An Introduction to
Canadian Identity
Social Heroes, Visual Arts,
Literature, Performing Arts,
Sports and Music
Background Information
Canada's culture - influenced by European
culture and traditions, especially British and
French
► A country composed mainly of immigrants
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 Themes and Symbols: pioneers, trappers, and
traders
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Official symbols – maple leaf, beaver, and the
Canadian horse
 Jacques Viger (first mayor of Montreal): "the
king of our forest; ... the symbol of the
Canadian people."
 Louis XIV: sent horses to Canada (late 17th
century)
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in connection with images of red-coated Mounties
Background Information
► Ethnic
groups: Anglophone 28%,
Francophone 23%, other European 15%,
Asian/Arab/African 6%, indigenous
Amerindian 2%, mixed background 26%
► Languages: English, French
► "Canada" comes from the Huron and
Iroquois word "Kanata" meaning "village"
Nationalizing Diversity
In 1971, an official policy of multiculturalism was
introduced by Prime Minister Trudeau. The
policy would...“support and encourage the
various cultures and ethnic groups that give
structure and vitality to our society. They will be
encouraged to share their cultural expressions
and values with other Canadians and so
contribute to a richer life for us all.” –House of
Commons (Cranny and Moles 2001, p. 204-205)
Defining Canadian Identity
Canada is so large and its people are so diverse
that it is not always easy to define Canada’s
identity. There are many factors that influence the
concept of national identity.
Landscape features and climate
► Community, province, and region
► Language, culture, and ethnic background
► History
► Friends, leaders, politicians, and heroes
► Type of government
► Opportunities
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Some of our Social Heroes:
Terry Fox
Norman Bethune – “China’s
Canadian Hero”
Tommy Prince
Nellie McClung
Artists Reflect Canadian Identity
First Nations and Inuit
They use a variety of art forms (or media) to represent
various aspects of their culture and beliefs. Some are
traditional, and some are modern.
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West Coast peoples use wood to make masks and totem poles.
Inuit carve stone, antler, and bone.
The Innu do beadwork and use painted patterns to decorate
clothing.
The Anishinabe make petroforms, boulders that are arranged on the
ground.
Mi’kmaq peoples paint and embroider on birchbark.
Maliseet peoples are skilled porcupine quillworkers.
First Nations and Inuit Art
Inukshuk
Historica Minutes
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The Inukshuk is the symbol of the Canadian Arctic. It is a
stone structure Inuit built to resemble a human. They
were messages used for other travellers, for marking good
hunting or fishing spots, and for showing where supplies
of food were stored. They have become popular symbols
throughout Canada.
New France
British North America
During the 1500s and 1600s, priests
were sent to Canada from France to
paint primarily churches. The
paintings were used to beautify the
churches and to spread the
message of Christianity.
During the 1700s, citizens would
pay artists to paint pictures of their
families or themselves.
Military officers were trained to do
topographic drawings – drawings
that showed the landscape
features. The army wanted to
know the geographic details of
the land to help it make its
military plans.
They are often called documentary
paintings.
Canada’s Natural Beauty
Many paintings were created just
because of the sheer natural beauty
of our landscape.
Other times, artists captured the life
of the people who lived and worked
here.
Frances Ann Hopkins, circa 1869
“The Voyageurs during the Fur Trade”
“A Meeting of the School Trustees”
Robert Harris, 1885
Historica Minute
New People, New Paintings
As more immigrants came to Canada
during the 1800’s, new artists
emerged. They painted landscape as
well as people.
“View of Sillery from the Plains of Abraham”
by Joseph-Charles Franchère, 1895
“The Habitat’s Home” by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1870
“A Summer Morning” by William Brymner,
1888
Into the Twentieth Century
In the early 1900’s, Canadians’ sense of
pride and devotion to their country was
strong.
A group of artists named “The Group of
Seven” became very popular for their
distinctive way of painting Canada’s
landscapes. These artists became
world famous.
The original group was:
A.Y. Jackson, Fred Varley, Lawren
Harris, Barker Firley, Frank
Johnston, Arthur Lismer and J.E.H.
MacDonald.
Tom Thompson joined the small
circle but died before the group was
formally organized.
“Falls, Montreal River”, 1920 JEH MacDonald
“Red Maple”, 1914, AY Jackson
“Above Lake Superior”, 1922, L. Harris
“The Guides Home, Algonquin”, 1914, A.Lismer
Modern Canadian Artists
Modern artists from the late 1900s into
2000 are painters, sculptors, architects,
and other visual artists.
They include:
Emily Carr
Maud Lewis
Shawn Skier
Alan Syliboy
Douglas Cardinal
Denise Comeau Jack Humphrey
Shirley Bear
Alex Colville
Kenojuak Ashevak
Douglas Cardinal
Museum of Civilization, Hull
The Crowned Woman
by Shawn Skeir
Alan Syliboy
Jack Humphrey
Kenojuak Ashevak
Emily Carr Historica Minute
Shirley Bear
Alex Colville
Writers Reflect Canadian
Identity
Canadian literature covers all literary genres as writers tell
stories, recount events, persuade, explain, report, and
describe.
Children’s Literature
Ernest Thompson Seton
Famous and respected Canadian artist,
naturalist and author
Seton helped create the distinct
Canadian literary genre: the realistic
animal story. He spent his boyhood in
Ontario, graduated from the Ontario
College of Arts in 1879 and then
studied at the Royal Academy in
England.
