Oldal 24 [24]
ELIZABETH TROTT
political theorist, tracked the emergence of Canadian political identity in
Ihree Civilizations, Two Cultures, One State, 1986. Ihe "other" for Verney,
when identifying Canadian political culture, is not Britain but America.
"On the other hand, to note Canadas culture is to become aware of the
differences between Canadians and Americans.”” The philosophical roots of
Canadian culture inspired others in different disciplines to make their own
inquires. A few are noted: R. Murray Schafer, composer, On Canadian Music
1984; Robin Mathews, literature and Canadian Studies, Canadian Identity
1988; Bruce Elder, film and culture studies, Image and Identity: Reflections on
Canadian Film and Culture 1989; Canadian Music, Issues of Hegemony and
Identity, edited Beverly Diamond and Robert Witmer 1994.””
Present in all of the above is the idea that a national cultural identity has
to surpass particular differences and progress towards some common ground.
Members of particular cultures have to recognize the ‘other’ which defies their
experiences. Murray Schafer writes of his music, which he identifies as Canadian
music, as being shaped not by the traditions of the great composers but by the
land, by nature and the power of the seasonal change. These are unifying ‘others,’
forces greater than individuals. Surviving is never a simple exercise of individual
power in the face of “the trees and lakes and the snows of Canada.””*
The sixties also saw an influx of Americans teaching at Canadian
universities. Douglas Verney explains: “The peak of American cultural
penetration occurred in the 1960s when the universities were expanding
and paying particular attention to the social sciences. American books,
journals, research methods, students and professors flooded into Canada.””?
The curriculum changed to reflect trends in America. The idea that there
might be reasons to pursue Canadian identity was foreign to the Americans,
they had their own philosophical culture to establish in Canada. Books
and articles by scholars, curious about Canada and its cultural identity,
were ignored.*° In 1971, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau declared Canada
a multicultural state, and the declaration was embedded in sec. 27 of the
Constitutional Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982. By the
1990s, interest in Canadian identity was drowned out.
Verney, Three Civilizations, 11.
See Bibliography.
R. Murray Schafer, On Canadian Music, Bancroft, ON, Arcana editions, The Porcupine
Quill, 1984, 93.
Verney, Three Civilizations, 7.
During the course of doing several years’ research in the nineteen seventies for the Faces
of Reason, 1 was able to view past curricula in philosophy offered by many universities in
Canada. The presence of former Canadian philosophers included in a curriculum, even as
recent as the mid twentieth century, over four to five years simply vanished.
+ 29e