnicity; and the active membership ones of citizenship, religion and class. Progressing up the framework pyramid leading to the fulfillment of unique identity, the complexities of the global condition and Canadian condition were expressed. The penultimate level of values/behaviour/preferences were not overtly mentioned as much as they had to be deduced through relating of experiences and story telling. The breakthrough to the ultimate level of unique identity is not a measurable accomplishment. It is a different sense of actualization for different individuals and can only be recognized fully by that individual.

Conclusions from specific Canadian-related thematic areas identified from the analysis of the oral histories of 64 ordinary Canadians follow:

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a) Deference and Conformity

Deference to authority such as the church, public institutions, and parents is evident through social programs developed to support this attitude. Conformity to circumstances in communities where citizens establish and live their lives is their ability to adapt to change. Compromising, complaining or blaming others for circumstances is a natural human reaction. It is looked upon as a Canadian trait by others and Canadians have self-consciously adopted it. As an element of Canadian identity, deference and conformity form the attitude of adaptability.

Belief in a higher power is very much part of the Canadian identity. Formerly, the difference between Catholic and Protestant mirrored the French and English.

Quebec nurtured the Catholic church as part of its life. One interviewee (Charpentier) said, "When you see the injustice that the church commits towards the people in order to benefit from them, it sort of gets me mad against the church." Those brought up in the formality of the church treasure the values it instilled in them but later rejected the structure when they were old enough to make a decision about formally attending church. One discouraged interviewee (N. Brooks) stated, "I do believe that Christ would 'flip out' if he found out that the Catholics and the Protestants were sitting across the fence and it was all about Him. So the difference is I'm following the

Bible, which doesn't talk about any religion, it just talks about Christ."

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b) Complexity

Canada is no more complex a society than that of any other nation. Where it may be different in regards to others is the make up of its citizenry and the many reasons they may have come to Canada. Some come to benefit from its social programs and hope to succeed economically and obtain educations for their families.

But their hearts and thoughts remain behind for their original home land. The official

Canadian multicultural policy attempts to alleviate this sense of homesickness but in turn appears to many to prevent full acceptance of Canada as home.

As Canada evolves, building blocks or traditions are challenged. Social services are provided in as standardized a manner as possible throughout the country.

Canadians have simplified in their minds how they deal with complexity of life by instituting a milieu of acceptance of deferred gratification regarding the land and scarce resources. Guiding the thoughts of many is the fact that the Creator always has the last say on any action man does.

Canadians feel they have a duty to help each other. This sense of social welfare was created initially through institutions and government policies to ensure

Canadians, regardless of where the lived in the massive land, could expect and enjoy a standard of living the same as anyone else in the country. A great many Canadians are annoyed at the apparent abuse of social programs. Some of the weaker members of society are on welfare. It appears to many that they chose this course because they are lazy or want to abuse the system, but one interviewee (Crowder) offered a counter- balancing comment on this, "I can't imagine anyone enjoys living in Regent

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Park where they're constantly confronted by violence, dirt, filth, rats and lice."

c) Historical Dimensions

The four-founding peoples principle has some benefits in the consideration of what a Canadian identity is. Anglophones, francophones, aboriginals and immigrants or new Canadians relate to each other at different levels in different regions. These relationships make for uniqueness. It is often said that Canada is what it is because of its francophone dimension. However, the fragmentation of this approach does not permit the promulgation of many, if any, myths or symbols acceptable to all groups.

Again the spiritual dimension of identity within the historical dimension as a guiding force is apparent.

In general, Canadians see each other as equals. Most interviewees acknowledge freely that Quebec is different, but most balked at defining it as a distinct society. One interviewee (Kazeil) said "You can walk the and see it's different." Because of this difference and the continuous quest from Quebecers to be accommodated on a regular basis--meaning gaining more power--there is an definite feeling of alienation from one region or group to another. Other than Quebecers mentioning they wanted to separate, all other Canadians I talked to didn't want

Quebec to leave. My feeling was those who wish to separate said so because they cared rather than out of contempt. Indeed most feel that Quebec and the French•

Canadian culture was one of the points of differentiation in defining Canadian identity. According to one interviewee (Nguyen), to not have Quebec as part of

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Canada would be uncomprehensible. "They need us and we need them. There are a

lot of people who don't live in Quebec that are tied into those people, so it will hurt

the whole country." (Nguyen)

If the quest for equality isn't over regional distinctness it is sometimes over

jealousy of Ontario which is the centre of industrial power with its large population

base. The feeling is that what Ontario wants for the rest of the country is what will

happen. This sense of "David vs Goliath" hopelessness creates alienation.

d) Participation and Patriotism

Participation in mainstream society is encouraged by all citizens. Most do

comply although there is still room for marginals to participate. Patriotism results if

some enduring aspect of society is meaningful. Identity fashioned through sub-group

affiliation creates pockets rather than a national identity. Multiculturalism creates a

paradox between affinity to the original heritage or to an adopted home. Hockey is a

passion with many Canadians and raises some individuals to a level of patriotism.

e) Diversity

Diversity of Canadian society contributes to identity. Elements of this

diversity are that it encourages the flourishing of minority groups often at the expense

of the majority. It means risk taking in order to gain respect. It means considering

and accepting new values. It is consideration of destiny in the context of diversity.

Diversity means balancing different opinions and stances on many disparate issues.

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Growth has occurred from continuous waves of immigrants. The type of originating groups and the destination that attracts them differ at various phases of influx. One Canadian (Crowder) described her job in a factory as a metaphor for

Canada's ever changing multicultural mix. "A wave of Italian women had been there for a while, and then there were Portuguese women, and then there were Jamaican women. It was the different types of people working there that made it so interesting." Canada is young in a sense that new generations of Canadians born in

Canada have duality of connections and responsibilities. One connection is to Canada which they consider home and one to the ethnicity of their parents who continuously talk about their heritage and want to cling to their old customs in a new land. This often creates conflict with their children. The parents came to Canada and wanted to participate in the Canadian society whereas their children, the new generation, want to work at honing their Canadian identity.

f) Continuity

Continuity refers to adapting to change and reconciling that fact on an ongoing basis. Change can be disruptive but if rationally considered can be positive.

Irrational considerations about change can be divisive and make it difficult for members to lead good and decent lives.

Like other members of global societies, Canadians want to work hard and provide a solid foundation and future for their families. The route to do this is to have a job, first for family sustenance and second for self-fulfillment. They have a pride in

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responsibility and want to carry on family or social traditions. One interviewee

(Comfort) commented, "The young one says he wants to be a farmer. I would encourage them. It's not a bad life. It may not be fancy or something that's desirable to everybody but if you grow up with farming you know what to expect." In some cases, and the trend is apparent especially in the have-not provinces of Saskatchewan,

Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, people have to leave their province to find satisfactory work. This isn't fair to those people who want to live where they feel their home is and not have to leave their families and friends. An interviewee

(Rogoshewsky) said "Saskatchewan's young people have always had to leave to find jobs and that has dragged Saskatchewan down more than anything...Then they come back and tell us how smart they are." Invariably they return when they retire or when they can't stand being away from home any longer. Therefore the future isn't equal for all Canadians and this feeling of foreboding colours the sense of identity.

Nonetheless, Canadians are positive about life. The young people have a particularly tough dilemma. They have the ability to be educated beyond belief if they are willing to invest the time and money but are frustrated because they cannot find a job in their chosen field and therefore are not able to feel a sense of self-fulfillment.

As indicated by an interviewee (Salisbury), "I'm not prepared to spend the money or the time at university and come out and not have a job." Older people complain that the youth are unmotivated and don't have the same work ethnic that they had when they were young. "l think society has allowed younger people the feeling that they can get everything before they earn it." (Chung)

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g) Myth and Reality

National myths in Canada are difficult to promote because it is difficult to find one that appeals to all sub-groups. National myths of United Empire Loyalists and minority myths such as the Acadians are important from an historical perspective but lose meaning to a larger audience. The only myth that brings out the reality of responsibility is the issue regarding being the trustee of such a large land mass. The enormity of this responsibility forms a sense of Canadian identity.

"I think part of Canada's distinctness is its multiculturalism," said one interviewee (Kazeil). However the draw back is the level of accommodation required to make the new immigrants, who mainly represent minority groups of one fashion or another, feel welcome. This in turn makes the majority--the English or French as founding groups--or simply those first, second and third generation Canadians who were once immigrants but who now think of themselves as Canadians, question who or what they really are. Symbols or myths of nationhood are supposed to be openly celebrated. But Canadians either don't have the opportunity to sing O Canada in school or see those who object to it leave the room or not stand when it is sung, question the relevance of patriotism. Traditional Christian values come into question when they don't say the Lord's Prayer or have the ability to sing traditional Christian hymns or Christmas carols at school because it is objectionable to others of different beliefs. On the other side is the balance created by traditional Canadians being exposed to the myths and cultural symbols of minority groups. But this dilutes the sense of and presents a difficult paradox of what is the criteria for being

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proud of one's country.

h) Solitude and Isolation

The dimension of solitude and isolation is relevant when considering a

geographic land mass as large as Canada and as sparsely populated. Either dimension

is not necessarily a physical state, it can also be a state of mind. It is an important

element in determining a Canadian identity because the two tread a fine line.

Continuity and reconciliation which are important Canadian identity traits are often

called upon to balance the tenuous differentiation between solitude and isolation.

i) Relevance of Time and Place

As pointed out many times, Canada is physically large and sparsely populated.

These two facts often define for others what Canada is. For Canadians themselves relevance of time and place means much more. It means being one with the land; of studying the physical geography to find meaning; of promoting and preserving heritage; of involving themselves in community events; of dealing with the harsh realities of extremes of climate; of not wanting to leave their community or nest where they feel comfortable; of participating in the things that make them feel comfortable whether it be their sel( organization or society.

Most interviewees recognized that Canada is a global citizen. But the aspect of this thinking unique to Canada is that Canadian identity is determined in

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relationship to itself and to each constituent within Canada. Canadians are secure enough in this regard to look no further than to other Canadians to identify with.

There is no point in saying Canadians are different from Americans, Europeans or

Asians. It's obvious. Canadians are unique because they identify as Canadians.

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8. Appendix

A) Example Oral History From Each Category

a) Deference and Conformity

Maria Radford Interviewed October 16, 1996 in her office in Toronto, Ontario Occupation Private school teacher and administrator Predisposition Benefits of volunteer work Age 40s Values Family, institutions Concerns Security, fairness Social Connectedness : Anxious communitarian Ethnic Heritage Not identified Quote "My attitude towards social programs is that they are part of the glue of our society, and without them we'd be meaner and not as nice a place to be."

The fall colours gave the old main building of the private girls' school a soft-painted feeling. The heavy oak front door was difficult to pull open. We picked up our lunch in the staff room and climbed the three flights of stairs to her office on the top .

The room was warm, and had a busy look. It overlooked the courtyard. She is the

Dean qf Residence. She took the job on after having taught geography at the school for 20 years. She is also pursuing her PhD at York and teaching in the MBA program.

She is a bu.sy person.

I'm originally from Washington, DC and I visit my family there quite often.

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I did my Bachelors and Masters degrees in geography at the University of

Maryland where I met my husband, who was doing a Masters degree in geography.

We went to England for a year before we were married, where I taught in a private

boys' school. When it was time to come back, my husband found a position doing a

PhD at Clark University in . While in Massachusetts I worked as a city

planner for two years. Then he applied for a position at York University in Toronto,

got it and we came to Canada in 1970 and have been here ever since. Since he was

British it wasn't as difficult as it could have been to get a position at a Canadian

university. Although there was pressure to hire Canadians there weren 1 t many

Canadians qualified in the area of historical geography.

I worked for the first two years at the University of Toronto teaching a second• year, introductory geography course part-time. I was also a part-time assistant to the editor of the Canadian Geographer. After that, I worked at York University for two years in the second-year, introductory physical geography course, also on a part-time basis. By that time we had two children. When our second child was four months old

I got a position teaching geography at a private girls' school. I'm currently the

Registrar of the school as well.

While I was in the States, what I knew about Canada was from what I had

learned as a geographer. I knew a lot more about Canada than the average American. I

didn 1t have the "ice and snow" kind of perception by any means. I understood the

climate types that were here. I understood the population distribution, but I have to

say that what my memory or what my perception of Canada was before I came is 161

clouded. I knew where all the provinces were and I knew where all the people lived, which was in a very narrow band along the border. I knew where the Canadian

Shield 10 was, what it's boundaries were, what area of Canada had been glaciated-• those kinds of things.

The first day that I had moved to Canada permanently was an example of mixed ideas. I, like most Americans, believed that Canadians were just sort of

Americans north of the border. One of the people who greeted us when we came was the wife or girlfriend of a geographer at the University of Toronto and she said to me,

"We are going to go out to dinner, what kind of food do you want? Do you want

Canadian food or Chinese or Italian?" I said, "What do you mean by Canadian food?" She said, "Well you know, hamburgers, hot dogs." I said, "Well that's not

Canadian food, that's American food." So, I had difficulty at the time in defining what was Canadian about Canada. That became much clearer to me the longer I was here. The longer I was here the easier it was for me to differentiate between the two countries. That probably has a lot to do with the fact that I am intensely political and I have a lot of knowledge of, and interest in, politics. I really have followed politics in both countries very closely, since I came to Canada.

I think that the politicians in Canada are very professional. That means they do the best for the group of people that they see themselves working for. I find the kind of public-choice arguments that are used in political science--that politicians seek votes the same way that an entrepreneur seeks sales--is really a very cynical way of looking at politics. I think that most politicians do have a good conception of 162

something called the public interest, and that's true in particular of most Canadian politicians. In the United States, I don't think politicians in general are as public• spirited or public-minded.

We have the same special interest groups, and it is appropriate in my estimation that special interest groups be given a hearing. After all, the fact that they1ve grouped together is a form of mediation necessary to give the membership the power they wouldn't have as individuals to influence government. Like any lobbying organization, public or private, part of the role of that organization is to provide information to government so they can make informed decisions. From that point of view there's nothing wrong with special interest groups. The question is whether or not they use money and other weapons to get what they want in a way that disadvantages somebody else. For example, when a special interest group lobbies against tighter controls on cigarette , I would argue that they1re not arguing in favour of the public good, they're arguing for their own self-interest. That isn 1t an ethical basis for any argument. It1s never ethical to argue on the basis of self-interest, although we frequently do. I don't think the most effective special-interest groups are unethical. They might be arguing from their perspective, and there's nothing wrong with arguing from your own perspective. The question is whether you're arguing for your own gain, and that's a big difference.

i\n environmental group that is arguing in court about whether or not trees should be left standing is certainly not doing it because there's any monetary reward, they are just sympathetic to the tree. They aren't arguing from the point of view of 163

self-interest, except if you define self-interest so broadly that the fact that we have to get up in the morning and go to the toilet is considered self- interest. A lot of our behaviour in life is self-interest. It is a tautology if it's taken too far. I think that when it comes to a special interest group like environmentalists, they're almost never arguing from the basis of their own self-interest, unless it's a neighbourhood group that's arguing against the building of something in their neighbourhood. Most environmental groups are arguing about things that they might be sentimentally attached to, but they don't have any physical or monetary attachment to them. Often they tag along with those groups of people who do have tremendous monetary attachments. For example, you might very well get groups of lodge owners arguing with the environmentalists because logging destroys the environment that their clients use. They don't necessarily argue from self-interest, but I'm suggesting that they might be arguing for the public good, which is what a lot of self-interest groups do.

The differences between the two countries stem from the structures of government. In the United States, there are so many entry points to government. In

Canada, the government is more accessible to the people, but it also has fewer of these entry points. The party in power and the cabinet of the Prime Minister of the party in power have so much control, and that's true at the provincial level as well, that it is extremely difficult to influence government. The Canadian system doesn't have all of those senators and congressmen, who don't necessarily vote with their party, to influence.

I could do a dissertation on the revolutionary mentality in the United States 164

and the effects of the on American thinking. It 1s still very much a part of American thinking, whereas it's simply not a part of Canadian thinking. I think there is a type of elitism, in Canada. When I use the word elitism I don't mean it in a negative sense necessarily. It's that respected professionals include a certain

"noblesse oblige" and they feel a responsibility to those not at the same social level as them. Philanthropy is very much a part of the Canadian psyche, although it1s always been very important in the US. Now, I guess statistics don't necessarily show that, but

I've always seen Canadians as being relatively more willing to give of their time and money to charitable causes. It's an interest of mine because I have a handicapped daughter, and I spend a lot of my time working in advocacy groups, which one could describe as special-interest groups. It is one of the reasons why I guess I bristle at the suggestion that special-interest groups are the source of a lot of that sort of legislation.

I think they give information to government, but the way that information is used is what's important. Politicians in Canada have been generally better at not using special-interest groups as a way of becoming elected. They have always had the public interest in mind, no matter what special-interest groups say, in a general sort of way.

Here my American values are going to come out again. When I watched the discussion over Quebec separation leading up the referendum in October, 1995, 11 I was amazed at the fact that beating the shit out of them wasn1t seen as an appropriate argument given the pugnaciousness of the Quebecers. I1 m not absolutely certain that

English Canada wouldn 1t go to war. But, then again, I feel that comment is coloured 165

by my Americanism. I suspect that the direction in which the current federal government is moving is going to certainly make calling out troops, if not going to war, a distinct possibility. I do think that Canadians have had a much looser federation, and we haven't had it tested as the United States has by war. It is possible that they will continue talking politely until the day comes that separation takes place, and then they will have to make some very big decisions. Decisions that involve resources or the country going to war. I'm looking at the conflict right now between

Newfoundland and Quebec over the hydro power generated at Churchill Falls, or the controversy between the and the Quebecers over the northern part of Quebec .12 I don't think it's entirely obvious that some kind of armed confrontation is not going to be part of the separation of Quebec. It might very well be not the who start it, but something like the natives in Quebec. In such a case the English

Canadians would find it difficult not to support those peoples if they argue that they're fighting on behalf of Canada.

Let's take the very possible argument that Quebec invades , which they've always thought belonged to it. What would happen? Would we sit around and negotiate until Newfoundland screamed, or would we feel it was necessary to send in troops to protect Newfoundland's interest? I don't think it's at all clear how we would react in a situation like that. The prevailing way of thinking doesn1t assume war or violence in Canada as a potential outcome of separation, but I don't think it's out of the question. I look at the FLQ crisis13 and the reaction to that. I think that particularly with the Liberal government, which has a lot of Quebec's nationalistic 166

support, and with the strength with what Parizeau called the economic "ethnic vote" in the Montreal area, this kind of thing is liable to create a potentially explosive situation. It's very difficult to imagine that happening in Canada. Canadians, until the

FLQ crisis, had not really responded very often--the Winnipeg General Strike is an exception--with violent solutions. We see ourselves as a pacifist nation, although there have been enough exceptions to argue otherwise.

All of these situations, labour strikes in Ontario cities and the General

Motors strike, have potential for violence. It very much depends on the training, and

I think the professionalism in Canada has kept a lot of these kinds of situations from erupting in the past. I see the difference between Canadians and Americans, as I said earlier, as the fact that Canadians respect professional qualifications far more. I have always very much respected Canadian police for their example compared to the police in the States. I was just in Washington, DC, over the weekend and I saw two police officers come into a restaurant. One of them had his head shaved and walked like a marine. The other one looked so mean I'm glad I didn't have to deal with them. I've just never seen policemen in Canada that looked that unprofessional. I've always had a great deal of respect for the police, and see them as people that help me rather than people I am afraid of

Toronto has changed in the last five years. A lot of the things I've associated as being Canadian, such as merchants sweeping the street outside their shop and the planting of flowers in all the flower gardens, taking care of the trees on front lawns, and sweeping the streets with antiseptics twice a week in the summer, is being 167

reduced because of cutbacks.

In the States the jurisdictions are smaller. It1s partly because the "fear of government" that is very American has translated into very weak institutions, particularly when it comes to taxation. They want to keep levels of taxation low. As a consequence, things like roads are in bad shape. I drove a rental car the other day through a that was so deep I'm sure the alignment on that car is permanently damaged. That was on North Capitol Street and you could see the Capitol Building in the distance.

I think "peace, order and good government" as contrasted to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is a really good way of contrasting Canada and the United

States. Peace, order and good government is how we do things in Canada, and in the

United States the interest is more in individual liberty and less in collective security. I like that difference. I like both sides of it but for different reasons.

I have seen a lot of Canada but I have only been as as .

I've been to Vancouver and to the Columbia Ice Fields in the West. In Northern

Ontario I've been to Moosonee. Thats quite an interesting place to go.

I think that Newfoundland has the right to feel very anxious about the

Churchill Falls situation, because basically Newfoundland was given a raw deal and has never really recovered. They were taken, but of course they didn 1t have the money to develop the project on their own. Their only choice was to go with Quebec or not get it done at all. So there was a pragmatic side. But you know, Quebec built a road from Churchill Falls to the Quebec border through Labrador and they called it the 168

Freedom Road. You have to wonder at naming the road the Freedom Road. Freedom

for who?

