Canadian Nationalism

Usually in other nations, nationalistic sentiment tends to be joint at the hip to racism,  ethnocentrism, and a stringent belief that they are the best because of some claim to a fantastical history. Commonplace when you hear the term “nationalist” is a far-right, hard line individual that wants to get rid of immigrants or marginalize some minority group because they are seen as a blight on their cultural, political, and geographical landscape. 

And as a result, when I claim that I am a Canadian Nationalist around those that aren’t Canadian, things get awkward.

I believe that Canada, despite current political grievances, is the best fucking country in the whole wide world. That’s right. The world. Whole and wide. Best fucking country. That’s a mighty bold claim, and probably a worthless one given claims of your nation’s superiority are premised on a framework of thought native to the nation you are from.

For example, American nationalistic sentiment can come from adulation for their powerful military. British nationalism can be derived from its supposedly great past, as with nations such as China or India. Comparing greatness between each is folly, given that the metrics of measurement differ. It becomes not a game of comparing apples and oranges, but comparing apples to vikings (vikings are better).

My claim to Canada being the best is derived from the way it manages to integrate its immigrants into Canadian society. It’s going along pretty well. You often hear of detractors who claim multiculturalism has failed in Canada, but they don’t ever seem to cite immigrants nor first generation Canadians when they make those claims.

There’s also the fact that we’re the best place to do business, we’ve achieved marriage equality, our banks never failed, and most development indicators place us in the top 10 of nearly every positive index. 

There are still many shortfalls that Canada faces: R&D funding is abysmal, economically marginalized Aboriginals, shitty telecom infrastructure, Research In Motion (the fact that it has ever existed, to be precise), Dean Del Mastro’s existence, and our Federal environmental regulations are a joke. Our politics is becoming rife with invective and our current Federal Government is suppressing anything they legally can.

…

We’re still the best, right? Right?