I think the rational economics about binding policies are absolutely false. I think that if Canada has any major problem it's the fact that our central government isn't strong enough rather than being too strong. I think that the latest fad happens to be divestiture. I honestly believe that most of the people that are proponents of

"power sharing" with the provinces are really people who want to centralize power at another location. For example, getting rid of school boards and centralizing education power in the ministry doesn't actually give more power to parents. It's quite the opposite. What does a small group of parents have to say to a Ministry of

Education? They have much more to say to their local school boards and much more power at their local school board level than they do with a larger organization.

If a province takes over social services, as Quebec wants, the quality of their social services will be only as good as the tax base in that province. The result is going to be large scale out-migration from the have-not province, and large in• migration to the have-province, and that is not going to do anyone any good. Those kinds of population movements are unsettling from a number of points of view. All economic theory about growth indicates spreading out growth is the best way to go.

Whether you can centrally plan that or not is another question. I don't think that you can.

The Canadian Assistance Plan, the programme that gives money to the poor, is basically welfare at the government level, and it has allowed a degree of freedom for 169

people with handicaps that they simply would have never had otherwise. Children like my daughter would still be institutionalized if it weren't for the fact that there was support for them in the community. I can't imagine what's going to happen if the government ends the Canada Assistance Plan. I think getting assistance for people with handicaps is going to be much more difficult. Our society can't be a good place if we have portions of it that are so much less fortunate than others. Income distribution has to be closer, not even by any means, but closer in order for societal stability to occur. I don't believe the attitude that a lot of people take advantage of social programs. My attitude towards social programs is that they are part of the glue of our society, and without them we'd be meaner and not as nice a place to be.

I think volunteer work is wonderful but I don't think it will ever substitute for government programs. There was a lot ofresearch done by Lester Salamon and another group of researchers at Johns Hopkins University during the Reagan years that proved that volunteer work could in no way substitute for government programs, especially in areas like health care. Increasingly, these programs are becoming more and more technical and therefore require more expertise. I think it's really difficult to find volunteers to do it all. I've got a deaf student here in the residence, and if I could find volunteers to help her with her studies it would be great, but who is qualified?

There's a lot of room for increased education in the area of voluntarism. In my ethics course I require all students in Grade 10 do at least eight hours community service throughout the year. I don't see voluntarism as a substitute for government programs, nor do I think it's an efficient way to deliver services.

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I have to say that the system developed in Ontario of funding non-profit organizations, that has experts handling particular groups, like the mentally handicapped, has been remarkably successful. It hasn't, for the most part, been used in the United States. Groups like the MTACL , the organization for the mentally handicapped, can apply for government funding. The programs are reviewed by the government and are therefore kept honest by the government. The money is given to a group of dedicated individuals, many of whom are parents of children with disabilities, who then spend the money to help that group. That was really quite a unique model that was developed here in Ontario. It's not done that way in many other places; government actually provides the service. It's a way of privatizing and using your NGOs to its best advantage, which has worked particularly well here in Ontario.

All the government cutbacks are making these organizations particularly vulnerable right now. The government feels that the organizations should get more of their financial base from donations. The MTACL gets l O per cent from the United

Way agency, 80 per cent from government, and l O per cent from the donations they can raise. They run all the group homes for people who were formerly in the institutions. It will be difficult to raise the money to run those group homes, because parents are already paying a lot of money. I predict that what's going to happen in the area of the mentally handicapped is that we're going to move back into an era where fewer and fewer families opt to keep handicapped children in the home. Since World

War Two the number of families keeping their handicapped children in the home has increased dramatically. People don't give them up to the Children's Aid Society partly

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because they're given support, but if that support goes because the government cuts back on the funding to these kinds of organizations that assist parents who keep their children at home, I think the parents are going to opt increasingly to give the children up. It's going to cost the system more money. An institutionalized child costs a heck of a lot more than one that's raised in the home, and I think there's going to be increasing trouble.

I think that the native people in Canada are a classic example of the results of racism, and you can see its insidious effects on the people that are discriminated against. It's so evident to me going back to the States with the American blacks, and it's particularly evident to me with the Canadian natives because I know a lot of them personally from Moosonee. I was on a research project on values, and I found these native people to be very articulate and know what they were talking about. I interviewed about seven of them, and they were genuinely, not superficially or in a self-interested way, interested in the environment. They really do have a set of values which places the land first, and it comes out in all kinds of things they say and do.

For example, in the way in which they treat their pets you could argue is not unique, but I think in a way it is. They let their dogs run loose and they really think that's where dogs should be. When a well-meaning pastor's wife at the local church in

Moosonee tried to set up a Humane Society they almost lynched her. They didn't think you should cage animals and stick needles into them and this sort of thing. I'm not sure they're right, but it was very interesting in the way they reacted to this kind of

Western institution trying to be brought into their culture.

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Do I feel more like a Canadian than an American? That's a bit like asking me whether I'm a Catholic or an Anglican. I was born a Catholic and confirmed a

Catholic and then I married Anglican and have gone to an Anglican church ever since, and I was also confirmed to the Anglican church. I taught Sunday school in both, so I would say I'm both an Anglican and a Catholic. I would also argue that I'm both an

American and a Canadian. I'm North American. I appreciate the difference in the value systems between the two groups of people, and I like those differences. I applaud what is American and I appreciate what is Canadian. Since I've taught

American history here in Canada, I feel I've been particularly close to the intellectual issues that are American but I understand how they differ in Canada. I've done a lot of reading in the area of Canadian identity, so I know a lot about what authors and writers have said about how Canada differs from America.

I think I' 11 remain in Canada. An example for me feeling this way is one that has to do with a Canadian institution that I think is becoming more Americanized, and that's sad. When my daughter was born she was in heart failure and, of course, has

Down Syndrome. At four months I took her to see the cardiologist and the cardiologist said, "Now Mrs. Radford, you know we think this problem is an ASD and a VSD, there are two holes in her heart and they should be patched." I said, "Oh, do you do surgery on kids like this?" He said, "Well Mrs. Radford, there are parents who said 'God made them that way, God can fix them' but I don't subscribe to that point of view." Then he wrote a letter to my pediatrician saying that the mother might refuse surgery. I said to my pediatrician, "That's ridiculous, I was just asking whether 173

they did surgery on kids like this because I assumed that they might not." Well, that assumption was a very American assumption that health care was rationed and that it was given to those that deserve it the most or were willing to pay for it. There wasn't even a question at the Hospital for Sick Children14 about my daughter's needs. They were indeed interested in ameliorating the quality of her life by fixing her heart defect.

We were shown the bill at the end of the surgery, so that we were aware of the costs, which OHIP15 paid. It was substantially less than my understanding of what it would have cost in the States. I just felt at that point in my life, and throughout raising my daughter, that I felt Canadians cared more about each other. That may be totally a self- impression, but I didn't have any feeling that health care was being rationed. I contrast that with the experience when my grandmother was dying. Over my grandmother's death bed the doctor was saying, "You have got to make a decision whether to put her in a nursing home, we can't keep her in a hospital it's costing too much, you've got to apply for Medicaid right now." I said, "This conversation is barbaric. My grandmother's hands are cold, I cannot believe we are having this discussion over her bed. Could we talk in the corridor at least?" It was barbaric, and that contrast between the two medical systems probably comes closest to the reason that I have stayed in Canada as long as I have. Now I see that as disappearing, and I bemoan the change.

1 feel that changes are taking place. The attitude toward paying taxes which 1 had never seen before in Canada is changing. An underground economy is developing. I don't think my taxes are too high. Although I pay a lot of tax m 174

income tax and all kinds of other taxes on top of that, I've always felt that the service

I got for the taxes I paid was adequate.

References

11. The was held October 30, 1995 on a question which asked voters whether they agreed "that Quebec should become sovereign after having made a formal offer to Canada for a new economic and political partnership." It was narrowly defeated 50.6% vs 49.4% of the 94% of the electorate that voted.

12. Churchill falls is a massive energy source in Labrador. Although in

Newfoundland the Quebec government was able to negotiate a contract that turned out to be quite favourable to Quebec with the rise in energy costs in the 1980s. The arrangement has caused bad feelings between the two provincial governments. The

Cree inhabit most of the northern part of Quebec and have aligned themselves with the federal government in the conflict over Quebec independence.

13. The FLQ, short for Front de liberation du Quebec was a revolutionary movement founded in 1963 to promote Quebec independence using terrorism. It was involved in approximately 200 bombings between 1963 and 1970. In October 1970 it kidnapped a Quebec politician, who was subsequently murdered, and the British trade commissioner. In response the was implemented and 450 people arrested. The immediate response to the group and non-support for the violence 175

caused it to cease activities in 1971.

14. The Hospital for Sick Children is a world-renowned hospital located in Toronto.

15. Ontario Health Insurance Plan. 176

b) Complexity

Kenny MacDonald Interviewed December 14, 1996 in kitchen of his home in Souris, Prince Edward Island Occupation Lobster harvester Predisposition Content and proud islander Age 53 Values Respect for tradition, family, live within means Concerns Social programs in place and maintaining traditional island lifestyle Social Connectedness Rational traditionalist Etlmic Heritage : Irish on mother's side and Scottish on father's side Quote "Back years ago whenever the Europeans started to settle Newfoundland you were allowed to shoot one and only one, in Newfoundland. Yeah, that's trne. They cleaned them out down there basically. That's how they did it, but the law said you were only allowed to shoot one."

Kenny is a man offew . He's proud of his profession and his island. You can just tell.

Kenny MacDonald. That's Mac, capital D. I've lived in Prince Edward

Island (PEI) all my life. At least six generations have been here on both sides. My mother's side is Irish and my father's Scottish.

On my father's side I think they were chased out of Scotland for stealing sheep, that's what they claim, it's more like folklore. From what I understand their boat docked in PEI first and they got off and stayed. They could have gone to Nova 177

Scotia. For instance, my wife's family came about the same time and they went to

Nova Scotia because their boat docked there first.

I have three brothers and two sisters. One brother worked in Ontario but they're all back here now. One brother is involved in lobsters as well. Everybody wants to come back home to their roots.

I only went to grade eight in school. I had no interest. Some of my brothers and sisters stayed in school longer but I'm still the smartest one [laughs].

When I was small I was into hockey and Sea Cadets and things like that. I went to church when I was younger. We still go pretty regularly. We do our share in the community. Every second week for six months of the year we deliver meals to the people, the seniors, who can1t get out. We go to the fiddling contest in Souris every year.

We have one girl who is married to a potato farmer near here and she has two little boys. Maybe they'll be interested in taking over. I'll probably wind up selling my business more than likely.

There used to be a trend at one time for people to go to Toronto to work but that doesn't seem to be the story anymore. Things aidt as good up there now. It's a more level ball field to play on now on the economic side. So, there are not a lot of people moving away anymore.

When my daughter was growing up I never thought about it that my daughter would have to leave to get work somewhere else.

When I was younger I picked the tobacco in Ontario a couple of times down 178

11 around Tillsonburg. I Tipped my back. 11 Now they have special powered boats that you sit on to pick the leaves. We just had horses pulling the boat through the field and we bent down, cut the leaf and threw it into the boat. I did that for two summers. I couldn1t do it now for sure, it1s pretty hard on the back. Stompin1 Tom15 sang about the back-breaking leaf. He's from Inner 1s Pond in the west end on the other side of the island. He plays in Charlottetown a lot. His songs have good tunes.

We travel to the Maritimes every summer for our holidays--Cape Breton or

New Brunswick. We can take the ferry to Halifax from Wood Islands, it takes about five hours. We go there once, twice a year I guess. The last two years we've been getting over there twice a year.

I've always been involved in lobster fishing. I always wanted to do this. I helped my father when I was young. You need a licence from the Department of

Fisheries. I'm allowed 300 traps and can only fish for two months, May and June. I can gross $80,000 per year for them two months' work. That1s around 19, 20,000 pounds at $4, $4.50 a pound in the area, that1s what you're talking about. Other times I fish for other species such as heron, which is like a mackerel, or ground fish, which is cod and flounder. Those you catch with nets. There's been a moratorium on heron right now that started in 1992 so that affects me. It 1 s pretty much to say it1s closed up and they shut it down pretty well. The government is waiting for the stocks to rebuild before they open everything up again. They're doing tests all the time and they have the idea that it will come back at some point but who knows when. It will never be the same. But lobsters are holding their own. It takes about seven or eight years for a 179

lobster to get to harvesting size. There is a legal size and illegal size. If it's not big enough you put it back. We have escape things on the trap that lets a little one out but it1s not

100 per cent fool-proof Even if we do get the little one he's still got to go back.

I don't fish oysters. They're down near Charlottetown. Those caught in

Malpeque Bay are supposed to be the best oysters in the world. It's about 70 miles from here back towards Charlottetown about 30 miles on the other side.

Scallops are caught around here but I don't catch them. They require a different process for catching. They come in a shell about five inches in diameter.

You tow steel scallop rakes to catch them. They sit on the bottom and then you just drag into them. I'd only be guessing but I think it takes somewhere around four years for them to get to being the right size. The size of a scallop depends on how many meats there are per pound. I think it takes 60 average-sized meats to make a pound of scallops. There's just the one meat in a shell. You got to shuck them to take them out of the shell. You have to have a federal licence for that as well. You have to have a licence for everything in the water now.

With the moratorium I don't do much else during the year. One time you could catch all year round. I don't have any other income.

Crab is caught in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They1re in pretty good abundance really on the bottom, you know. Of all the fishing, lobster's one of the best in the fishing business. Crabbing is better. It's a higher return on your investment.

For lobsters you have to go out anywhere from three miles from the land right

180

from the shore and three miles in. I fish on the north side of the Island, not around

here on the south side. There's a difference. My licence only allows me to fish over

there. Somebody couldn't get in it unless they bought somebody out. That's the only

way. There's no more issuing of new licences. There'll never be anymore licences.

Around here the other lobster fishermen go to the west end of the island mostly. Up

around Tignish, St. Albert mostly.

Most of my school friends are mostly into fishing as well.

Probably one out of 10 might stay. Ontario has the steel mills, they were big

draws. That would be just labour and work your way up the ladder, whatever it takes.

I don't know much about it. I had no desire to leave.

The fixed-link bridge 16 with the mainland isn't going to mean a whole lot to me but it will be good for the island. I voted for it in the referendum. A lot of the fisherman didn't go for it. They thought it would interfere with the fish migration.

The fishermen in the strait here were against it but I think there were very few on the north side of the island objecting, because it didn't affect them. It didn't matter to them at all one way or the other. It'll mean that you can come and go easier. You won't have to worry about a ferry. It's supposed to open next spring, June 1. It should affect the price on imports by making things cheaper and easier to get things in and out. That what we're paying for. If there's a load of stuff that comes from Toronto and it's got to wait at the ferry for four hours for whatever reason, wind or ice or traffic, that's all going to be tacked on. It's supposed to take only nine minutes. It's only nine miles so at 60 miles an hour: that's nine minutes. 181

We'll be inundated with tourists for a while, but the novelty will wear off.

They won't bother too much, because most of them just go right to the centre of the island like Cavendish. That's where the Anne qf Green Gables cottage is.

Here, we're more versatile than Newfoundland with the potatoes and the farming. I guess those are the two main things here.

We have a hospital here in Souris. We had three doctors, now only two.

They're islanders. They took a bachelor of science in PEI, then they go to Dalhousie in Halifax or some university for further training on the mainland. University of PEI is not expensive. Your tuition fee would be a little smaller here. They've got a pretty good hockey squad in there.

I don't think much of them Quebecers, really. They're in a league of their own.

I think it is unreasonable what they' re asking for. They're more or less black mailing everybody to get what they want. I think it'll hurt. Sure it'll cost, but then again you can't give them everything that they're asking for. They're never satisfied, them people.

There's a French settlement on the west end of the island and there's another one not too far from Charlottetown, Rustico. That's basically French, and up in

Tignish there's a lot of French. I worked with some but when they're by themselves they do speak French.

I don't think Canada is too social. I think the money has been well circulated, you know. It goes back into the pot. It's going to come out one way or the other.

Unemployment insurance helps us in the off season. We draw it in the winter time. 182

We pay into it when we work. It's been self- funded quite a bit, you know. It's not totally given to us. When you stop and think, well, a lot of it's going back in income tax or whatever. I mean it's going back into the pot regardless of where it comes from.

I guess the only true Canadian in that respect you'd have to say are the Indians and they were chased out of here. We have a reserve, but there are not a lot of them.

Back years ago whenever the Europeans started to settle Newfoundland you were allowed to shoot one and only one, in Newfoundland. Yeah, that's true. They cleaned them out down there basically. That's how they did it, but the law said you were only allowed to shoot one.

We've got to settle that thing with Quebec--that would be probably number one. You know, I can't think of anything more than that that would improve the country. I am still optimistic about the future. Canadians, they crab a lot and they whine.

If not an islander first then I'm a Maritimer. We don't have crime, number one.

You'll get it--once a year something will take place, usually in Charlottetown. There are about 20,000 to 30,000 people there, but you can get around the whole thing in an hour.

References

15. Stompin Tom Connors is an entertainer from Prince Edward Island who sings about everyday island life. 183

16. Confederation Bridge or the link was opened to vehicles in June 1997. It connects

Prince Edward Island with New Brunswick and replaces the ferry system which was the only way to obtain vehicle access. The bridge cost $750 million and required a vote of the residents to proceed. It is contentious for two reasons. First, the Island agreed to join confederation in 1876 because it was promised a fixed link in the near future. It took way over 100 years. And second, the way of life of the island, such as industry and increased tourists, will be permanently affected by the accessibility provided by the bridge. 184

c) Historical Dimensions

Marcel Charpentier Interviewed July 30, 1996 in his sugar shack in St. Marthe, Quebec Occupation Retired police officer Predisposition Horse and maple syrup farmer Age 53 Values Respect, family, order Concerns Church in Quebec has held the French back over the years Social Connectedness: Cosmopolitan modernist Ethnic Heritage On mother's side is Scottish, on father's side is French Quote "The only ones who were educated in the village were the parish priests. If you want to consult on finances, you'd go and see the parish priests. If you wanted to consult about anything, like education the parish priest would tell you where to send your kids."

I pulled into Marcel's horse farm. St. Marthe is horse country. I knocked at the door which had a sign "guard dogs''. His w{fe answered and said he probably forgot our appointment. But she said he was back at the sugar shack splitting logs, getting ready for the spring maple !>yrup season. She led me back. The so-called guard dogs bounded back with us, enjoying the company of a stranger. One qf the dogs stayed with us as I talked with Marcel, sleeping at and on myfeet--the way a dog makes friends with a stranger. We had our interview in the shack. Nfarcel was retired and enjoyed his country property, although he might be putting on too much i,veight.

There was a flower box under the 1-vindow of the shack, .fidly blooming and no weeds. 185

It was lightly raining outside and we swatted mosquitos. I left Marcel to his puttering, at the end, the so-called guard dog that had stayed with us walked me back to my car to bid me.farewell.

I have all the time in the world. That's the beauty of retirement. You keep busy and if you don't do it today, you do it tomorrow. I have been cast aside for sure, but it was my own choice. I could have stayed on in the police department or got a second job. But I'm still young and I enjoy what I'm doing right now and I'm taking the time to smell the flowers.

My dad was French Canadian; my mother was Scottish. Both were born in

Canada. They've both passed away. Originally my parents settled in New Liskeard,

ON. That's way up north where the men are men and women are men too! Ha! Ha!

My mother died when I was about two. My father was a farmer up there and he couldn't take care of my sister and me. He called his brother and asked him if he and his wife would take care of us. They didn't have any children of their own. I called them mom and dad, and it was like a family, but they always kept us aware of how my father was doing in Ontario. That's how we ended up in Montreal.

We were raised in Saraguay, a predominately English milieu on the West

Island, in the French Canadian tradition: French school, no meat on Friday and the

Catholic religion. My father was an Orangeman, but my uncle was a devout Catholic.

I didn't visit my dad very often, maybe once every l O years or so. Basically the oniy values I was raised on were the Roman Catholic values and the dominance of the 186

church on the French Canadian culture.

The church had its effect on me in the sense that I rebelled a little bit against it.

Now, I believe in God, but I don 1t believe in the church per se. I saw too much corruption. When you see the injustice that the church commits towards the people in order to benefit from them, it sort of gets me mad against the church. So it affected me in that respect.

The church was so influential that, for instance, when Mount Tremblant was developed, it was developed by Anglophone Protestants. The only reason that they managed to get French Canadians to work that day was that the parish priest was getting a cut of their salaries. This was the way the church operated. Often farmers would leave their land to the church and not to their children. They thought that this was a sure way to get into heaven. The kids were left nothing. So you would have poor families. If you saw all those things, the church appears very hypocritical.

In the rural milieu of Quebec, they (the Catholic church) have a very strong hold. People would say they couldn't afford to have kids but the church said they had to have kids, it's the will of God. You had French Canadian families with 14 or 17 kids. It was misery, you know. It kept them in poverty. The only good education for the French Canadians was either becoming nuns or going into the priesthood. This is the way the church wanted it, because it kept the order and it kept the rest of the population in ignorance. So whatever the church said, people believed. The only ones who were educated in the village were the parish priests. If you want to consult on finances, you'd go and see the parish priests. If you wanted to consult about anything, 187

like education, the parish priest would tell you where to send your kids.

Duplessis2 was in cahoots with the church. He followed whatever the church said and he was a very corrupt man. It was known in those years that the Union

National party was very corrupt and he didn't give a hoot about the people, you know.

It was just his pockets and his friends' pockets. This type of thing.

In my opinion, the French Canadians were hurt more in finances and education by the church than by the anglophones. I think the church suppressed more francophones than the English did. They kept power with the fear of God by saying,

"You're going to Hell and you're going to burn. 11 You couldn't work for Protestant employers. Young girls who would be leaving, let's say the Lac St. Jacques area for

Montreal, to get a job as a maid in Westmount, would be told by the priests, "You

can't go and work for Protestants. You'll be excommunicated. 11 So it was always a form of controlling the people around them and leaving them with only one line of thought. That sort of thing is why the church in Quebec suffered so much.

Look at my son. He's not influenced by the church at all. He doesn't listen to whatever the church promotes. Most young people don't. You have people of my age group who are still firm believers in the church. But no, today the young people are more rebellious. It's economics, I guess.

If you go to London, ON, the churches are still full; whereas in Montreal you go on Sunday and the churches are almost empty. A lot of churches were demolished in Montreal. Now it's not a secret anymore and through their studies and the history books young people are being made aware of the exploitation that the church did. 188

I have one son. He did elementary school, high school, CEGEP3 and university

in English. I wanted his horizons to be North American. I didn't want his horizons to

be just Quebec. He went to study at the University of Geneva for a year and came

back to Montreal and graduated in political science.

After we enrolled him in school, a couple of years later, the Francophones were forced to send their children to French school. They weren't allowed to go to

English school anymore. I used to say to myself that this was so stupid! You're handicapping our children, because if he learns English at school he will be better equipped to cope with the business world. French he can learn at home. Yet the

English people in Quebec were allowed to send their kids to French school, or keep them in English school. Eventually they did or English immersion, but you can never be proficient in another language just with the immersion programs.

After my son graduated he wanted to get a job in the federal government as an attache or secretary in an embassy. But he was too late. They were cutting staff all over. He would have been a good candidate, being bilingual. Now he's a sales rep for a German company. He's doing well. The company's Canadian head office is in

Toronto. He has to speak to them everyday, so the fact that he's fully bilingual is a big plus.

He's married, but with no kids. His leanings are towards the federalists. I guess

I had a bit of an influence on that. When you're growing up with your parents and they

are involved in Federal politics, your parents' leanings can influence you.

There used to be an old saying, and Bernard Lamare, who was the head of the 189

SNC Lavelin, one of the biggest engineering firms in Canada, said, "When I was young

I'd see the train go by and my dream was that I could drive that train.11 Before, you had to be English to get those types of jobs. Then all of a sudden now he says that today not only do we drive the trains but we build them at Bombardier. So there you see the success story of education in Quebec. It was when we stopped learning Latin and started learning how to add, then all of a sudden we were discovered as young entrepreneurs and young businessmen. We developed major companies like Power

Corp. or Bombardier or Quebecor and so forth. Before that, they would keep you in

Classical College, and the only jobs were either in the priesthood or the notary. They didn't want you to go to business school.

I got a job at Eatons4 and I managed to get a couple of little promotions, but

when I saw that with a name like "Charpentier, 11 seeing as how all the section heads and managers in those years at Eatons were anglophone, I didn't have much of a chance. It's Charpentier with an H. It's the French version of carpenter. Not that I have those qualities, but I have the name anyway.

The only reason I got the job at Eatons was that I went with some friends of mine who weren't bilingual and I was fully bilingual. At the time Eatons was hiring only unilingual anglophones. Unilingual francophones weren't getting the jobs. So my generation of people who are in their fifties experienced this. When you would go to

Eatons or stores downtown none of the clerks at Eatons could speak French. There was a demarcation line on St. Catherine street. Anything east of St. Denis was French where Dupuis Freres was, and everything west was predominately English. You were

190

in another culture and yet you were within your own province.

Now it's reverse discrimination, just like in the rest of North America. If you1re black you have a preference. It you1re a black woman then you have super preference and if you're a black woman wearing glasses you have a super, super preference.

So I quit Eatons and went to work for a fruit and vegetable market. Here we

were dealing a lot with Americans and it was a bitch to say 11 Charpentier, 11 especially to someone from Georgia buying tomatoes. The best thing would have been to use my mother's maiden name--Wallace. With a name like that I would have had more of a chance for advancement. And had I been perfectly bilingual that would have helped.

Today in Quebec it doesn't matter. The language is more or less safe. Now it's a lot of bullshit that they want a country. We're not threatened anymore by the Anglophone thing.

After I quit there I joined the police department. It's called the Montreal Urban

Community Police Department. I was there for 30 years. I've been retired for three, so

I started when I was 21. I was mostly on traffic and spent about 20 years on the motorcycle. I was a sergeant, so I had about 30 guys working for me.

I was involved in the traffic and crowd control when we had the riots in

1 6 Montreal, and in VIP escorts during ,5 and the Olympics or whenever heads of state would come. I guess I was most impressed, during the , with the security, when Brezhnev came for a social visit and to see Expo.

It was a good experience. I really enjoyed myself there. It was a blast. Like I

191

tell my son, I don 1t feel that I worked for 30 years, I feel like I was on holiday because I was well-treated.

I think Canada's approach to multiculturalism is wrong. This is my personal opinion. Where I really rebel against the federal government is when they allow the turbans in the RCMP. You take a picture of an RCMP officer and show it anywhere in the world and they'll say "Canada." Put a turban on him, the same uniform but with a turban, and show it anywhere in the world and some will say Canada and some will say India, maybe -- you know. So we1re losing our identity. I say if they1re coming to

Canada and want to preserve their own culture, fine. But do it on their own time.

Form associations and promote your cultures, but adapt to the Canadian culture. rm not saying the Quebec culture, rm saying the Canadian culture as a whole. I think the government is wrong to really bend backwards for other ethnic groups who are coming to Canada. They say, "well now you 1 re allowed, okay, we 1ll modify our national uniform to allow you to wear your turban and your knife." Next thing you know we 1ll amend our flag. What if somebody comes up and says, "Well, I don't like the , I want something else attached to the Maple Leaf?"

We have this problem, a little bit, in the police department. You have Jehovah's

Witnesses who are in the department and they say they can1 t wear a gun. So they give them a desk job. If you are going to be a Jehovah's Witness, and you don't want to wear a gun, don 1t join the police department. But they do join. Then once they get their permanency, they come out with their religious beliefs and then the government bends

backwards again and says "Oh, you're right. 11

192

These are things that are going to help people rebel because people are going to get fed up. Instead of promoting the Canadian identity and being proud of being a

Canadian, you're sort of mixing with other cultures and eventually there won't be any

Canadian identity. Maybe 20 years down the road there will be a Muslim identity that we'll have in Canada. What the hell!

In the States they're starting to develop the same problems that we have in

Quebec, but in a sense, their problems are with the Spanish. You see now that a lot of the States are adopting laws where English is the . They don't want to have a bilingual State. California and Florida have huge Cuban districts. There are no

English signs anywhere. So now they are starting to feel a little bit of what Quebec felt when Quebec was threatened for its culture and its language.

We don't have a bilingual society in Canada. Let's be honest. If I leave

Quebec and I talk French, I'll go to St. Boniface or I'll go to the border cities between

Quebec and Ontario or to New Brunswick. But in the rest of Canada--let's say I go to

Saskatchewan--and I get a speeding ticket, I'm sure the officer there is not going to talk to me in French.

This is where the government is wrong in promoting a bilingual country. It's not a bilingual country and it will never be a bilingual country. I don't see the need for somebody in a small town in Saskatchewan, like Snowy Lake, to speak French. We have a bilingual province and fragments of bilingualism in other provinces. Sure, you can get French services in court, for instance, but they would have to fly somebody in from Ottawa or from Quebec to do the translation.

193

Right now we have a few people who are in power who are, how should I say, intellectuals. These intellectuals are my age or older and they're clinging to power. At the beginning when the PQ first started, the language was threatened in Quebec. You had to talk English, period. Over the years we've made tremendous strides in a sense, so that in Quebec you are not embarrassed to talk French, whereas one time you were.

You literally were embarrassed to speak French in public.

Now it's safe. The schooling system is safe. You can go and apply for jobs and you know that's resolved also. The reason that these people are in power now and still promoting it (bilingualism) is because they want to keep the power that they have, be it prime minister or other ministerial positions. More and more young people in Quebec, let's say in their 20s, 25 or 30, realize that the language is safe now. Let's cut the bullshit with the country thing. Quebec won't make it as a country. And let1s get the economy going.

Let 1s face it, right now Quebec is owned by the Americans. We have Hydro

Quebec, but all the money that Hydro Quebec has borrowed is from the States. So technically they own Hydro Quebec. They own the Seaway. They own most of our natural resources. So if we1re going to separate from Canada what will be our debt? A lot of people in Canada have also contributed to the federal buildings in Quebec and to infrastructures and this sort of thing. So it will be payback time. There1s no way Quebec can make it on its own.

The tendency now in Europe is that they want to have the Euro money, one currency. They want to abolish customs and all this sort of thing. We've done that a

194

bit with the North American Free Trade agreement, so the trend is to unify, not to divide. If I look at it again--I'm not an expert or an economist--but if I look at what

Quebec would owe the rest of Canada and what Quebec would be left with, what it actually owns, then no way Quebec can make it.

It's possible that there may be violence (regarding separation), but it may not necessarily be directed at anglophones. It will be against reverse discrimination.

Anywhere you have violence and you have rebellion, it was when the economy was bad. When the economy is good everybody's working, so you don't care how many blacks are around or how many Hispanics or what have you. When the economy starts

hurting people will say, "Hey look at him. He's coming in and taking our jobs away. 11

Then you get the punks or the Nazi movements or what have you, that will play on this and then people become more racist. I don't think we'll go back to the bomb scares that we had with the FLQ. But I think if we ever get to violence it will not be directed at the Anglophones per se, but it will be mostly a racial violence and it will be because the economy is bad.

Separation is going to be hell. There are so many problems attached to it. I'm not that worried about it though. I'm not worried that Quebec will vote for separation.

The last referendum was close, but if you look at all the errors that were made and the ballots that were cancelled, it was a resounding NO again. Are we going to have a referendum every five years? This is stupid. Once we get rid of this old guard, people will be able to settle down.

I think our social net has made Canada a strong country, up to a point. If you

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look at the history in Quebec and in Ontario they were the most industrialized provinces in Canada. If you look at the 1940s, the establishment abused the workers.

Then you got the unions, which was very good. Then the unions, over the years, got stronger than management. They were dictating to management the way to do it, and too much of anything is bad. I'm sure that the social programs that we have in Canada, aside from the Netherlands or those countries, are the best in the world. From talking with a lot of French Canadians and French Canadian cops, I'll give you an example. If you give people too much welfare money, of course they are not going to go out and work. They say they have to hire a babysitter so it pays them to say at home. I think they (the government) should tighten things.

I think we have a good medicare system but it should be controlled more. I've arrested a lot of people when I was on traffic who were Americans and yet they had a

Quebec medicare card because they had family in Quebec. I would call the Quebec medicare bureau and I would tell them that I have this person, but they wouldn't pursue it. Now with the picture on the card, it has helped, but I'm for more control.

I think Canada is lax. Here's an example. Often times you will see in the newspaper where illegal immigrants come to Canada. Then all of a sudden Canada wants to deport them. There's a whole volley of opposition saying we can't deport this woman, blah, blah, blah....We have to supply her with a . We have to put her up in a hotel. We have to feed her. It may take two years. Where does she get all those rights? She's not a Canadian citizen. Granted, once you're a Canadian citizen you have those rights, fine. I'm for that. But if she's an illegal immigrant she has no

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rights. Why should I pay for all that? Why don't the bleeding hearts that are opposing her deportation support her?

It's the ones that are abusing the system that are screaming the loudest, and the newspapers in Canada are not honest. They're only out there for the ratings and to get more circulation and more advertising revenues. They are giving all the people who are abusing the system and screaming a lot of press. I don't think the media is giving the full story on most of the issues.

Right now the elderly are doing all sorts of demonstrations for medicare in

Quebec. They are getting a lot of press. Are they giving equal press to the federal or provincial agencies that show their deficit and how much the abuse is costing them?

Newspaper people are the parasites of society. They feed on scandal and disasters and victims. They don't care about the victims. If a little girl gets raped, they would publish her name if they could. They have no ethics and everybody's afraid of them.

But Quebec is still a nice place to live. We have a good lifestyle. In Quebec you can still buy a huge property for a relatively small amount of money, and you know you can't do that in Toronto or Vancouver. There was less speculation, I guess, on those properties. You could still buy a house in Quebec 30 years ago for $15,000, where the same house in Toronto would be $50,000. I wouldn't say it's because people are fleeing from Quebec. There's a saying, "With every loss there is a gain, and with every gain there is a loss." You know when people are fleeing, somebody's making money, because they\e buying the property up dirt cheap. If you look at the

first time the PQ 7 got elected, the anglophones panicked and a lot of them sold their

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properties at rock-bottom prices. Smart anglophones were buying them and they made money, because when it settled down, the market took off again and they flipped them. I think this time around people are a little smarter. That's why when you see more houses for sale now, people are not that willing to drop their price as much.

They're not panicking as much. But right now the economy is bad in all of North

America.

The reason we would like to sell our house is because we would like to travel more. Having horses is a seven day a week job, so you're tied down. If we sell, we will buy a smaller property, keep our horses in the summer and board them in the winter. It will be in this area. I won't move to Ontario. I don't see any advantage.

I've travelled a lot in Ontario because I have a lot of relatives there and I also go to the Maritimes. My dream is, when I sell (the house), to take the car and go to

Vancouver and then go up to the Klondike. I want to see Canada, not by plane or train, but I want to drive through it and take the time to talk with people, this sort of thing. It was always a dream for the later years. When I was 20, I was too busy raising my son or building up equity for my old age, my old age, I'm 53, ha! Ha!

A lot of people bought a 'pied a terre', or foothold in Ontario, just on the border of Quebec. The thinking was that if Quebec separated they could still claim

Canadian citizenship. People are panicking through lack of information. I think the politicians are not doing their job properly in Ottawa. People were busy getting passports during the last referendum thinking they were losing their Canadian citizenship. You can't lose it if you were born in Canada. You are Canadian now. If

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Quebec separates, the worst that can happen is that five years down the road you'll

have a choice to make. They can't tell you tomorrow that you're not a Canadian citizen

anymore.

References

2. was of Quebec from 1944 to 1959. He developed a political machine that operated in a period of great prosperity. Quebec was able to exert economic clout against Ontario.

3. CEGEP is the acronym used in Quebec for community college.

4. Eatons is a major Canadian department store retailer based in Toronto, but with stores in major locations including Montreal.

5. Expo 67 in Montreal was the major event in Canada's year.

6. The were held in Montreal.

7. The Parti Quebecois or PQ is a Quebec political party with the main platform of separation. Rene Levesque lead the party and was premier at the time of the first

Quebec referendum in 1980.

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d) Participation and Patriotism

Jerry McCrae Interviewed July 16, 1997 in his office in Vernon, British Columbia Occupation Community support officer Predisposition Regional fairness Age 57 Values Respect for authority and historical tradition Concerns Self-esteem for people through employment would give them a positive attitude about Canada Social Connectedness: Rational traditionalist Ethnic Heritage Gennan on mother's side, Scottish on father's side Quote "Now if that was in Ontario there wouldn't be a lot of screwing around like there is here, there would be something done about it pretty quick"

I met Jerry at the RCMP office in Vernon. We chatted over a coffee.

I've been with the RCMP for 32 years. I joined in 1959 in Regina where the training head quarters are. It was my first big move out of the province of Ontario.

Between 1959 and 1990 when I'd left the force in Vernon I had 13 physical transfers, all within BC. With my family, I was stationed at large detachments, small detachments in different capacities. After a while you and your family get used to moving around. Here in Vernon I was a Staff Sergeant. I had a pretty good variety of duty. In those days anyway, if you wanted to get ahead in the force or be promoted you pretty well had to move around. That's the way it worked. I've travelled

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throughout all of BC, interviewing applicants for the force. There are some moves that you like better than others and some that are more convenient than others.

I grew up in the east end of Toronto. After I left high school I worked as a pattern maker making wooden patterns for castings for about a year and a half I felt that that really wasn 1t what I wanted to do. Then one day I was walking past the

RCMP building downtown and there was a poster in the window advertising positions. About a year later I applied. It was about another year and a half before they phoned me.

I'm 57 now, and when I retired in 1990 I was only 50. I was really too young to sit back and do nothing. So in 1992 I got this job with the City of Vernon as the crime prevention officer. I work out of the RCMP office and do everything that a regular uniformed member would do, except I'm in civilian clothing and they pay me a lot less than they pay a regular member. My employer is the city but my boss basically is the RCMP. So I have two masters, but it works out really well.

Vernon's our home. We've lived here since 1988. It1s the longest we've ever been in one location. The Okanagan valley is a great place where everybody comes for their summer holidays. It's central to Vancouver and Calgary. It's about eight hours to Calgary. Out here we're used to drives like that. It's a beautiful drive.

I grew up in a normal childhood. When I went to high school I had at least three or four part-time jobs. I started off as a janitor at the elementary school I attended. When I moved into high school I got a job there as a janitor too. So I worked early in the morning and then after school I worked at the grocery

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store. I also delivered newspapers, prescriptions, fish and chips, all these different things. I was pretty well self-supporting. In later years I got quite interested in flying and a lot of that money went into getting my pilot's licence.

Unfortunately, I didn't keep the flying up because I couldn't afford it and there was no time. When we got transferred to Prince Rupert, we weren't making very good money and it was a matter of survival. I got married there and we had two children there. It was pretty tough throughout my junior years in the RC1\1P because of the wages. It wasn't until about 1978 that the wages started to improve. But by that time

I was out of flying. Because we moved quite a bit it always seemed that we always got into more expensive housing every time we moved. There just wasn't enough money to have hobbies.

My responsibilities as crime prevention officer are really quite involved. I'm the co-ordinator of the Crime Stoppers program and also the co-ordinator for the

Citizens On Patrol. There are about 100 people trained who go out in their own vehicles at night and who are the eyes and ears for the police. They have a scanner and they also have a cellular telephone and they report any criminal activity or any suspicious activity to the police. I look after the media. I have the radio and newspaper reporters in our office every morning at 8:30 a.m. and I brief them about what happened the night before. I also look after all of the community programs that the RCMP are responsible for; there are about twenty-some programs. I do presentations for pre-schoolers, elementary kids and high school students. I do talks to Rotaries, service clubs, I set up programs, I do security reviews for industry and

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private homes. I do the neighbourhood watch program, everything. So I'm fully involved with the force but as a civilian. It's all very interesting for me with my background and qualifications and the things I've done on the force. I like speaking engagements. Sometimes I have 500 people or more to talk to.

Rotary asks me to give them an update on the crime prevention initiatives on a regular basis. They've been financially supportive for a couple of years. They were involved with a lot of programs we've had up and running. There have been times when I give presentations on subjects like armed robbery and shoplifting.

Many things funnel down through the detachment to me. Some things that they don't know who to give them to go to crime prevention. Many times, the girls at the front counter, they know the guys are all busy and they don't know what to do so they'll send calls back here because I have the experience and knowledge to handle it.

I'm Scottish on my dad's side and German on my mother's side. My grandparents were born in Canada so I must be third generation. My grandfather on my dad's side was very Scottish and had a very heavy brogue. Every New Year's he would come to our house and walk in playing his bagpipes. My dad just about died a natural death when he heard them. But that was the tradition. The neighbours thought it was a hoot. We kids thought it was a real big laugh and got a real charge out of it.

I have two brothers. One lives in and the other one is now in

Toronto. My brother in Oshawa has now retired and is working as a caregiver in a retirement home. He just loves it. Through the Rotary Club he used to go to these places to work with the elderly. He enjoyed it, so he took a year-long course and got a

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job working in a nursing home. He's a program manager or organizer where he sets up programs and takes them on field trips. My other brother is involved with driver training and has his own business in Sault Ste. Marie.

We were back in Toronto three or four years ago and we drove by our old house, but it's been ripped down. There are two homes up there now because we had a pretty fair-sized lot. It was sad to see your house gone. It really was, it's taken a little bit away from me. But you know, it's funny: as a kid, we used to play road hockey on the street in front of our place and to me, it was a pretty wide street. Well, when I drove down there, it was so narrow. I also remember my mother would ask me to go up and get some milk or something at the store and I'd think to myself, oh do I have to climb that hill? We drove down the hill, it wasn't bad, it's just a grade.

But as a kid you perceive these things. But the boardwalk down by Lake Ontario was the same and we walked along it. It hadn't changed a bit, except I thought that the water was closer or farther away, I can't remember. The beach and the park and the club looked the same. They hadn't really changed one iota.

I have two children, a daughter and a son. My daughter works for the

Ministry of Social Services in Victoria and I have a grandson who's 12, soon to be 13.

My son is a fisheries officer with the Department of Fisheries. He just transferred to

New Westminster from Terrace. In some ways it was probably good for them to be on the move when they were growing up. They got a chance to see a lot of country and make a lot of friends. Even for us, when we travel today throughout these different places we still know people in many of them and we'll stop and say hello.

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Like in Langley where we lived for four years, it still feels like home when I drive through. It doesn't seem like it's changed, although it's changed quite a bit. It's still just, I don't know, its just a funny thing. When we go to Victoria on the ferry, many times we run into people we knew from being in the force or people that we knew stationed at different places. It's just weird how that happens.

In the kids' formative years, when they were 12 and 16 years old, we moved probably two or three times. I think the toughest move for them was when we moved from Revelstoke to Victoria because my daughter was in high school at that time and my son was just starting. They seemed to have closer friends that they didn't want to leave. Neither one of them really wanted to go and the first month or so they were really unhappy with the high school because it was so small and strict. They came home moaning and groaning about this for a while, but after two or three months they loved it. They talk about that now as the best school they ever went to.

Quebec always seems to be the number one thing in the news. I get tired hearing about breaking up the country. It seems that no matter what the government does or what the rest of Canada does, it doesn't seem to be satisfactory to Quebec.

Out here in the West, we just scratch our heads and think, "How can this really be happening?" It makes one think that if Quebec's getting all this, why isn't BC getting any? There's a bit of a backlash in the West and you'd have to be naive and pretty blind not to realize that. In Winnipeg someone will get either a government contract or they'll get something to try to appease the West. It seems to us living out here that

Canada ends at the Ontario boarder. There's Ontario and Quebec, which is Canada

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and the rest of the country is whatever it is. We don't have enough seats to influence anything. When you look at Parliament the distribution of seats is a joke. The elections used to be terrible. First there is the time factor, because we knew who had won based on the results back east and we still hadn't completed voting. I think there's an amount of apathy maybe and lots of frustration.

I think most people would think that there's a benefit to being part of the bigger picture. I don't think anybody wants to see the country self-destruct. I remember seeing something on 20/20 here a year or two ago. A professor from the

States said that if Quebec broke away, then by the year 2010 Ontario, BC and the

Maritimes would become part of the States. But they wouldn't want Saskatchewan,

PEI or Newfoundland. I don't know if that would ever happen, but if you start breaking down Canada and separating them and becoming your own entity, the country's gone and it's open season to anything happening.

July 1, Canada Day, is a big deal in Vernon, but it is just once per year. There are lots of people celebrating. There's fireworks and I think everybody feels really good about it. But the next day it's back to work and away you go and maybe there's not enough of it. Does it have to be just sort of oriented to one day? Then, you look at all the money that's being spent on that event and we're having trouble with medicare.

So we wonder if it's the best usage of all the money.

Each day I go through all the police complaints and do all the stats for the media. I've seen a real increase in domestic situations. I think it's caused by from a number of things, probably it's internal from their own family, but a lot of it

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also has to do with unemployment; people are frustrated, there is a lack of money, a lack of social services, a lack of a number of things. I think it's a frustration that people feel and there's no way to vent it so they vent it upon themselves. They may start drinking or drugs may be involved. I don1t know, it's kind of like a vicious circle.

I think every community throughout Canada is suffering from government

cutbacks. Even the postal service is being cut back. Owners of new homes in

housing developments have to go a half mile to three miles to pick up their mail. All

these services that we are accustomed to are being eroded. You go down to the

unemployment office if you're unemployed to get help, and hell, there's hardly

anybody working there anymore. You phone government agencies in Ottawa from

here, first of all you get somebody that speaks French and doesn 1t speak English, and

then secondly they put you through to a guy who can't help. For somebody else,

please press 1 to get so and so and then you sit here for 15 bloody minutes. In the

meantime you' re running up a phone bill and then you get somebody on there that

says there 1s nobody around. You 1ve wasted your time. It's frustrating. That's just the

way it really is out here. When we phone from here back east, you expect because it's

an English-speaking area to speak to someone who speaks English instead of

somebody who speaks French. They always answer in French first and then English

after, and I think that irritates people.

Even the RC has had their budgets cut back. The community things I do

here all cost money, some more than others. But the RC doesn't have any money.

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The federal government has no money, the provincial government has no money, the city has no money, so everything that I do, I have to beg, borrow or steal, so to speak, to get money for these programs. We're always going around looking for sources and it seems like we're looking for handouts. Like gas money for my Citizens on

Patrol, I budget $3,000 a year. Well $3,000 is a lot of money to come up with, especially when you have other programs. It's an ongoing process, sources dry up and you hate like heck going back, you can only go to the trough so many times, then you have to move on.

Unemployment is a concern. It would be nice to see more people employed, which would help the economy and help settle people down. They'd feel better about themselves. There'd be a better attitude and a better overall feeling about the country.

I think it starts right in the schools. Instead of people going to university, spending five years, getting a degree and coming out and washing dishes, maybe having things more career-oriented is what's required today. Like my son for example. When he was trying to get into fisheries, it was either conservation or fisheries. He took a two-year course in Nanaimo and at that time they were putting through 30 people a year for one or two positions. That college is still stuffing out people. But there are no positions out there for these guys. Some might get into some sort of related thing but out of his class of 20, he and another person are the only ones that have gotten full-time work with it. It was because of luck and perseverance. He was fortunate because he was single; a married man with children would be out of luck. Lots of times the positions are part-time or contract.

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I do n1t know if you could ever overcome Canada's diversity. You would probably get the same feeling from people on the east coast, you know, because they' re so isolated out there, like we are here out West.

A good example is this fish war that we're having with the US right now. Now if that was in Ontario there wouldn1t be a lot of screwing around like there is here, there would be something done about it pretty quick. It just seems that, well, we1re out here and they'll get around to it when they can. We can1t have that kind of attitude.

From central government there's not an appreciation for everyone's needs and each province is fighting for their own. There are have-not provinces and there are have provinces. The well-to-do provinces are pushing on their own. Just because you're from a have province doesn't mean that everybody's rich. Yet one of the have• not provinces probably does better because in many cases they need it.

I could see that if things keep going the way they are than enough red necks, dissatisfied and unhappy people in BC and Alberta might do some thing drastic.

They'll say to hell with it we1ll do it on our own, we1 re doing it now on our own anyway so let's just go. The attitude is about, I would say, 50/50 now.

We have a strong transient German population here. A lot of them come out here to buy property and live part-time here and part in Germany. I don1t think it's a problem.

We have a fairly heavy native population here, we have quite a few reserves through the Okanagan Valley. They own a lot of property. So there's a mixture of

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basically everything and there's really no animosity that I can see, except towards maybe the natives because of these blockades and some of these other bloody things that they're doing that really piss people off. But other than that I don't think there's a real problem. Many Asians are being drawn to this area because it's so beautiful and secondly, property is so much more reasonably priced than it is in Vancouver. There's a big hotel on the west side of Kelowna that was bought by Japanese interests. You are seeing some Asian money coming in, it's probably more than I'm aware of.

The mix of different ethnic backgrounds doesn't cause problems or stress within the community. It's diverse, the whole Okanagan is diverse all the way right from Osoyoos up to Salmon Arm. The only major problems that I can think of is when picking time comes and we get a bunch of pickers coming in from Quebec.

That seems to create problems because of the fact that they' re really nomads and they sort of just plop themselves in places where people don't want them. But it's only a very temporary thing.

The schools have special programs that the new Canadians go through, sponsored through a federal program or through the provincial government. I've lectured to many of them about Canadian law and other things and they' re from all parts of the world. Many of them are Asians and they seem to fit into the community very well. For many of them, their command of English is not bad or poor. Many of them are from countries where the police were the army. Where they could be harassed, beat up or shot at. They look at us with a real jaundiced eye, because I mean, we wear a uniform. But after they're in the country for a while they become

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accustomed to us and their attitudes change. They were actually frightened to talk to us because we were authority figures. We spend an hour or so with them, give them an office tour, and try to make them feel comfortable. We do this so if they ever have to come in and complain about something then they know where to come and they know we're going to help them. Some of them are from Bolivia, , Vietnam and Cambodia and some of them have been through hell. So it's pretty scary for them.

A lot of them probably deal with things like abuse within their own community.

Maybe a lot of them are afraid to speak out against it. But we' re finding that as they become more Canadianized and get away from the old country attitudes they feel better about themselves and probably more relaxed about reporting these things.

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e) Diversity

Bernard Baskin Interviewed August 9, 1996 in his office in Hamilton, Ontario Occupation Retired rabbi Predisposition Be true to your beliefs Age 76 Values Respect to others and yourself Concerns Equality through opportunity achieved through education and perseverence Social Connectedness: Cosmopolitan modernist Ethnic Heritage Not identified Quote "The capitalist system allows the cream to rise to the top. But what the cream is, is questionable...The more gentle, the more concerned, the more spiritually-minded can't quite compete. Is there room for them?"

I sat with Rabbi Baskin in his spacious, book-lined office. He's retired, but the congregation provides him with this office. He was so interested in my methodology and was anxious to receive a copy of my results when available.

I came to Canada 45 years ago. I'm 76. I'm originally an American. I had held several rabbinical posts in the United States. When this opportunity in Hamilton came up, my wife and I did not really expect to stay very long. It seemed like an interesting experience in a foreign country on an interim basis, but as these things sometimes work out, it turned into a life-long career. I served the congregation here for 40 years and my wife and I are now Canadian citizens. Our three children were born here. Two of them still live in Canada and have families here, so we have deep

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roots in this country and have made it our home.

The congregation, which was fairly small when I came, grew. I helped it grow and in turn I grew with it. We began to sink roots. There was a new building in the offing. We became involved in the community and the congregation suggested the contract run for another period of time and before we knew it we were very much involved in Canadian life, which we liked.

For 40 years we were the only congregation in Hamilton. The proximity to

Toronto was certainly a big feature in our remaining here. Hamilton gave us a smaller community lifestyle and Toronto provided cultural and other outlets. We were also close to the United States and as my home was originally in , it made it easy for me to visit family there.

I had never heard of Hamilton. I had some realization that there was this country to the north called Canada about which I knew, I must say, exceedingly little.

I don't remember having ever been taught about Canada, other than in relation to

American history. I knew a few things, such as the and the

Plains of Abraham, 20 but little else about Canadian history or culture or economic importance. I don't know whether American teachers regard it as peripheral or whether it was an oversight. When I heard of this position in Hamilton, I would have been hard put at that time to know exactly where it was. This might have been an indication of my ignorance, which is probably not unusual.

However, I quickly learned where Hamilton was and we found it interesting to

cross the border and come into an alien culture which really wasn1 t that alien. But the

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nuances are different. The wattage in the light bulbs were different and they flickered.

The cigarettes were different and the money looked different. But these differences tended to fade as time went on, in the light of other similarities. I must say that as years went by, the similarities grew larger and the differences less. The differences may not have been very sharp but they were certainly still there. Today, as a result of

TV and other factors encouraging homogeneity, it's hard to differentiate anymore.

You can buy just about anything American in Canada from the New York Times to

American cigarettes to American music. We go to New York to see shows whereas many Americans come to Toronto to see shows. In Canada, over and over again we're confronted with the question of what is distinctive about Canadian culture? You can get in to a heated argument about this question, but it's a moot question because, we are converging on a singular culture.

Increasingly there were problems in the United States which we saw from afar.

Social problems and economic problems and we thought through the years that we were rather fortunate to be here and raise our family here. But in recent years some of those problems, unfortunately, have crept up here and into Canadian life as well.

Hamilton has a relatively small Jewish community. Hamilton and the surrounding area, including Dundas and maybe even Burlington, gives us about 5,000

Jews. This is about one per cent of the total surrounding population of 500,000. In

Canada, Jews represent about one and a half to two per cent, unlike the United States, where that figures is closer to 3.5 per cent. But, a good proportion of the Jews in

Canada are located in Toronto and Montreal. Toronto and Montreal actually is a tale

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of two cities. The figures are somewhat uncertain, but Toronto now has 140,000

Jews. If you live 40 miles away from a community the size of Hamilton you, of course, are very involved to some degree in the Jewish cultural activities of the larger metropolis. A lot of our congregation came from Toronto. People who live in

Hamilton go to a Toronto congregation. I'm in Toronto very often and so the area of my involvement, because of the proximity, becomes a larger Jewish community in effect. The entire Jewish is 325,000, so we in Hamilton represent a very small proportion of the population.

The proportion of Jews is highest in Toronto. In other words ifl lived in, well let's say in Omaha, a comparable-sized city to Hamilton but with a slightly higher

Jewish population, I would be at a disadvantage because there is no other community anywhere near the size of Toronto to it. You might have 7,000 Jews but nothing like the cultural opportunities that flow from Toronto. The same would be the case with

Tulsa, and others.

Montreal has about 95,000 Jews, down from what had been 130,000. Since the PQs21 involvement, Jews have left Montreal for other places. Some have gone to the States. Some have gone to Calgary, some to Vancouver and some to Toronto.

Older people have gone to southern cities like Miami, permanently. But there has been an influx of Jews into Calgary, which has about a 7,000 Jewish population.

Vancouver is now beginning to exceed Winnipeg's Jewish population of approximately 12,000 to 13,000.

Up until the Second World War Canada had a relatively small Jewish

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population. Our roots in Canada go back a long, long time, even to pre-Confederation.

There are interesting accounts of Jews who were fur traders in the French and Indian days and who were there in the days of early French . We have individual stories and small communities. There was a synagogue in Montreal very early on and this congregation here in Hamilton was established in pre-Confederation time. However, up until the Second World War there were very few Jews comparatively and Canada1 s record of allowing Jews into Canada during and before the war was the poorest of all Western nations. Someone wrote a book called None is too Many echoing the sentiments of an anti-Semitic immigration officer. We had a terrible record.

Happily this changed after the war and Jews were allowed to come into the country.

Many refugees from European persecution came to Canada, along with those who came as a result of the aborted revolutions in Hungary against the

Russians in 1956. An increasing number came from other places. Jews came from

Bohemia, from Hungary and holocaust survivors from Germany and so this has led to, as is the case now, a broader immigration policy which has allowed Jews to come in.

It has, of course, also permitted large numbers of East Asians and South Asians and others to come in.

The Jews are very much concerned with multiculturalism because we are a distinct minority and the only way our culture can persist is that it be given some kind of recognition and be allowed to continue without molestation in any sense. Unlike the United States, which at least in theory is supposed to be a melting pot, we're supposed to be a mosaic. It's not altogether true, but at least in theory these are the

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different views and the Jews relish a kind of culture which says you have a right to exist and a right to maintain your culture. This allows us to be loyal Canadians and remain good Jews at the same time. We understand the need of various cultural, ethnic or religious groups to try to maintain that kind of singularity in a world which calls more and more for homogeneity.

But you have to draw that line between Canadian loyalty on the one hand and a kind of a loyalty to ones own faith, religious, cultural, or even national background on the other. How you make that distinction is not easy and I think we have fallen down a little bit in Canada in stressing the multicultural aspect and not the national aspect. Unlike the United States, where everybody's quite nationalistic, we seem to be rather lukewarm in our national sentiments. It's a mistake, however, ifwe get so luke warm that you get all kinds of entities existing in Canada with no national identity.

Over time I think increasingly the national focus becomes basic in people's lives. You stop speaking foreign languages in the third generation. This has been the tradition.

If your folks were Italian and your grandparents had immigrated then, likely by this generation the children have not learned the , even though they are very aware of their heritage. Kids don't know Italian. It's just like in the Jewish community where the kids don't know Yiddish anymore which our grandfathers spoke. More and more you take on the colour of the surrounding community.

This is similar to the French situation. They are an enclave surrounded by

English people, not only in Canada, but across the border. It's difficult for their young people to avoid Americanization, Canadianization, and cultural homogeneity.

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If they want jobs they've got to go outside of Quebec and have to speak English. In the long run they're fighting a losing battle. How long it will take I don't know, but eventually their strength will become increasingly diluted.

By being a separate entity, Quebec might solve certain cultural problems, although that remains unsure. What it will do is create a great number of economic and political problems, which in the long run, might loom more significant than the cultural gains. A culture tends to foment emotional ties. People will do irrational things and then force those people who are concerned with their language and their culture above all to lose sight of other things. Economic well-being might not prove to be the case with separation. All other kinds of problems would impinge upon this small Quebec entity, which would prove very onerous even if they were able to guarantee their right to speak French. Quebec has many non-French speaking people, especially in Montreal. What do you do with them? Do you drive them out? I don't know if anybody's really sat down seriously and looked at all the implications.

The disappearing Indian is no more. The Indian population is growing. With

Indians we've never really resolved the dilemma of whether they're charges of the government or whether they should be on their own. You have two kinds of Indians, as you know: those who live on reservations and non-status Indians who choose to strike out on their own. I hope that eventually more and more Indians will find it possible to be independent. They're getting spokesmen now. Thefre college educated more and more. They are earning money in one way or another--some of it questionable at casinos and contraband--but they're earning large sums of money. If

218

you're on a reserve, you're dependent. Some of the problems of the reserve are multiple and regrettably difficult. We have more native North Americans than most people realize in this country. I've forgotten the figure, but I think it's a half million or more now. And that's a big problem. They too want to maintain some kind of identity. I think the reservation system militates in that direction. If you're out on your own in the larger economy and so forth you take on that culture. But if you are a little enclave, you maintain some of those distinctive features of your culture.

Whether this culture is a good culture or bad culture is a good question. Like any other culture, that's for them to decide. Some and others say the Indians' culture is pagan culture or an improper culture that we shouldn't encourage. But that's what we call ethnocentrism, a good word, meaning we think ours is better than the others.

When I came to Canada in 1949 all you heard from, of course, were the -

Saxon and French groups in the country, the two founding groups. The British North

American Act 22 had set out the rights of the French and the Catholic. One didn't hear anything about a third force in Canada. Well, in the intervening half century we now have a third force in Canada as large as any of the other two. This is the immigrants and others who have come in over the years with very little loyalty to some of the

British monarchial traditions or the French. What do Bulgarian or Asian immigrants have to do with the French culture or the British monarchy? So you're running increasingly into resentment on the part of the traditional groups where the third group is concerned. They, especially the WASPs, now feel that they are a

219

distinct minority with all of the disabilities that flow from that minority status and that's not a happy position.

If you're a white male you run second to a black or Asian or female, or others, so you know this is a whole new orientation which many Canadians have not come to terms with and eventually they will have to. What will have to be sorted out is this whole thing with loyalty to and other such vestiges of the past. This will lead to a watering down of the Anglo-Saxon culture with resultant resentments.

We're giving to them and they're taking away from us. They don't understand. The religious realm is interesting, because for the most part the school system is

Protestant, as apart from the separate Catholic schools. They expected that in these schools there would be moments of Christian prayer, readings from Christian text,

New Testament. I know when I came to Canada I was quite amazed after having been brought up in the United States, to see how much religion was actually in the school system. I would be speaking to groups in an assembly and it would be started with a

Christian prayer followed by Christian hymns which amazed me in a multicultural kind of setting. Now when there is an attempt to do away with all of that because our schools now have not only Christian kids but Buddhist kids and God knows who else, there is unhappy resentment on the part of the WASP community. Christmas carols and

Christmas plays must be balanced with Hanukkah plays or Buddhist holidays. lt 1s getting to be a highly multicultural kind of society. Already in the schools they've got Jewish festivals. Hanukkah comes up at Christmas time so they do something for the Jewish kids at the same time. I was surprised to see that the Muslim community

220

now wants certain holidays regarded as holidays where rights are given to Muslims, just as certain rights were granted to Jews for a couple of days during the year. So, what happens to all of this? It means that everybody gets something or nobody gets anything, you know, so there1s a clash religiously and culturally. This is a Christian country which is the responsive majority. It may be right in terms of numbers but not in terms of minority needs.

Most of the national groups and ethnic groups, in order to achieve status or maintain what they feel is status, become organised. So you have black Asians, black groups, Asian groups, the Anti- League of the Jewish community,

Catholic societies, Arab anti-discrimination groups. All this kind of thing. I'm not sure how dominant the dominant groups are, any longer, numerically. If you take many of these cultural groups together, as I1ve suggested, they make up a third force in Canada as large as any of the other two groups. The Anglo-Saxons aren't organized because there are denominational differences, religious differences, national differences. Of course the Catholics and Protestants are separate religiously and sometimes culturally as well.

All the Jewish seminaries for example, religious seminaries, are in the United

States given its population. It 1s understandable. The Orthodox have some kinds of institutions here, but on a minimal basis. To get a faculty that matters and a well• funded institution you need a large Jewish population and they developed that in the

United States.

The Jewish community is divided into three major denominations. One is the

221

Orthodox on one extreme, the other 1s Reform on the other extreme and in between there's something called Conservative. The Orthodox is like the Catholic form. It's the oldest and most traditional, the most ritualistic, the most demanding. The Reform is like a church and it's non-orthodox. The Conservative's are like middle-Anglican in relation to the other two to suggest a reference point. Each group maintains its own seminary. The Reform seminaries now exist in Cincinnati, which was its foundation.

These have branches now in New York, and Jerusalem. The

Conservative seminary exists in New York with a branch in Jerusalem. The

Orthodox, which is the smallest group in North America, has a number of institutions both in New York and Chicago plus elsewhere. Numerically it's hard to know, but approximately half of the Jewish community of six million in the United States is affiliated with congregations. That is not to say that the other three million are not in some way affiliated but not officially. They don 1t pay dues. They may go to synagogues at various times but they're not ongoing, not on membership lists. In any case, the Reform groups and the Conservative groups are about of equal strength.

Therefore of the three million total, 40 per cent are from each and the Orthodox group represents 20 per cent. Reform also has its internal leanings, such as Reform-liberal and Reform-progressive. Orthodox is traditional but has conservative sections. Also within each group is a spectrum of observance, such as right-wing reform and left• wing reform. It's like being in the United Church where you have some pro-lesbian, non-lesbian, theistic, non-theistic and other wings.

This causes problems among the groups. The Orthodox, as against the other

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two, is antagonistic. The Orthodox group is fundamentalist, in Jewish terms it is somewhat different from Christian fundamentalists. There are certain sects within the

Orthodox group that maintain a distinctive garb. There's a tradition with Orthodox called Hasidic tradition which is Eastern European and they've made certain distinctive customs in relation to dress and other things. That's not true of other

Orthodox groups which take on all different figuration of the other communities. So there are sects within Orthodox. They represent a small proportion that are colourful and stand out. There are many small differences but basically they believe that

Orthodoxy is God-given ultimately, that the text and everything else among us is divinely inspired. The Conservative and Reform groups take a much different view.

They believe that the text is man-made although inspired. That's the same division between Orthodox Christians and non-Orthodox Christians.

It's interesting with the Orthodox. These same people who dress in that peculiar Eastern European Polish manner of the 19th century use electronic equipment and are highly sophisticated technologically. Members of this sect, who appear so backward and medieval, are highly progressive in their technology.

My son reads the Wall Street Journal every day. I get the New York Times on

Sunday. I subscribe to the New Yorker magazine. I get Jewish periodicals which are largely from across the border. So much of my orientation, I must confess, is international. I describe myself as Canadian now. As a matter of fact you can maintain dual citizenship now. It wasn1t true when I first became a Canadian, but it is possible now. If you're born in the United States you can achieve citizenship in both

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countries. Some of my friends have done that. I haven1t done it because there's nothing to gain very much from doing it. I no longer am involved in American social security so I don 1t have that tie. I have a daughter living in Albany, New York, so we have some kind of a tie there.

My daughter married an American. While in graduate school she met an

American . So understandably they had a choice and for many reasons, they're both academics, they chose the United States. Their children were born in the United

States. Her loyalty to Canada is simply based on birth and the fact that we live here.

My son went off to the States to university in Colorado. During the my son was eligible for the draft, being born to American parents. He opted for Canadian citizenship. He came back and lived here and became a lawyer and lives in Toronto.

My youngest daughter went to a Canadian university and remained in Canada and lives in Toronto. I don 1t think there's any question in their minds that they think of themselves as Canadians. Their loyalty is here.

My son just got back with his family from a 10 day visit to Newfoundland.

I've never been there before. He had a great time and said there is plenty to see. The national parks are beautiful and the people were so friendly. He's very Canadian. He's an entrepreneur. He likes to do things on his own and is quite successful.

Regarding each citizen's entitlements, we are behind Western European countries in this regard. The Americans like to think that they give all kinds of entitlements, but compared to what they're doing to countries in the , especially , both the US and Canada are behind in what they give.

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Increasingly we're taking it away, at least right now to cut the deficit. We're a gentle, humane society. We don't have poor houses and we don't bury people in pauper's fields or imprison them for debts. We don't let people die on the streets, although we allow them to live on the streets. So, we're more and more concerned with social programs and I don't know how we're going to get away from the entitlements unless the economy improves to the extent that we don't need any of them: old age, unemployment, those things.

There's this debate in the United States where they're taking away some of the welfare support benefits based on the thinking that people become dependent on it.

The feeling is they've got to go out and work it out for themselves, so now any benefits are being limited to five years. The approach there is sink or swim, and in many cases they'll swim but some will sink. In Canada we've built an underclass that has become dependent on these things to some degree. If a teenager leaves home, runs around with friends, smokes a joint now and then, doesn't really have to worry about a job because they can get welfare. They are counting on a dependency that becomes ingrained. We have generational problems where the father, the grandfather, the son are all part of this syndrome.

I think it's a very unhappy situation for young people who get their education and can't find a job. The country fails them when people who are motivated and trained can't find an outlet for their ambitions and their training. Of course politicians say there are jobs out there, people may just have to do something different for a while. A bigger question is simply does the capitalist system, as we understand it,

225

make for the kind of security which we expect? I see letters increasingly in the papers that say our capitalist system has failed us. Well, I'm not sure what kind of system they want for a substitute, but for sure this system has failed them. The capitalist system which said private enterprise will make all the difference, doesn't always.

Increasingly we've had our ups and downs economically as part of the capitalist economy. You have your boom periods and your unhappy periods. I'm not an economist. I'm a humanist. The capitalist system allows the cream to rise to the top.

But what the cream is, is questionable. Sometimes it's the most brutal or the most enterprising or conniving who succeed. The more gentle, the more concerned, the more spiritually minded can't quite compete. Is there room for them?

Canada is trying to be a good global citizen. In terms of international peacekeeping for example, we're active and involved in the special agencies in health and agriculture and give a large amount of money to international aid agencies. I think we do our share and have achieved some kind of success in that realm.

One of Canada's big challenges is the whole question of national identity versus the mosaic. In addition, the issues to be addressed are who our prime loyalties are to and how do they get worked out. The whole question of Canadian identity in terms of culture has never been worked out regarding the US/Canadian relationships.

Remember Trudeau's reference to the elephant rolling over? We're at a great disadvantage as a military power with all this business of our army and so forth. Most of us realize that we can never defend ourselves and must depend upon our much

226

larger military power to the south.

The whole question is of identity and then there's this whole business with

Quebec. If indeed, in time, Quebec makes the fatal move and separates, it'll make all kinds of problems for the remaining entity. Indeed it too may break up. I don't think

United States is anxious to gobble up any part of Canada except maybe for the

Western part, including Vancouver. Certainly not the Maritimes or Newfoundland.

But you know, there may be some enduring logic to manifest destiny in North

America. I don't know. So, these are very real problems.

References

20. The Battle of the Plains of Abraham occurred during the Seven Years' War on

September 13, 1759 on a high ground overlooking Quebec City. Major-General

James Wolfe leading the British forces defeated Lieutenant-General the Marquis de

Montcalm leading the French forces. Both leaders were killed. New fell because of this battle.

21. The Parti Quebecois or PQ is a Quebec political party with the main platform of separation. Rene Levesque lead the party and was premier at the time of the first

Quebec referendum in 1980.

227

22. The Act, 1867 (BNA) was an act of the British parliament conferring self-government to the union of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and

Nova Scotia.

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f) Continuity

Elaine Crowder Interviewed June 13, 1997 in her office in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories Occupation Community college administrator Predisposition Social equity Age 42 Values Belief in human rights, individuality Concerns Places much value on justice and equity and people being treated fairly Social Connectedness: Autonomous rebel Ethnic Heritage English, Scottish and Irish Quote "You don't see how drastically the face of Canada has changed until you see what is happening up here in Yellowknife."

I'm 42. I was born in Colborne, ON, but my family moved a couple of times before we finally ended up in Toronto when I was about six. I lived in Toronto until I was 27. I go back frequently because my family's still there, but I've been away for such a long time that I have no desire to live there anymore. It's too big, too noisy, too smelly. I'm getting used to living in smaller places.

I've lived in and Sudbury, and spent about seven years in

Peterborough, working at the College. I really liked Peterborough because it was close enough to go to Toronto if you wanted some excitement, different than what the excitement was in Peterborough. I could just hop on the highway and be there in an hour.

My dad was in mining, which is probably why we ended up in some of those

229

towns that we ended up in. My mom was a housewife but she also worked as a homemaker outside of the home, cleaning other people's houses. She did it to bring in money, because we were very poor. I don't think my dad finished Grade 8 and neither did my mom.

My ethnic background is English, Scottish and Irish, but my family's been in

Canada since the 1800s.

Dad was very good at fixing things but a lot of times he was unemployed.

That caused money stress in our rented house and a lot of bickering. Our home situation might explain my social conscience now.

My three sisters are all much older than me. They are housewives, and my brother is a greens keeper. He loves golf so much he combined his love of golf with his job.

I went to a Catholic high school in the west end of Toronto.

When I was going through high school I didn't worry about what I was going to do with my life. I know it bothers some young people, but students kind of break down into groups--those who are concerned about what they're going to do because of outside or self-pressure, and those who are not concerned. With the state of careers being in flux, there aren't too many positions where one can say, "I'm going to be this

when I grow up, 11 because sometimes they might not exist in the future. Regarding nursing, well, there are no jobs. A student may say they want to be a lawyer but there's so many , jobs will be scarce.

There isn't the same kind of security as when we grew up. My parents

230

expected that kind of cliche that you get a job and you'll be at one company forever.

That's not the way it is now. I think young people probably feel the anxiety and how could they not feel it? It's in the news all the time, unemployment and seeing their friends not get jobs. So some students are probably very anxious and want to make a decision, and then there are others who don't care for a variety of reasons. I think I probably fell into the line ofI didn't know what I wanted to do other than party.

I was influenced by the church, but ended my involvement when I was about

13. Around that age I had developed, as a lot of teenagers do, a social conscience and began picketing outside grocery stores in support of California grape workers.

Remember Caesar Chavez? I was very idealistic about not using grapes because these people were starving to death. One day I noticed that the priest had a bowl of grapes, so I went to him to discuss the issue, which I thought was important. The issue didn't matter to him. I felt that it was hypocritical, and if he was hypocritical then the whole religion was hypocritical. So the Catholic church and I took a very different path after that

After high school I did all kinds of horrible female-type jobs, such as filing and waitressing. I took courses, but I didn't really do much of anything for several years--just had fun in Tor onto.

I had this boring job packaging bottles at a plant in west-end Toronto. It was really hard work, and it was hot and mind-numbing, and you had to put your hand up to go to the bathroom. You' re on the line and the bottles come down the conveyer continuously and you couldn't just leave. I was well paid but it was awful work and I 231

thought, "I just can't do this for the rest of my life." At that time, a friend had applied to nursing and I thought, "Why not?" so I applied as well. As it turned out, I got in and my friend didn't. I guess you could say it wasn't a burning desire to be a nurse that had me apply, it was just a burning desire not to be working on an assembly line.

I have great respect for people who worked at that plant. Most of them were women, and most were immigrants. A wave of Italian women had been there for a while, and then there were Portuguese women, and then there were Jamaican women. It was the different types of people working there that made it so interesting.

When I graduated from college in nursing, my first job was in Alberta on an

Indian reserve. I worked there for a year, and then decided that I wanted to go back to school, so I came back to Toronto and worked for a year at Princess Margaret

Hospital. Then I moved to Victoria, BC, and I took my Baccalaureate degree at the

University of Victoria. I was out in Vancouver and Victoria for about four or five years. Then I came back to the Toronto area, to Peterborough, where I worked at the college for seven years. During that time I got my Masters in Education from Central

Michigan University. Instructors came up on the weekends to Oshawa, where they held classes. It took about two years. The university focussed a lot on Ontario, especially in the community colleges, because Ontario universities tend not to recognize community college credits as equivalents. A lot of teachers in the Ontario community colleges did this program so they could get their degrees.

The university is located right in the middle of , in Mount Pleasant, but the only time I was ever there was for the graduation. 232

About four years ago, after I had just finished my Masters of Education degree, I noticed this job advertised in the Toronto paper at the college in

Yellowknife. So I went up for the interview and got the job. One of the things that interested me about it was the chance to start a nursing program from the very beginning. I had just finished my education degree and I was eager to apply it. I was interested about curriculum development, and this job would give me a chance to put all my skills to use. The government's been very supportive of the program, which came out of the Department of Health working with the Department of Education at the college.

I've been in Yellowknife since 1993. Aurora College is a community college.

We used to be called College, with six main campuses in the Northwest

Territories: Fort Smith, Yellowknife, Inuvik, Inqulit, Rankin and Cambridge Bay, along with 43 learning centres. Leaming centres in the smaller communities were either rooms in the high school or in an office building, and focussed on adult education. The college started in 1982 with adult education upgrading, and gradually over the years expanded into offering programs in social work, teacher education, and management studies to full-time students. About three years ago, in preparation for splitting off from the Northwest Territories, the college split. The eastern side, or what will be known as Nunavut in 1999, is now Arctic College, and the western section is where we are, and our name was changed to Aurora College.

Aurora College is probably truer in spirit to a community college than other so-called community colleges. The concept arose in Ontario, and the idea was that 233

they would be part of the community for easy access and be located in storefronts, in community halls, etc. But then many Ontario colleges proceeded to build a fancy building at least five miles outside of the main community. Now the towns have grown around them.

The college is in a variety of locations. This December the nursing faculty is moving into its own space, and will finally be all together. But I can see us outgrowing the space in a year. We have about 60 students in the nursing faculty.

Compared to institutions in the south, it isn't a lot, but it keeps us hopping. We graduate generalists, and they can go elsewhere to specialize in psychiatry, home care or whatever. We're affiliated with the hospital here, which sees our program as valuable, but it's sometimes hard because students tend to take up a lot of space at the hospital. I think hospital staff get tired of having us around, but that's not uncommon to any college or university.

The purpose of the program was to train people born here so they can get a professional job in the community. Actually all the jobs requiring specialized training in the North must go to qualified candidates from outside the North. We accept students into the program based on the affirmative action policy of the government, so aboriginal and long-term northerners get first consideration before anybody else. We have rarely been in a situation where we've had to refused entry to an applicant, but we have not yet accepted anybody from the South and we probably won't.

When I refer to government, I mean the government of the Northwest

Territories. The federal government handed over responsibility in 1979. In some 234

cases, particular responsibilities have been handed over, and in some cases not.

Recently in the newspaper there's been a little bit of a kafuffie, because there was still a lot of people in Ottawa who managed the affairs of the Territories, and these jobs should have been transferred up here and performed by the people up here. An analogy could be something like living with your parents when you're 26. You can stay out all night, but they still ask you, "Where were you?" There's a comparison with the aboriginals living on reserves and wanting to set their own direction, but they don't want to give up the support they get from the government. There are land claim negotiations going on between the Dene Nation and the federal government. The

Metis Nation also has a claim. Up north there's a group called the Gwich'in and they have settled their land claims, and then of course Nunavut is a huge land claim that the has settled. There's some progress, but not as fast as some people want, and maybe it's moving too fast for some other people. It all depends where to you sit. It's often difficult because there are many different Nations here. The Dene Nation, the

Metis Nation, the Gwich'ins. There's all kinds of things happening and it's very political. Every group plays up the politics to their own advantage.

I belonged to Brownies and Girl Guides for a while. I also did volunteer work because I liked it. For as long as I can remember, I felt strongly about placing much value on justice and equity and people being treated fairly. I remember distinctly when I was small feeling bad when people were not treated fairly. It's something that has always seemed to be a part of my life. It probably came from my family, my mom and sisters had those values. 235

I don't know what I really think about the Quebec situation. I sort of waffle back and forth. I think we need a stronger federal government just to keep people together and say this is the kind of Canada we want. We have to balance off people like Klein4 and Harris, those kinds of things and privatizing. Because I'm a nurse and a teacher, I don't want to see the medicare system that we have in Canada turned into what the Americans have. I mean in the States, they have wonderful health care, but if you don't have the money to pay for it, then it's not accessible. Why are so many black people dying in the States of cancer? They' re dying because they can't afford the treatment. They may not have health insurance, but even if they get the health insurance and they get cancer, they're often kicked off So I think we need a strong federal government and I don't think the provinces, any province, should get anymore power. As for Quebec being a distinct society, possibly one-third of the land mass is distinct because of their French language, but the other two-thirds is home to and native aboriginals. I think they should have a say in what goes on. It can't just be the people who live along the St. Lawrence corridor deciding what that huge piece of

Quebec is going to do. I think that the federal government doesn't pay enough attention to those issues.

On the other hand, Quebec has a different system of law and a different language than what's spoken in the rest of Canada. These have been entrenched since the 1700s in different acts of legislation. The nice thing is that we haven't gone to war, because they go to war everywhere else over stuff like this. You fight for centuries for a piece of land that your Grandfather had or an ancestor had. 236

You don't see how drastically the face of Canada has changed until you see what is happening up here in Yellowk::nife. There is tension here over native land claims and about the Constitution. There is more inter-mixing of groups here, than any other place I've ever lived.

I wish people had more of a stronger sense of Canadian identity. My heart says if an immigrant comes here then they' re Canadian. This idea of polarizing into an Irish community, a Sikh community, etc, I don't know, it has its problems. I think it's better than a melting pot, but it can be tense. The tensions grow in a variety of areas.

I don't think our social system is perfect but I think we need to maintain a safety net. I don't mind paying taxes so people who are not able to work or who are ill can be supported for a while. That's okay, because people have troubles all the time, and I would want them to think that we're a kinder, gentler society that supports people.

I think some of the abuses of the system are blown out of proportion. It depends where you come from, but I think if you look at the statistics, there is this myth that welfare creates people who are satisfied with that life. I can't imagine anyone enjoys living in Regent Park5 where they're constantly confronted by violence, dirt, filth, rats and lice, and they're on welfare because they like that. I don't think they like living on macaroni and cheese or dented cans of tuna because that's all they can afford. People think, "Why should my taxes go to support someone like that?"

Yes there are abuses, and yes I believe they should be fully dealt with by law and 237

those guilty should have to do pay it back, but I don't think by calling them malingerers because they are knowingly ripping off the government is the answer.

I think the Canadian health system is wonderful, but it shouldn't pay for things like cosmetic plastic surgery. I shouldn't have to pay for someone's nose job because they are vain. But I should have to pay for someone's gall bladder surgery or tubal ligation. I'm not flush enough to be able to say, ifI was off work, I could pay the medical bills.

I think being a Canadian should be the priority. It should be a priority for

Canada to have an identity. I went to school with a lot of kids who were from countries like Portugal and the Ukraine. I'm sure that their parents kept the traditions and culture of their homelands for years that followed. But the homeland was very different when they immigrated. They stay stuck in the culture that they left, and they don't go back to see how the culture is evolving. They yearn for the past. They keep alive what they remember and what was important to them. This can be seen in the

Portuguese community with females still marrying within the community. Portugal itself has blossomed and done all kinds of good things and come into its own, but the

Portuguese community here still operates on the same old feudal system. Look at the

British in Victoria--all those British ladies going for tea at the Empress Hotel. People from England in this day come over to get that here. 238

References

4. has been the Conservative since 1992. He is a neo- conservative and while popular for reducing government spending and the deficit he has disillusioned many for reducing social programs such as health care.

5. Regent Park is an area of subsidized and public housing in Toronto. It is usually used as a reference point to describe the place where people on welfare, drug addicts and crime abound. 239

g) Myth and Reality

Ronald Landry Interviewed May 12, 1997 in his studio in Petit-de-Grat, Nova Scotia Occupation Artist Predisposition Preserve Acadian architecture Age 41 Values Freedom of expression, tradition, community Concerns Losing Acadian culture Social Connectedness: Autonomous rebel Ethnic Heritage French on both sides Quote "Heritage is not only language, it's the architecture, it's the food, it's the dancing, it's many things. If we don't watch out, we're going to lose everything."

I arrived at this modern building and was directed to La Picasse at the end cif the hall. I opened the door and I saw many women painting onto various-sized vases.

One lady was sanding and smoothing clay vases. Donna, the boss, greeted me and phoned Ronald at home. She was his sister. I was told Ronald Land1y was sick, but he still wanted to see me. He arrived about 15 minutes later. He greeted me warmly but he looked very weak. He had his winter coat, hat and a scarf wrapped around

his neck. We went into a small display room and talked. He .spoke so sqftly that I had

trouble hearing him.

I'm 41 now. I was in my mid-20s when I decided to paint full-time. I used to

work in other fields including six and a half years in Woodstock, ON but I got

homesick and returned here. Then I decided I was going to set up my own business.

240

So I went in and started Cache de Cadeau. I was trying to earn my living just by doing that and that's what I have been doing since. At that time I was just doing paintings but I needed to do something else to survive so I started this pottery business.

The painted pottery business took off and I couldn't keep up. They' re all hand-painted pottery and vases. It's so popular that it totally engulfed me.

I decided that I had to do something because I couldn't keep up with the demand especially from interested people in Toronto. Just by myself it was impossible, so about four years ago I decided to be a businessman and try to prove to the government that I can train people to paint "one-of-a- kind" art. The demand was out there and since then it has increased.

All of these vases are hand painted by students. I applied for grants from the government. I went to the co-op about four years ago to show them my problem.

They asked me to bring some pieces so I put about 50 pieces in their show case and within two weeks they were all gone. So I said, "See what my problem is, I don't know what to do, I can't keep up." I had a dilemma, I do limited editions and I sell the stuff at very high prices but I limit the markets. I wasn't sure if I wanted to mass• produce them because I figured everybody has a right to have an original piece. I was convinced that I should produce more because I would rather see more people enjoy the pieces.

It's all Acadian 5 style. We sell the pieces in Halifax and , NS, and we are trying to put them in a boutique in . We are trying to break into the

Louisiana market and the market because there are large Acadian populations

241

in both places.

The pieces sell for around $150 retail. There are four different sizes. They all sell very well.

The name of our operation is La Picasse, which means a special type of boat anchor. I don 1t have an actual one here but it's a man-made anchor used by Basque fishermen when they first came from Europe and anchored their fishing boats off

Cape Breton. The anchor consists of some nets with a huge rock dropped in the middle of it. The frame consists of a special wood that lasts for years and years and years. Then you make holes in the form of a staff around a certain and special wood is driven through the hole and then pegged like in the old ships. There are not too many examples left. There are some in the villages on the Gaspe. The majority of them in other villages on the coast line are all gone. There was a time when they were everywhere.

I never studied art formally. When I was 15 there was an art teacher from the

States who allowed me to go with her to the different schools to help her. I learned a few things from her. When I was in Ontario I took a few lessons at night class. But what I studied was not what I am doing now.

When I came back and decided I wanted to paint, it was a form of freedom. I started painting on canvas--old abandoned houses. In each picture I tried to show a little bit of life by not doing life. For example, in one I have birds and in another clothes drying on the line--the colours are lively and inject some life.

Everywhere we go a lot of people are very interested in our product.

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However, most want it on consignment because it's new. Getting started is hard selling. But I'm committed and I have to do this well or not at all. My sister Donna looks after marketing. We decided that we were going to let certain people have it on consignment and give it a chance. We went to a wholesaler in Halifax and received

15 orders. We are going to try and make it to Toronto to the One of a Kind Show.

We are producing constantly. I have worked so hard I have made myself sick. I've had to be at home for the last month but the staff is trained to keep producing whether

I'm here or not.

None of staff knew how to paint before they started here. They couldn't even draw a straight line. I train them exactly in my techniques. It's directly to the brush, the paint on the wrap around the surface. They have to learn three colours, red, blue and yellow. Black and white are not colours. They have to mix all their own colours and none of them have had any preconceived ideas about art.

They are all "TAG"-related 6 people. When the government closed the fish plant, they were trying to get people back to work. We took in eight of them and trained them. When we applied, I wanted to make sure that these women knew nothing whatsoever about painting. Out of the eight there was one who had done some hobby painting. I thought to myself I was going to have a problem with her, but she learned my way.

During the training stage there were some bad samples produced. There were some 220 pieces done during training and I think we sold close to 170 of them at a lesser price. There are 50 pieces left that I might sell at an even reduced price.

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Part of the training was sending four of them to PEI to learn how to throw the clay pots and finish them, basically the preparation stages. There's a lot of clay dust in the studio. The fans circulate it and the vents take it out. I've had pneumonia for the past six weeks, so I don't know if the dust contributed to it.

There are six children in the family. Four sisters and one other brother. My brother's an accountant and lives in Calgary. My four sisters are all here. Dad used to work the cutter's line at the fish plant and my mother packed the fish. My parents are both dead. We lost my mother in 1992 and we lost Dad two to three months ago.

One of my sisters still lives in the family house.

I live in the Spruce, which is directly across from Silver Donald Cameron' s7 house. It's about 15 minutes from Petit-De-Grat. My place is a beautiful old farm house. It's full of antiques which gives it a pleasant atmosphere. I had taken care of a friend who was dying from cancer and she left me the whole property. She left the money and other stuff to her family and her son. Since I had taken care of her they agreed I should have it. It's a beautiful old property. The only thing that I don 1t like about it is that it's so close to the road and has heavy traffic in the morning, especially in the summer. Right across is a yacht club. I have never seen so much traffic in my life. It's worse than the city. If the house was up in the hills instead of being so close to the road it would be better. Where the house is now the road was rearranged so that all the houses that had been away from the road are now on top of it almost. But they are beautiful homes and at least they were not torn down.

I am of Acadian descent, but my family has other ethnic characteristics. I

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know we have Portuguese, Basque, and native Mic Mac 8 in our heritage. Some of the first fishermen to arrive here were Portuguese fishermen that used to come to work during the fishing season and then go back home in the winter. There's always been a number of groups here before the Acadians. The Mic Macs used Isle Madame9 as a summer camp. There was mixing of blood between the Portuguese and the Indians back then. If you look at some of the natives near here some of the Mic Macs look

European and some of the Acadians look like Mic Macs. Some have features that are unbelievable. It makes them beautiful people. We have to mix. That's what we are here for. I mean I believe respect your neighbours, respect other people's languages, their religions, but I mean, what else are we here for? If we are here to fight constantly then there is no sense our being here. We are here to share and that's it.

None of the stuff that we have here we will take with us. Memories and the love that we share is what we have.

I was born and raised in Petit-De-Grat and stayed here until I finished school.

From here I went to Ontario (Woodstock). I needed to go away, because at that time there was no work here. I had a friend there that had finished school and I didn't know where else to go. I ended up working there for six and-one-half years, four and-one• half years at a shop and then two years for a printer that made craft prints.

This village is such a nice quiet little place and I love the old houses with unique architecture. But now these buildings are being bought by people who are starting to change them and modernize them. Ever since I was this high something in me was always attracted to old houses. I am in paradise. For instance, the house on

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Bosdet' s Point used to be so beautiful. It was bought by a fellow from Halifax. In my opinion he converted it and destroyed it. Oh my Jesus, it's a mess. It had an indoor pool and the inside is all modem and fixed up. But he put on huge shingles instead of retracing the old ones and there used to be huge windows which gave character to the house. They have been reduced to a small size. People I know just keep away from him.

I keep saying to people constantly we have lost so many homes on the island to people who modernize their houses. I keep telling them they are losing their heritage. Heritage is not only language, it's the architecture, it's the food, it's the dancing, it's many things. If we don1t watch out, we' re going to lose everything. I wish there was some law to prevent changing the architectural style of the buildings.

As you can see for yourself mobile homes seem to be taking over the place.

I always wanted to go to art school or get a grant. Some friends have received grants from Arts Canada. Some friends that were chosen went to France to study for six months or a year. I applied but I thought to myself my Jesus, I will never see that day.

My sister Donna is my partner. She is married to a Boudreau. She looks after the art work and the assembly line. She's carrying on fairly well while I am sick.

The Landrys on my father's side were the first arrived at Fort Louisbourg from

Calais, France, in the 18th century. The family was later deported along with other

Acadians to France by the English during the1700s. But the French didn't want them because they were peasants. They put them in camps but didn't want to support them.

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So finally my father's family came back.

My mother's side, also Landrys, came to Port Royal but that's later. My mothers side was Alex Landry. My father's side was Landreu Landry. My grandmother was a Landry and my grandfather was Landry. Four generations of

Landry married Landry. Acadians became very isolated by themselves, so they did not meet many outsiders.

When the first Acadians came back after the first expulsion they were again deported, this time to and the . Others were sent to Santiago,

Chile.

During the there were problems here because of Joneses and

Robbins who were one of the first families. They were . 10 They controlled all the businesses and had big manufacturing operations. Then the Joneses came in and destroyed all of the Robbins plants.

It was an unsettling period. Acadian people are very strong-willed people. If you look at it in general terms we had nothing, we were peasants. But we were very intelligent people. We built the dikes that saved a majority of the farm valleys between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. We are also a peaceful people. When we first arrived we had to build on rocks. We received no government land. Back when we were persecuted it was because we spoke French. We still speak French and certain traditions have been passed on from our ancestors. I wish we were taking more of an interest in our heritage.

There's a large Acadian community in Nova Scotia, maybe 92,000

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descendants. Of those, perhaps 36,000 still speak the language and keep certain traditions going. The ones that lost the language have been assimilated. They are such good people. You go into any of their houses and my Jesus, what they won't do for you? They have hospitality.

We have an Acadian federation in Nova Scotia to preserve the heritage but we are limited because of government funding. In my house I have an unbelievable collection of artifacts, all kinds of written documents, and historical documents.

When we built La Picasse in this co-op centre, the idea was supposed to be a cultural centre but all of a sudden it started turning into an education centre. The office next door provides all the French books for the French schools and French immersions schools. The archives and the shops that were supposed to be for cultural stuff have been taken over as educational offices. Next door there was a bureau set up to train and show young people how to form co-ops and convert and build stuff. I know the education aspect is important but my God it's ridiculous that we1re letting everything else go. I mean, I was expecting to have a lot of cultural activities and art exhibitions that we would tour. I have friends from Quebec and New Brunswick who were interested in having exhibitions and sharing; now they've decided to have solo exhibitions. I don't know which direction the administration has gone.

The Festival of the Sea in August is an Acadian festival, but one of the problems with that is that our local baseball team for some strange reason dominates the festival. They have their final championship tournaments at the same time. What has happened is that a lot of our cultural activities such as concerts have been stopped.

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The halls used to be always packed solid because people would participate. But since they started having their baseball event at the same time it's become a beer fest. It's dumb and I always said it was. I wish it would change because there is no reason for that.

Acadian music is not like Celtic music. The old musicians here use old violins and there is a definite Acadian style. It's really different. It's lively but different. It1 s not like Natalie and its not like Ashley. 11 It's not Scottish and it's not

Irish. It's almost like the old languages, like old French Gaelic. The older music is like that. Now it's all country western aimed for the younger generation.

Acadians are losing interest in their culture but I don't see it dying out. There is a lot of interest in it from non-Acadians. I'm sure people know that the Acadian culture is not a bad culture. The Acadians are not bad people. But a lot of the Acadians themselves do n1 t realize how interesting their heritage is because they don 1 t know themselves. Even the ones that have kept the language going don't know the race.

The ones that have lost their language know more about their history than I do.

A lot of the people who went to Louisiana are shocked to see how many people in

Louisiana are trying to revive their language. I was there. Their gumbo's like our

"fruit de mer" soups but theirs is spicy and there are different crabs in there and stuff like that. But they add some new meals; you can tell the influence. The architecture is the same thing. It was a familiar architecture you see in New Brunswick or in the

Acadian peninsula or in the Acadian villages in Nova Scotia.

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Acadians are pretty well spread around central Louisiana and along the south-• like down in , Baton Rouge, and in the centre. They are way down in the southern bayous but not up north. The French families already in Louisiana were the wealthy families living on plantations who owned slaves. When the Acadians arrived they lived off the land by subsistence and sometimes were used as slaves.

They did influence the culture though. The word Cajun is a slurred word for Acadian.

Arichat was once so prosperous it was unbelievable. There were yachts and big homes in Arichat. Arichat used to be bigger than Sydney.

Huguenots were Protestants, mostly Anglican. They were more educated and wealthy. There is a community of them here and we all get along--Boureneau,

LaChaleur are some names. Everyone else knew how to read and write but the

Acadians were never educated. The Huguenots were in cahoots with the British, they pledged elegance to the monarchy. Certain parts of Quebec say they can't stand

Acadians because some of them pledged allegiance to the British monarchy.

Marshall Boureneau is an historian who used to run the weekly newspaper, the

Richmond Record He sent me some things when I was collecting my archives. I'm glad because, Jesus, it's all part of the history. It doesn 1t matter which group it comes from.

Some Acadians think Canada should be perfectly bilingual from one end to the other. If we have to learn to speak a different language why can1t the others learn to speak it too? But there are other Acadians who just don't care whatsoever. Then there are some who do n1t like the fact that English is dominant and they only speak

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French. Some of them don't speak English at all. On the island, here in West Arichat, the majority of the older people can't speak a word of English. Some of them are boat builders, some of them had farms. Their kids and family members have to do everything for them. Some of them have never left the island. They have never even gone to Port Hawskbury. So it is the older people who won't or can't speak English.

The younger people have no problem communicating. It's as if they have been untouched by the outside world. I have a friend whose mom and dad were from

France during the First World War. They had three kids. The parents never learned

English. When I hear them speak they have a language that's so beautiful it's unbelievable. There's hardly any English in it whatsoever. As a matter of fact the three kids all speak half French half English and the beautiful language of the parents will be lost.

A lot of people on the island don't agree with the people of Quebec. This is a two-way thing. I mean respect: the English community in Quebec, sure, they have more than the French community outside Quebec have and stuff like that. But the idea of wanting to separate a country from Canada and hopefully live in peace is not a solution. It is only the politicians that want power and they are the ones influencing this. They are playing with human minds like you wouldn't believe. There is no reason for stuff like that.

There is more to it than language, it's the culture. When you go to Ontario you know it's Ontario. When you cut across the Maritimes you can tell that the

Maritimes, PEI, Newfoundland, the styles there are uniqueness. Then you go to 251

Quebec: automatically you can tell Quebec because it is very different in architecture, houses and in the ways that they think. Out west is like a whole . So I say every region is really unique. Quebec does have a different mentality. I don't know if it's because originally prisoners were sent there to settle. All of the people were peasants. Some of them were runaway soldiers, crooks and murderers. They were sentenced to their choice, go to prison or go to the New World. When they went to

Quebec they ended up mixing a lot with the aboriginal people. Then the English and

Irish sent all these Catholic orphans over and some went to Quebec. That's is why you have the names McFoster, McChase, McFarlane and Johnson and none of them speak a word of English. But you say to yourself, Jesus, a guy has to hold onto his history. You might be French the way you were brought up and the values you were given by your mother and stuff like that but don't forget there is a part that came from the somewhere else, even other cultures. You just didn't forget everything when you were sent over. I'm sure that all the Irish families transferred a lot of values to their kids before that and it continues.

If we don't create jobs, I'm scared of what our society is going to be dealing with when I look at the way young people live in this depressed area. They have no money for a lot of stuff but these small communities have drug and alcohol problems.

Not so long ago they had found a ship off the coast packed with cocaine and marijuana, drugs worth millions. We aren't any different or immune from things down here.

A lot of youth are unemployed, on welfare, stoned on acid. I don't know 252

why they have to be stoned. I can1 t figure that out. I don't do drugs and I sure don 1t support it. I mean, my God, if it was a little bit of pot that's different but it's a mixture of pot, alcohol, cocaine too, the whole shebang. Look at what we create as a society, young people have no energy. They don 1t accomplish anything. They spend their time doing nothing or part-time work and it doesn't build up the economy.

What I feel is a need to put young people or people to work so that they and we can build pride for a more solid future. Something for them to look forward to. But I don't know how that will happen.

There are certain parts of Canada that are very prosperous. Antigonish is a very prosperous town. There are other little towns and cities across Canada that are unbelievably active and positive. But look at Montreal. It used to be such a booming city and now look at it, it's like going through a depressed area. Montreal use to be the most beautiful city in Canada. You can tell it's not healthy and with all these young people what are they going to do? They are going to start crimes, they are going to start stealing, and killing people. That's what's scary. I really do n1t want to see Canada developing like it is in the States. The States is artificial. They are successful, they have money and then you have this huge population that's poor as hell. Those people will do anything to try to survive. At the rate we're going I'm afraid that we' re going to go down.

Our social system is a problem. It's a social system that's being abused. Even here you can tell. They tell the people here to go outside to Port Hawksbury and see a certain person because it's easier and faster to get on welfare. Because there are a 253

lot of people on welfare assistance who are healthy and can work but they get to the point where they don't want to. Then there are people who are handicapped and can 1t really work. They suffer more for it because they are not getting the level of help they need. Then you have these families that are poor. Some try to help themselves but nobody is there to help them. I know some families here who have five or six kids and they have been on welfare all their lives. They go out at night to play bingo.

They have all kinds of dogs and sell the pups for $300 a piece under the table, sometimes with the help of a lawyer.

I don 1t mix well with everyone. I'm pretty well a solid guy, I stay home and that 1s it. When I was younger I was very sad because I felt nobody understood me because I was into something different. Then when I walked the coast lines and looked across the water and up at the mountains I thought, "My God, there must be something wrong with me.". Then I would spend hours and hours walking the coast line and just thought about how lucky I was for being born here. That makes me proud to be Canadian. When I look at what goes on in the world I wouldn't change my country for anything. It's themost beautiful country in the world. Everywhere

I've gone in Canada I'm proud. I've been as far west as Alberta. When I was in

Ontario I did a lot of driving. Then I lived in New Brunswick for 10 years. Then I drove to PEI and I went into . I've been to Quebec, because I have a lot of friends there. 254

References

5. Acadians are those people of French descent who settled in the Atlantic region beginning in the 1600s. When passed to English hands in 1763 through the Treaty of the Acadians were dispersed to France or to the US as far south as

Louisiana because they would not pledge allegiance to the Crown. Some made their way back in the 1800s. Currently there are 331,000 descendants in the Maritimes.

Some maintain a unique culture and lifestyle.

6. Acronym for federal program to retrain fishermen out of work because of depletion of cod stocks off of Newfoundland.

7. Silver Donald Cameron is a writer and social commentator based in Nova Scotia.

8. The Mic Macs are aboriginals that originally inhabited what is now New

Brunswick, Nova Scotia and especially . It is basically the same territory settled by the French Acadian settlers.

9. Isle Madame is a small island off southwest Cape Breton and is mostly of Acadian heritage.

10. Huguenots are French Protestants. Many settled in and became 255

merchants and artisans.

11. Ashley Maclsaac and Natalie MacMaster are well-known musicians from Cape

Breton influenced by Celtic music. 256

h) Solitude and Isolation

Bonni-Anne Bender Interviewed November 3, 1996 in a restaurant in Winnipeg, Manitoba Occupation Musician Predisposition Physically be involved in life, an active person, Continue schooling Age 19 Values Aesthetics, hedonism Concerns emotional support from her family will keep her in control of her well-being Social Connectedness: Social hedonist Etlmic Heritage On mother's side is Ukrainian and on father's side is German Quote "I wish I could have time to do everything."

My name is Bonni-Anne. There is no "e" on Bonni, just an "i". My parents basically took the "e" from Bonnie and stuck it on the end of Anne. Confuses everybody, but it's fun for me. I'm 19 and have lived in Winnipeg all my life, except when I was in Edmonton for a short period. I lived there for a month and a half.

I met my fiance this summer while I was working at Celebrations, and interactive dinner theatre here in Winnipeg. He's 12 years older than I am. He's got a lot more life experiences and he's a lot more knowledgeable about things than I am.

I was performing in a show throughout the summer. There are seven cast members and we do a musical comedy consisting of a three-act play, plus we serve a four-course meal. I was doing that and then I got pregnant, so my fiance went to

Edmonton to do the show and I went with him to "ad cast." This means you 1 re in 257

character but you're not a cast member, you just serve. We just bought a house, which is where I'm staying now. I just moved in there. He is still in Edmonton for another month. Michael is the floor manager, he looks after ad-casts, what goes on stage, security aspects and almost everything else.

I love music and I'm very music-oriented. I've been in the band and taught piano. I'm not teaching now because I'm expecting.

I've had part-time jobs since I was 13. It gave me some independence and some money. I learned about the work force. It was basically fast food and waitressing a lot at places like McDonald's, Chicken Chucks, Minis, Burger Factory, and Subway. I still work at Subway on and off

I've always liked and played the piano, but I never really started singing until I was about 15. I was pretty active in sports in junior high. I was on the basketball and volleyball team and in track and field. In high school, in Grade 10, I was in sports and music but by Grade 11 I found I had to make a choice. So, I chose music. When

I started singing in Grade 9 people started saying I was pretty good. I love performing and found performing gave me a rush. Far better than the rush I got from sports. I wish I could have time to do everything. I'm one of those people who is always very busy. I'm glad I chose music. I don't have any regrets.

I was always outgoing in front of people. Some people that I'm meeting for the first time tend to sort of back away from me because I come on very strong. It helped me a lot when I worked at Celebrations because you have to go up to people at your table, for example, and say, "Hi there, blah blah blah," and you have to be really 258

extroverted. When we went to Edmonton we did a lot of promos in the mall. The cast would be in the mall singing or whatever and we'd go around and hand out pamphlets. There were all these people watching the dolphin show and I went up to all of them. Their backs were totally facing me and I just turned them around and said, "Here you go." It comes in handy, for sure.

The plays are all original. We have a writer and a musical director. All the singing is live. We don't use original songs though. The songs are redone. For example, in the medieval show we did a spoof on the Camelot theme. It was a comedy and we did all Vitds music, so it was kind of weird how they intertwined

Vito's, but it was a big success. The show was sold out for a month straight.

All the floor stuff is "improv." My acting isn't as strong as my musical background, but you know people would "shtick." Patrons would come up to you and they give you an offer of something and you'd have to work with it and create a whole little skit on the floor in five minutes while you're serving. There's really a lot of

"im.prov" involved. They- do it just with me or with the table or other people or sometimes we get the whole floor involved. It's a lot of fun. Some patrons aren't ready for it. They walk in and they're almost insulted. Everyone's so high. They just kind of want to be left alone, but by the end of the night we get them going.

The way I got into acting was last year my parents went to Celebrations for their anniversary and one of my friends was working as an "ad cast" and later my mom said, "Why don't you go and audition?" My parents were always totally supportive of my music but they never pushed me. I thought, well what are the 259

chances of my getting in a show? Not too good, but what the heck, I'll try. I auditioned and then understudied for two shows and then got into my first show. This all happened within the last year.

I was supposed to finish school in June 1995, but I got sick so I had to drop out in May and then I came back the following September and I finished my year. I just graduated in June but I missed the last month of school because the play was in rehearsals and I did a whole bunch of extra work at school and I got my diploma.

In high school I actually wanted to be an accountant, a chartered accountant. I like lots of numbers and math. All my marks are fairly high but my math was really very strong.

I'm not too sure where I'm going right now. I'm pretty religious so I think that

God maybe has something else in mind for me. If I wasn't pregnant now and getting married I'd be in university. I'm very school-oriented but I'm kind of thinking maybe

He has something else in mind for me. I will have to take off a couple of years to find out. Maybe something in music will come up for me. My dream is to be a recording artist.

My future career is a toss-up between business and music. I guess music would be easier for me to pursue for the next couple of years when I have the baby, as far as finances go. But my fiance is very musical and acting-oriented. Something may happen in the music industry. I'm going to probably give it two years to see what happens. I'll see how I feel at the end of that. I can always go to university and do music on the side, such as singing at nightclubs. I could do both if I wanted but I'm 260

just going to go with music for the next year or two years and then if I'm still at the same point, then I'll go to school for sure.

When I was little I went to Brownies for two or three years. It was one of those things; if I didn't like it I would start something else. What I did carry on with was piano and I bowled for 11 years from when I was three to when I was 14. After that it was part-time jobs that interfered with bowling. I always had to have a part• time job.

Since I'm expecting now I work at Celebrations doing office work. The director said, "If you start showing before the show's over I can't write it into the script." My character couldn't really be pregnant because I was Minuway and she's a temptress from the Avalon, from Camelot, from a long time ago. If Minuway got pregnant, well that wouldn't make any sense. He said basically I could do it if I want but not if it's going to be too much work, because it's very demanding. He said just come to Edmonton and do some ad-casting. Then when you want to come back we'll set you up with a job that's not acting and crazy.

I have one brother who is two years younger. I'm the oldest. It's a very small family. I get along with him, generally. He's going through a little bit of a phase right now. But he's a good kid. I don't generally tend to ask him for advice. He's very naive, but in a positive way. He's very laid back about girls. But it's cute. It's really adorable. His thought process is really naive, really weird. When I told him I was getting married to Mike, I said, "You know, you will have a brother-in-law" and he said, "Oh I'm going to have to get used to his laugh then, eh?" That was his first

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thought, you know, cute. It doesn't get him in any trouble but sometimes he can come

across being pretty out of it. I don't know if my expecting a baby has registered with

him. Mom and Dad talked to him about it. There's a lot of attention on me right now

so they don't want him to feel left out. He says he's fine. I'm really not sure where

he's at with it right now.

At first my parents were pretty wary about my pregnancy, especially my dad, because he had these big dreams for me. From my point of view I don't think those dreams are necessarily crushed, but it's hard for them to see that because they think now that I'm going to have a baby my career plan will be finished. I'm not like that.

The future looks happy for me.

I'm not really scared and my relationship with my fiance is very strong and good right now. The pregnancy wasn't planned. I'm religious and I think that God's given me a gift, not a burden. I never intended to get rid of it or anything like that.

I've always been excited.

I'm not scared of change. I think my way's the only way kind of thing. I've been brought up that way, you know. I don't think anything is done the right way unless it's my way. We've never had a dog or a cat because my brother's allergic to fur and feathers so we never had birds or anything. Michael wants a dog but I've never had a dog so I'm just like, well, is that really what is done? Everything has to be very straightforward. I mean, it was hard enough for me to go to Edmonton.

Michael really likes Winnipeg and so do I. It doesn't matter where I go, I don1t care as long as I'm with Michael. But generally, I'd really like to stay in Winnipeg. 262

When I was little I went to Sunday school but not all that often. What really got me into the church is a band I'm in at church, it1s a three-day band from to Easter Sunday: how He died and then He was resurrected. We got together, it1s our second year and last summer I was sort of a lost soul. I was still pretty sick and I wasn't really sure where my life was going, but we got together once a week and I found that that was really a good foundation for me. Another sort of family, so to speak. They taught me a lot about religion and trusting God and how good a relationship you can have with God, but it wasn't corny and it wasn1t bad. We're not bible thumpers, it just made me feel really comfortable with my religious views. I always believed in God, but I never really noticed how much at work He was in my life until I joined this group.

The band performs the last Sunday of every month. We put on a contemporary worship service. We do a lot of original music and it 1s a lot of upbeat stuff such as folk rock, country, reggae, jazz, blues and everything. Sometimes they're all intertwined together and a lot of the stuffs original. We1ll take songs from the hymn book, take the words, take the melody and play with it a lot and totally make it into a jazz song or a country song and it's a lot of fun. We have to practise once a week. We get together on

Thursday nights from 7:30 to 10:30. I sing and play the piano and sometimes I play the bass. There are a couple of other girls that sing and we have a drummer, a saxophone, a trumpet, a trombone, a pianist, and a bass man who does guitar and . There are about 10 or 11 people in it.

Actually a lot of the crowd is older. We started out trying to aim at young 263

kids. The leader of the group has two daughters and one of them I think is five or six.

She knows all the words to every song and she sits there every Sunday night, looks up and sings with us. It's really a good feeling when we go there.

My dad's a teacher at Central High School, which is an inner city school. My dad1s a great teacher. He's one of those teachers that people will come back 20 years later with their kids and say, "This was my favourite teacher." He1s got tons of kids' pictures, grad pictures and he1s still in contact with tons of his students. Dad teaches psychology, sociology, history, law and he1s taught accounting before, but I don't think he does that anymore. He was a good role model for me when I was growing up.

I was able to communicate with him.

I love my mom. She1s my best friend. When I got sick we really bonded. I was a normal teenager, meaning I always talked back to my mother and father but after they gave their all during my sick period, I really appreciated that and stopped taking advantage of them.

I was clinically diagnosed as being depressed. I tried committing suicide twice.

It wasn1t circumstantial depression, which is like when someone died and you go crazy.

It was a chemical imbalance and I still have it. I'll always have it. I was taking medication but when I got pregnant there was only one medication I could take and it's only when you absolutely need to. I was kind of freaked out because I didn 1t know if I could manage without medication. So far I'm fine.

I guess my depression started when I was in about Grade 6, but I didn 1t really realize it until Grade 10. My thought process was really illogical. I was very 264

irrational, carving stuff on my arms with coat hangers when I was mad at myself. I thought that I needed to be punished for what I did. I once lost $10 so my mom gave me another $10 to reimburse me. I felt so guilty I just had to be punished. So I punished myself. It was just the way I acted and reacted towards certain situations. I was very irrational; I'd be really mad at myself. My thought process was just way out of whack. Everything was a crisis and everything still is. I go off the deep end over things. If somebody says to me I can't have this or that at my upcoming wedding, instead of thinking okay, it's like the end of the world. I just lose it.

Losing control has come up. It's arisen a lot actually since I've been pregnant without the medication and I've just had to rationalize that I'm better than this now, that I'm bigger than this. I know I went to therapy for so long and I've learned so much about using the keys that they taught me, so I can kick it. My fiance's really adamant about my not using medication. I must admit he's seen some of my outbursts but not the awful ones from before.

When I was in Edmonton, away from my home, for the first two weeks I was really down. I wasn't myself I would wake up in the morning and Michael was scared because he never saw this side of me before. He didn't know what to do. But after about two weeks we learned to deal with it and it got better. Instead of being mad at me for being so irrational, he supported me and helped me along and that's made all the difference.

The whole sickness has taught me so much about life and dealing with other people's problems. I think I've learned a lot about myself I think the first attempt at 265

suicide was basically a cry for help. I thought that this isn't right. I need somebody to help me or else this is going to go on and on, and I'm going to lose it. So, I told my mom what I tried. She was the first person I thought of when I needed help. She called the doctor. Unfortunately that doctor wasn't very good. He put me on every single medication under the sun within a year. I was on five different medications and that's really bad. I was on Prozac, Luvox, Doxepin and I can't remember the other two. I was getting pumped with all this medication so I really lost sight of who I was because I was on these happy pills. Inside I was just empty. I went off medication for a while. During that period I tried my second suicide attempt. I just lost it. School was getting to me. I had always been a good student, but I was at a point where I just didn't care. I didn't want to go to class. My grades were dropping. I was living life in the fast . I'd always be out at a bar with guys and I didn't care about anything.

Then it finally caught up with me one week-end and I ended up in the hospital.

Luckily, I survived. I had to drop out of school and I didn't graduate with my friends.

I went to a lot of therapy throughout that summer to get a hold of myself I went back to school in the fall on my medication. I stayed on it until about June, when I got pregnant and I had to be taken off it.

Both suicide attempts were with pieces of glass trying to cut my wrists. It was really scary. It's different for some people but for me it was trying to hurt myself, not to get back at someone else. I felt I had to die for what I'd done. Usually what I had done was minor or inconsequential. I felt I shouldn't be living. It got to the point where I thought I was costing my parents too much money by being alive, things like 266

that. That was my thought process. There would be times when I'd get in a fight or something with my mom and I'd just lose it. I'd have what I called an emotional seizure, it's like an epileptic seizure. I'd just scream and kick like I was a three-year• old. I had no control over anything. Its like a power overtakes your mind and it makes you think all these things and do all these things. It's really scary. I feel I've overcome that, actually.

I'm pretty confident that I'm under control right now. I can't say for sure, but I know that I have a very good support system in place right now and know how to use it. I know who to call now. My parents, especially my mom and Michael are that support. Before I couldn't. When I was really sick in Edmonton I called her and said,

"Mom I'm going to do something if you don't talk me out of it." That was to me the way to deal with it. I called somebody and told them what's going on instead of just doing it and hiding from them. Which is what I did before. Michael's really supportive and so are my parents. I'm so happy right now. I don't have a care in the world.

There are crisis lines to call for depression and suicide in Winnipeg but I would never call them. I'd talk to my mom first. Now Michael is my support.

Nobody could tell. I didn't let it show and my outgoingness and my happiness came in handy because I could hide it very easily. The medication helped put up that front. It was an artificial front, but it was a front that I put up. Nobody had a clue at all. The first time was a very scary feeling and I could probably recognize it if it were to happen to me again. It happened the same way the second time. It's just that 267

you get out of control, that's all I can say and you don't care about anything, you just do it. You wake up in the morning, go to school because you have to and you don't really care. Your emotions are non-existent, you're very numb. You're just kind of there because you have to be there and you don't really notice anything that's going on.

Sleeping is one big huge sign. I would sleep for hours and still feel groggy. I lost my appetite. I didn't eat and the medication that I was on before I got pregnant killed my appetite so my meals would consist of maybe a sandwich during the entire day and I'd feel full all the time. I'd eat the sandwich even though I wasn't hungry but

I'd never starve myself I don't have the willpower to starve myself I've always been a healthy eater. But the medication killed my appetite. When I got pregnant and I went off the medication I started eating, eating and eating you know. I've gained a lot of weight. I hope my appetite goes down a little bit after I have the baby but not so much as it did before. I've been on medication for 2 V2 years so I really don't know what my appetite is really like.

I think I know what's going on in Quebec from our discussions in school. I don't pay attention to the news or anything. I'm very naive as far as that goes. I don't have any interest in politics. When I voted last year I picked names that I thought were neat. I'm really out to lunch about what's going on in the world. I guess I've always been too busy. I never want to read the paper. I don't care about politics. I think it's a bunch of crap and it makes me mad when I read about it. I think maybe once I get married and start paying taxes I'll start caring a little bit more. I guess it's

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just because it doesn't affect me and I don 1t care. But I know that really it does. I don't think Quebec should leave. I was kind of ticked that they wanted to separate and all that garbage.

I like French a lot. I think French is very important. rm bilingual because of

French immersion. I think it's a real important part of Canada and I think it's great that you can go to a supermarket or whatever and half the people will be talking

French to their kids and the other half the people will be talking English and everyone's like a big group there. But for some reason Quebec feels that they're their own people. I just think French is really important to have. It1s an important part of our heritage.

In Grade 9, I went on a school trip to Quebec. We'd speak to them in French and they'd know right away that we weren't from Quebec, so they talked to us in

English and it was like talking down to us. It happened everywhere. We went to

McDonald's and we went to A&W and when we went to a book store or a clothing store we'd start talking French and they'd talk back to us in English. It was really insulting. I found it frustrating, because they didn't seem to appreciate our trying. We got shot down when we tried.

I'd really like to work on my French, because after Grade 12 I still have a lot more vocabulary to learn. I don't speak it on a day-to-day basis so I know it will diminish slowly. I'm bilingual but I don't know if I'll ever be able to speak it fluently.

I'll watch Channel IO or I'll try to converse with stewardesses and others in French when I go on a plane. It's a lot of fun and you learn a lot of things. I want my kids to

26 9

go to French immersion for sure. It's not going to be an option with me. I switched over from Grade 12 math French to Grade 12 math English because I was going to go to university for my math and I wanted to know the terms. I couldn't believe how different it was. In the French immersion class the average was high 80s. You go over to the English track and the kids were really out to lunch. I mean their grades were a lot lower and they weren't as quick. They were just sort of sitting there going

"What?" There were maybe 15 people in the class who didn't understand compared to the French class where there were maybe two who didn't understand. Maybe those in immersion were over-achievers. I'm not exactly sure, but it's difficult for some kids and it's not for others. I really want my kids to learn French. It's been so beneficial for me.

I think a lot of people take advantage of the welfare system and social assistance. I went out with a guy once who totally took advantage of the welfare system. These are people who are having kids and kids and kids. A lot of the natives here are on social assistance. They have the kids and they'll have more kids because the more kids they have the more money they get. Why should they care? They're getting so much money from the government they don't have any incentive to go out and work. That's what really makes me mad. But if there's somebody on the street, for example, asking for a quarter I'll give it to them. It depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Sometimes I feel that they should go out and get a job and I don't have money for this and at other times, I just give them a break. Generally I really think welfare's getting abused big-time.

27 9

I encourage immigration a lot. I'm very proud that they've chosen to come to

Canada. I think Canada is such a good country. I mean some of the crap that's going on in other parts of the world, I just can't imagine living there. No wonder they're coming to Canada. If they can find happiness and peace here, that's great! I'm all for that.

I think a lot of ethnic groups demand too much and are taking that a little bit too extreme. I'm Ukrainian and I don't demand any rights. I just think if the country encourages you to celebrate your ethnic culture, then that's cool. Just like the different religions. There are so many different religions. As long as everyone's able to do whatever they feel necessary without the whole world having to stop and look at them doing it, then I think that's enough. But I think a lot of people are really going overboard with that. My dad's German. My mom's Ukrainian. My dad will speak

Ukrainian sometimes to my mom and I think it's really neat. I'm cool with being

Ukrainian, eating the food and I don't feel I have to speak the language to be

Ukrainian. I'd like to know more about the Ukrainian and German cultures.

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i) Relevance of Time and Place

Cora Fedyk Interviewed June 13, 1997 in her trailer home in Red Deer, Alberta Occupation Retired institutional cook and Metis Elder Predisposition Activist Age 67 Values Duty, respect for historical traditions Concerns Continuation of Metis culture Social Connectedness: Rational traditionalist Ethnic Heritage Cree and French Quote "So when I got my letter of recommendation they said that they didn't have to worry about me because I knew what I was doing and that when the new staff came in I would show them what to do. It made me feel good."

On a hot, muggy day in June, 1997 I talked with Cora at her trailer home on the outskirts of Red Deer, AB. It was cool, very homey and with all sorts of Nfetis memorabilia. She served me hardtack and coffee. The hardtack was covered with a tea towel to keep the flies off She is an Elder and well respected in her community.

Cora is married to Bill Fedyk, a Ukrainian, who worked 15 years doing night shift for the CPR and is now retired.

I consider myself more Metis than Cree or French. My Metis roots are the link that mean the most to me. There is resentment against us by both the whites and the because we are mixed. But we were raised Metis. We are not recognized by the federal government as "status" 4 Indians and therefore can not benefit from that.

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I wish I could speak Cree. I understand a bit when I hear it. The last year when I looked after Dad he would talk Cree to Mom. One night I was in bed and he says in English to Mom in the other room, "Oh, I'm sick." Every other time he would talk to Mom in Cree. And Mom, that's my step-mother, she says, "We'll tell Cora;

11 she'll take you to the hospital. 11 So Mom came over and she got me. She says, Your dad's sick." And I said, "Well why didn't you say that?" I had come to understand what they were saying in Cree.

Whenever Dad and my stepmom talked it was in a mixture of Cree and

French. They would never say certain things when we were in the house. They would tell us to go out because I guess they didn't want us to hear what they were talking about. That was a big thing in those days because the kids could never stay in to hear what was going on. It wasn't arguments, it was just general talk.

My dad's father was French and his mother was Cree. My mother heritage is also French and Cree. Her name is Gosselin and people think that is a German name but it is French. That part of the family is the only tree \Ve haven't really worked on yet. It's very scant there but we' re having a family reunion at the end of this month, so hopefully we'll figure out a few things.

I was raised speaking English. In school at the Roman Catholic convent day school they taught us in English.

Cree is the main type of native around central Alberta. There is a reserve up at

Hobbema. There are also Dakotas and two or three other kinds. Cree is a fairly active language and there are enough people to pass it on. There are also enough books in

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Cree and about Cree history and culture to pass it on. There is a section at the library on native culture.

Even at the Friendship Centre or when we go to some events where there are some Cree natives talking, I can understand. But you know when you're away from your language so long you can only sit there and listen.

Now they are giving them the options of their culture in quite a few places and will be offering Cree lessons in the fall here at the Friendship Centre. It's nice to see that.

I hope someday to travel. I'm looking forward to that, because I sure would like to. I'd like to see the Louis Riel5 statue they put up a year ago in Winnipeg. He was a school teacher, eh? And he only got his execution when he was only 42. He was a poet too. There is a play about him that was performed in and

Calgary and we're trying to get it here in Red Deer. They found out after it wasn1t him, it wasn't his fault, it was that John A. Macdonald,6 wasn't it?

I've seen a little bit of BC. I've been down to the West Coast but my dream is to travel through Canada. Since my husband was working for so long at the CPR7 he qualified for a pass which allowed him and family to travel free from coast to coast.

But because he was laid off last year, he lost the pass. So we never did have the chance to travel by train. Not with a family of five and the kids; the kids were all working already then.

Dad was in the First World War; he was on Vimy Ridge. He was the sniper on the front line. He never got hurt, harmed or anything. He was pretty young, I guess.

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He was born in 1894 and he volunteered in 1917. He may have been on the front lines because he was a native. They didn 1t say too much about that. I think when they joined they just joined. I don't think it occurred as much in the Second World War.

Two of my brothers were called. When Walter was called, he had already been taken prisoner at Dieppe. Dad gets a telegram that they wanted Walter to join. They sure don't take very good records. My younger brother joined quite young. My daughter, who is keeping the family tree, figured he must have joined when he was 15 or 16.

Joining the forces was a way of growing up fast. I think Dad tried many times but seeing that his two brothers were in the army, I guess they didn't want to take him because he was the only brother of the Blondin family not in the army. I think that's the way it was. They leave one behind. But somehow he found his way through and got in.

My mother was the only girl along with four brothers and my dad was one of

22 children, but only 17 survived childbirth. Out of all that family now there's only one left and that's my aunt who is about 98. She was on her own until last year when she went into a home. Uncle Alex was 105. Dad was about 96 when he passed away.

He died about eight years ago in 1989. I was with him on his last day. He told me his life history and I was sitting beside him and rm sorry I never had a tape recorder. I was the only one there because I'm the only one left out of a family of three boys and three girls.

Dad ended up marrying a lady next door and over time my brothers left because of it. They then had a baby girl and I began to feel like I wasn't wanted. I

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mean it was a bad situation. I never left home, I just stuck it out and then it seemed like I was always in the background. I got married early, because I got into trouble.

My parents picked out my husband. So I married him, but it only lasted for six years.

My daughter, Mary Rose, was starting school that year. Then I had to go out and work. I had to go to a small town on the border of Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where I looked after children with disabilities. I only did that for three months because I didn't think it was for me, plus I was only about 26 years old. I left my oldest girl and the other two children from my first marriage with mom and dad.

My dad drank a lot and in the days when the boys were at war, they would do lot of drinking and stuff like that. When I'd come home from school I'd see bottles and stuff and that just turned me off I always said if I ever was married and had kids and came home and they had that, I think I would leave. That's just anger. But knock on wood , I haven't seen anything yet.

I was quite young when I lost my mom. After Dad remarried it just seemed like our lives fell apart. I didn't have a good home life. My dad asked the neighbours to help as housekeepers. One time one of them ran up the grocery bill and Dad had to ask her to leave.

It seemed like in those days there were big families. I just lost a brother in

1992 to cancer. Two of them had cancer. Another brother died in South Africa, he was in the armed forces. He dove into a shallow body of water and broke his back.

He lived in pain for two days.

I've got 15 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. One of our great-

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grandsons is graduating from high school this year. He played the violin when he was four years old. He serenades at the churches when they have events. He's going to go to college in Turtle Mountain. His mother wants him to go there so he will be close to us. He wants to come here and drive me around. So he can know more about what wedo.

I had nine children. Four were from my first marriage but I lost one in birth.

My first husband was Chipewyan and he was from Turtle Mountain in the United

States. When he came to Canada as a little boy they'd get land there, eh? So there were three children born. Boyer which was my first husband's name. His dad sold two of his children's land in order to have money to come here.

My youngest boy of my first family was in the militia. He had a good job but he drank. He worked for the phone company in Edmonton. He had some real good jobs but because he was an alcoholic he lost them. He was a linesman but he fell off a pole. They wouldn't let him do that any more. He was told that he had the best qualifications for being a linesman because he was in with the militia and they learn all kinds of trades there, but they didn't want him anymore because of his drinking.

Now he's a consultant in the Peace River area with native groups dealing with alcoholics. He's been off alcohol for at least 20 years now.

Another daughter, Michelle, has three kids. For a while it seemed she was going nowhere. Then she went to college and took up hairdressing. Now she's got all her education. Last year our organization here in Red Deer called "Aboriginals of the

Metis Nations" wanted a receptionist at the Metis office here. She worked there six

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months and then they extended it. After a year they wanted her to go as an aboriginal director of career development, which she loves doing. They assist students to go to

Red Deer College to study in the Metis program.

Another boy, Rod, is a mechanic for the city of Clarshome and he's also a coach for the hockey team, the triple As.

My second family was young when we moved to Alberta. Rod was in Grade 9 and Connie was in Grade 10. They had taken these subjects in Saskatchewan so that they had to apply for different subjects when they came here. They didn't want to move at first and vowed they were all going to go back when they had the chance.

They said they didn 1t know why they moved here. We told them it would take two years to get established. Rod was always a hockey player and he always found his achievements by getting around. They were always busy and never once said to us,

"Let's move back home to Saskatchewan." If they did I can1t remember. The odd time they would say they were going to go back to Saskatchewan when they were out of school. By that time they were graduated and maybe it was going on three years and they were already working and got good jobs. Rod was learning body shop in high school.

Not too long ago, Bill and I said to our youngest son Curtis, "well I guess we11l move back to Saskatchewan, Curtis." And he says, 11Mom, Dad, don't you dare

move back because everybody's dying over there. 11 We had some relatives just up from here and they're the same age as we are and they're not as active as we are. I can drive a car. We seem to be more active here.

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My daughter is the only one of my relations that I know who went to university. She's got her Masters. She went to the University of Saskatchewan. She went to Ottawa and tutored. But she came back and worked as an office manager in

Swift Current. After three years she got bored and went back to teaching. She's bilingual.

My children all have good jobs. The oldest girl was an honour student, she went to college and then she got her Masters. She's worked with all the bands in

Saskatchewan. The next girl had a very bad accident, plus she married quite young.

She went to school through the Metis and she got her certificate but she had five kids at home and she did all her baking and things at home so that kept her pretty quiet.

Then her husband died so she really didn't do anything, but she's quite creative. She did a lot of the petit point up there on the wall. She also did those dolls up there. She makes everything; there's not a thing that she can't do.

My first husband, he had land and farmed, but never sold. For a while he was in the army. When they struck oil on it he got the oil rights. That kept on going and when he passed away his second wife could draw it for so long and then it ran out.

Now the only ones that can claim that would be the children, because their blood relations are with their dad.

I worked with the hospital in Saskatchewan for 22 years. When Bill was transferred to Alberta, I only had two years to go to retirement. I was told my seniority would carry over, but when we got to Alberta no, I found out nothing carries over.

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We came to Alberta in 1974. I now feel at home in Alberta. I have contact with my daughter in Regina where she works for Social Services and deals with sexual and adult drug abuse. She also works with the Elders.

I've got a daughter who worked with me in the Alberta Hospital. Back when I couldn't get a job she and I went out working as cooks on an oil well field. I worked there for 12 years and my daughter worked with me for about four. She got tired working with the sick and the handicapped all the time. When she went back to work she worked for the Elders in Wetaskiwin. Then she got married and moved down here. Now she's a home care worker. She does a lot of steady work. She's got two girls, 12 and 11, and she doesn't want to take any shift work but she does well and she's remarried.

In Alberta they were picking some of our men up here for shooting out of season. They had a court case and they were let go. At our last meeting we discussed that some guys went out and did some shooting and they didn't get picked up. So we are just hoping that that issue is behind us. There are a lot of our families from the younger generations that own land and they should have the right to go out and shoot for their families.

We want gaming and hunting rights just like "status" natives. That is a provincial matter and we have to deal with each province one at a time.

Saskatchewan's the only province that's given some rights to us. We are making progress, but it is a long haul.

Hunting and trapping are our big concerns. I don't know what the trapping

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would be around here. I imagine there must be beavers, minks and muskrats. I know the beavers are quite plentiful but I know that dad used to go out and kill everything and we'd help him clean everything too. My step-sister and I had quite a life.

I'm involved in the Metis Nations of Alberta here. I am an Elder. An Elder is not a political position. If anything goes wrong I'm called on to sit in and see what is wrong and determine what or who is right. I do this from my heart. Being an Elder is like a counsel. It's an appointed position by one of the other Elders, for three-year periods. But it can be extended. The Elder who appointed me was on for eight years but she was getting up there in age, in her 80s. I guess they spotted me and asked me.

I'm on my third year now. I'm 67, so I could serve for a long time.

Because I'm an Elder I'm always asked for my opinion. There was this

Pakistani girl who went to college here to better her education. She got the top grades and she was going in for a dental hygienist. She applied for various jobs but it just threw her that she couldn't speak English good enough. I was asked what we should do. I told them to go the Human Resources and find out more. I think it's hard for these people, I really feel badly for them. I don't look down on anybody. I guess that's just the way we were brought up, Dad was the same. He was always there to help, and I know even here I help too much and get heck from my family. I'm so used to it.

I just do it without thinking.

Just the other night here we had a lady who was all by herself and you never see her outside. She came in and you could tell she was distressed. She talked and talked and all of a sudden she blurted out everything. It was a good day. You have to 281

put your heart into things like that. And they call me for family circles: we have women's circles and we have children's circles.

I also sit on the Justice Youth Offenders and Commissioner Advisory

Committee. See that calendar on the fridge? I'm very busy. I rub the weeks off as I'm finished so I don't get mixed up. On some weeks I write "time out" so that I have some time for myself and my family. I'm busy at least three nights a week on committees and called on all the time for advice. During the last week of July I will be in Batosh, SK, for a meeting about Metis gaming rights. So I can't even take the summer off

I've always been active. I know all my rights and my wrongs. I was also asked to sit on the board of the Friendship Centre which is a native organization. It helps Metis discover our roots. We work with nothing, we try to fight for what we get. But "status" natives have everything. They've got the land, they've got the grants. If a Metis marries a native, I have to see that they get fair treatment.

I see and hear a lot about youth through the organizations I'm involved with.

There are two problems. There isn't enough influence from the home, and young people aren't active enough. If I go through my own experience, I never had trouble with my kids. They were never involved with the law. Maybe after they got married there was one there that got caught with impaired driving, but that was minor. But I think a lot of things too with our youth back then, was that they had work to do. At that time we never had electricity, we had coal or a wood stove and had to heat up water. I think keeping our kids busy doing these kind of things meant they didn't have 282

the tendency to go out and look for trouble.

None of my kids smoked when they were young but now two do. My husband smokes. I tried, but it didn't work. They would dry and choke on me the cigarettes, you know. And I couldn't seem to get any enjoyment from smoking. But Bill used to smoke maybe a package and a half a day. Plus he chewed tobacco because he was working where there was wood in the trailer factories out here. He has stopped smoking but he's still chewing.

I think the kids nowadays should do something. I was supposed to have a meeting today with the president of one of the local Metis organizations. But he's too busy to see me because he is involved with troubled kids and has to spend a lot of time keeping them busy.

I think with the young they' re not busy enough. I think that our kids need more activities. There are all kinds of activities. Sports keep the kids busy and hopefully off the street. To get kids involved in hockey it costs the parents about

$250 for equipment. V/ho's got that? The skates and the outfits are very expensive.

A lot of our aboriginals and Metis haven't got this kind of money, it costs too much.

I'm quite lucky with Curtis though, he's got three boys and they just pass their equipment down.

If they don't like sports, then there's band or cadets. I've got a granddaughter in Vegreville who's taken up karate. Another granddaughter is a baseball player. Our oldest daughter, Michelle, started her oldest one in the band. She plays the clarinet; she can't play sports because of her bum leg. It's kind of hard for her. As soon as she 283

starts to walk her leg starts to flip out on her. She's also good at drawing.

The young peoples' attitude is very bad. There's a lot of alcohol. I know one

girl there from Peace River and she has three kids and the father has escaped. Then

she picks up a 16-year-old boy and he's not even an adult. There are a lot of conflicts

between him and her oldest boy, who is 13 years old.

I never forced my kids to believe in their roots, but they knew I was always involved with Metis and even to this day, some are eventually coming around and showing an interest. They've got their lifetime memberships now and in order to, like

Rod there, be a hockey player, and play on the reserves, he's got to have a card to prove that he's part native. So anyway in some ways it's good for them to come around on their own, you know. And all my boys got their cards now. Like I always say, "You never force nobody, they'll come." And they do. Our son, who makes native crafts, is really coming around. I was quite surprised, but he's in a department now for the native' s career development and education.

With the Metis we are now being recognized by the government where vve weren't before. This has all happened within the last maybe three or four years. The movement all started with Jim Sinclair, the president of the Saskatchewan organization back in the early 70s.

Metis had colonies at one time but I'm not too sure. I kind of think maybe at

one time we were like , that we had what they called Metis settlements.

They were communal. There were some up north in the Peace River area.

We had land rights at one time but then our ancestors sold them off Now if

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we want to be recognized as a lifetime Metis we must show them our land scripts. It relates to the treaty land that our native ancestors might have owned at one time.

I think life for a Metis was better in Saskatchewan because we were raised that way. Now I couldn't say that here, but we were always raised from the land. Dad always went out and did his shooting, did his killing and he always liked fishing. I don't remember us being poor, but I guess we were. The kids say they see the other people get nice things for Christmas and everything. Our kids got one good toy and they really had homemade things or something like that. You know it's coming out now, eh? I guess one of our neighbours knew them all when they were 12. He says,

11 You know, you guys had a better life than we did," and Mary Rose and Charlotte and

Connie and Rod said, "Well we dodt think so." But they said, "Yeah, you had a lot nicer Christmas then we had. I guess it was a happy, more or less a happy feeling. I think it's because we were close. Bigger families are closer.

When I first came here I found discrimination. I was good-natured and I mixed in. I worked at the airbase cooking part-time in the summer and then I finally got hired on. When I got hired on Sergeant Dixon said to all the girls--there were already one or two jumping on me, "She just started, show her and then she'll be all right.''

That's all that was said, you know. They showed me and I catch on easily and then when I finished there after eight years because I was going on early retirement, I got a real nice letter. There always had to be at least a corporal in the kitchen, no matter what shift, even on weekends. That's because they had to see that everything was the way it should be run, I guess. So the last month or two, I said 11 Gee whiz, there's no

285

11 1 11 corporal. 11 So Monday morning I'd say, How come you guys weren t in? Well they

11 said, We're depending on you. 11 I thought it was just a joke. So when I got my letter of recommendation they said that they didn't have to worry about me because I knew what I was doing and that when the new staff came in I would show them what to do.

It made me feel good.

I was called out to two schools here, three in the last three months. rm all over. We show them the culture. We have a tape and show them their culture. Some of them you can tell that they're native, but they're not sure. Well, this little girl, her mother's native and her dad was white. I guess her mother doesn't talk much to her kids. So when we were at the school, and she saw the film and what it said on the film she said, 11You know, I'm native. I'm sure I'm native . 11 I asked her who she was, who was her dad and he1s white. I said, "You're Metis. Your mother may be native but you' re Metis, because you look darker, like I do. 11 I told her that to make her feel better. But I said, 1'Don 1 t feel bad, always be proud of who you are and what you are.

,A.nd when you go to work always be proud of yourself because you 1ve got a real good culture here." Some people won't talk about anything, eh? I had a brother that was in denial. He wouldn't recognize himself as native or and Indian; he used to get mad if people called him that. Then just the last few years before he passed away he started to recognize that he was native. He1 d never say that he was a Metis, though.

I was raised in Estevan, SK. I wasn't so involved in Metis affairs as I am here.

But I served as president of the local there for four years. I came to Red Deer when my husband got transferred to Alberta and we moved into this trailer home. There

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were no Metis organizations in Red Deer at the time. We had a very hard time finding other Metis. There was another reserve down there called Paga Reserve.

There was also the Stand-Off reserves, and the Cardston reserves. In and around that area there are many reserves.

When I came back to Estevan in 1954 I began working in the hospital. I ended up working there for 20 years. There were 12 ofus in that department and

Sister picked me as her assistant; when she'd leave for a retreat or meetings or something like that I was in charge of the 12 and one boy. Then I had more children but I was only offered temporary time. Then our youngest boy got quite ill and he had to wear braces for a year and a half He had no fluid coming into one hip. So he had his leg out at a 45-degree angle. But you'd never know he had a brace because when he went through a door or up the stairs or go to a playground you'd almost think he walked there with his own two legs instead of on crutches.

He was really active. He spent a lot of time in rehab in Regina and I guess they trained him to stand up for himself. When he got older there was nobody that could sit around here with no work while Mom and Dad were working. He was the kind of guy to make the other kids get out there and work. He got his high school diploma and got a lot of work. He didn't go to college or anything but he went into hardware and then from there he got hired on with another fellow building Nelson homes. Then the fellow died of cancer so he went to the Department of Highways.

He always had good jobs. Now he works as a special constable in Hobbema, AB; he's been there for nine years. 287

There's a lot of minorities here. We had a little episode here about some minister from an odd- sounding church who was trying to call the native women witches. We had quite a thing about that. He was from BC, but he had been here a couple of times. So we all got together from every denomination in the little library room. It was awesome. We thought this is not going to work, but my goodness, it just clicked. More or less they kicked him out for running down native women and

Catholics. We won out, so we all felt pretty happy. That's group strength.

I don't really understand what they're doing down there in Quebec. I don't really, because aren't there a lot of native people down there? What are they going to do? It's not the natives themselves, I dont think, it's the government. I think that it would be foolish to see Quebec pull away. Because it seems like the power and all the industry would leave, what would you do without all the industry going on.

Because of this, I think the natives there will suffer. I don't know. Why are they thinking things like this now when they never even thought about that years ago? Is that because of the language?

What they're basing everything on is the language but it's got to go beyond that. They want to preserve their language and the culture and their distinct way of life. Its not unlike us; they're trying to re-establish themselves or not even re• establish but establish themselves as a distinct culture. Maybe they are trying to be recognized for who they are.

My vision for Canada would be seeing that we all get together as one because we're no different from one another. I would also like to see Canadians really praise 288

each other for all our hard work we do for everyone. We've got everything here. We don't appreciate what we have.

I'm a Metis but I'm also a Canadian. That's the way I go. I am proud of being both.

References

4. The legal definition of an Indian is contained in the Indian Act, first passed in

1876. Those legally defined as Indians are known as status Indians. Non-status

Indians are of Indian ancestry but, through intermarriage with whites or by abandoning their status rights, have lost their legal status while retaining their Indian identity

5. was a Metis and leader of the Northwest Rebellion in 1885. He was attempting to set up and govern his own territory. He was charged for treason and although probably insane he was executed.

6. Sir John Alexander Macdonald was the first from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to his death in 1891. He was one of many who negotiated the British North America Act with Britain. He is most remembered for two events. First, the which introduced a system of protection of Canadian manufacturing through imposition of high tariffs. It was the 289

basis of economic and political life for many decades. Second, the transcontinental railway known as the Canadian Pacific Railway or CPR was negotiated and built during his period. The CPR linked British Columbia with central Canada and was the main reason for BC joining confederation in 1871.

7. CPR or Canadian Pacific Railway. 290

8. Appendix

B) Canada's Social Value Tribes

Canada's Social Value Tribes

Main Social Value Sub-Categories Leader values or '% of # of %of Category motivators Canadian Interv- Interv- Population iewees iewees

The Elders (>50) Cosmopolitan Financial 6 5 8 28% of pop. Modernists independence and respect for historical tradition

Rational Traditional 15 10 16 Traditionalists communities, institutions and social status

Extroverted Traditional 7 4 6 Traditionalists institutions and experience- seeking

Sub-total 28'% 19 30%

The Boomers (30- Autonomous Personal 10 8 12 49) Rebels autonomy and 43% of pop. self-fulfillment

Anxious Traditional 9 5 8 Communitarians communities, institutions and social status

Connected Traditional and 6 3 5 Enthusiasts new communities and experience- seeking

Disengaged Financial 18 12 19 Darwinists independence, stability and security

Sub-total 43

Canada's Social Value Tribes

Main Social Value Sub-Categories Leader values or %of # of t%of Category motivators Canadian Interv- Interv- Population iewees iewees

The GenXers Aimless Financial 8 6 9 (15-29) Dependents independence, 29% of pop. stability and security

Thrill-Seeking Traditional 7 4 6 Materialists communities, social status and experience- seeking

New Aquarians Experience- 4 2 3 seeking and new communities

Autonomous Post- Personal 6 3 5 Materialists autonomy and self-fulfillment

Social Hedonists Experience- 4 2 3 seeking and new communities

Sub-total 29% 17 26

Total 100% 64 100%

Michael Snow (1997) breaks down the psychological landscape of Canada into 12 social value tribes driven by 80 different value indicators. He concludes that

Canadians are being motivated by three major personal quests: for personal autonomy, for pleasure, and for spiritual fulfillment.

The analysis of interviewees are closely proportional to Snow's categories. 292

9. References

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Clark, S. Delbert 1962. The Developing Canadian Community. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

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Francis, Daniel 1997. National Dreams: Myth, Memory, and Canadian History. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press.

Gairdner, William D. 1990. The Trouble With Canada: A Citizen Speaks Out. Toronto, Stoddart Press.

Gergen, Kenneth J. 1991. The Saturated Self: Dilemmas ofldentity in Contemporary Life. New York: Basic Books.

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Grossman, David 1993. Conversations With Palestinians In Israel: Sleeping On A Wire. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 293

Gwynn, Richard 1995. Nationalism Without Walls: The Unbearable Lightness of Being Canadian. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.

Hiller, Harry H. 1986. Canadian Society: A Macro Analysis. Scarborough: Prentice• Hall.

Hoopes, James 1979. Oral History: An Introduction for Students. Raleigh: University of North Carolina Press.

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Martin, Joanne 1992. Cultures In Organizations: Three Perspectives. New York: Oxford University Press.

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McRoberts, Kenneth 1997. Misconceiving Canada: The Struggle for National Unity. Toronto: Oxford University Press.

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Twentieth Century. Toronto: Penguin Books.

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