He studied art in Paris and was soon in
demand as an illustrator. His most
famous painting, The Sleeping Wolf,
won first prize at the annual
competition held at the Paris Salon.
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/arti
Ballads
Ballads are a popular poetic form of
narrative writing used to tell a story.
They are often based on true events
but the truth is stretched to make it
more interesting. Many ballads have
become songs.
The Cremation of Sam McGee
Modern Storytelling
Writers often include their own
personal experiences and beliefs into
their writing. They can be politically
charged, emotional, or persuasive.
Reach out & Touch by Maxine Tynes
Baby girl, baby boy behind me on the bus
Reach out
And touch the curly electric of my hair
Your fingers dipped in the
Brown skin magic of my neck
To see if it comes off
Your mama
Slapping hands away
Hush-up of your questions
And wondering outloud why it doesn’t come off
I turn and smile for you
But you’re already lost
In the silence and the fear that motherlove wraps you in
I should have sat beside you
Snugged my big warm self up close
Held you while your mama juggled parcels
Then you would know it’s OK
Musicians Reflect Canadian Identity
The identity of a nation and its culture is often expressed
through the music and lyrical content that its people
produce. There are many proud Canadian musicians.
Some of these artists have strong Canadian content
within their songs that express Canadian identity. Other
musicians have music that is more generic.
Genre refers to the “type” of music. There are many
genres of music. How many more can you name?
Rock
Rap
Country
Pop
Classical
Jazz
R&B
Canadian Musicians
Glenn Gould
Oscar Peterson
Lenny Breau
The CRTC
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It stands for the Canadian Radio-Television
Communications Commission
Over the years, many Canadian singer/songwriters felt
they had to leave Canada to be successful.
As early as 1929, the Canadian government felt that
Canadian radio stations should contain Canadian content.
In 1958, the federal government passed the Broadcasting
Act-which was meant to ensure that Canadian radio was
“basically Canadian in content and character”.
In 1968, this Act was expanded to include television and
cable TV.
The CRTC
► Basically,
the CRTC is designed to protect
and promote Canadian culture, and to
ensure that Canadians are offered
information and entertainment from a
Canadian point of view.
► This means that radio and television
stations have to devote a specific amount of
time each day to Canadian performers.
Song Selections
Wheat Kings Lyrics
Artist: The Tragically Hip
Album: Fully Completely
sundown in the paris of the prairies wheat kings have all
their treasures buried and all you hear are the rusty
breezes pushing
around the weather vane jesus
in his zippo lighter, he sees the killer's face maybe it's
someone standing in a killer's place twenty years for
nothing, well that's
nothing new, besides, no one's interested in something
you didn't do wheat kings and pretty things, let's just see
what the
morning brings
there's a dream where the high school is dead and stark
tt's a museum and we're all locked up in it after dark
where the walls
are lined all yellow, grey and sinister hung with pictures of
our parents' prime ministers wheat kings and pretty things,
wait and
see what tomorrow brings
late-breaking story on the cbc, a nation whispers, "we
always knew that he'd go free" yhey add, "you can't be
fond of living in
the past, cause if you are then there's no way that you're
gonna last" wheat kings and pretty things let's just see
what tomorrow
brings wheat kings and pretty things, that's what tomorrow
brings
David Milgaard
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy.
The Wreck of Edmund
Fitzgerald
With a load of iron ore - 26,000 tons more
Than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty
That good ship and true was a bone to be chewed
When the gales of November came early
By Gordon Lightfoot
The ship was the pride of the American side
Coming back from some mill in Wisconson
As the big freighters go it was bigger than most
With a crew and the Captain well seasoned.
The Captain wired in he had water coming in
And the good ship and crew was in peril
And later that night when his lights went out of sight
Came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
Concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
When they left fully loaded for Cleveland
And later that night when the ships bell rang
Could it be the North Wind they'd been feeling.
Does anyone know where the love of God goes
When the words turn the minutes to hours
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
If they'd fifteen more miles behind her.
The wind in the wires made a tattletale sound
And a wave broke over the railing
And every man knew, as the Captain did, too,
T'was the witch of November come stealing.
They might have split up or they might have capsized
They may have broke deep and took water
And all that remains is the faces and the names
Of the wives and the sons and the daughters.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
When the gales of November came slashing
When afternoon came it was freezing rain
In the face of a hurricane West Wind
Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the ruins of her ice water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams,
The islands and bays are for sportsmen.
When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya.
And farther below Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered.
In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed
In the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral
The church bell chimed, 'til it rang 29 times
For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee
Superior, they say, never gives up her dead
When the gales of November come early.
SS Edmund
Fitzgerald
► Performing
Artists reflect Canadian Identity
While music tends to dominate, Canadians
use many other forms of artistic expression
to talk about themselves and their country.
Canada is full of actors, both stage and
screen, dancers, comedians, and spoken
word performers.
► Canada
has produced some of the best
comedic actors of the 80’s and 90’s,
including :
► However,
many Canadian actors move to
the United States to produce and star in
movies.
► Luckily
there is a growing Canadian film
industry here at home producing some
excellent films.
► Canada
is also home to many comedians,
both stand up and sketch.
► Second
City Toronto was one of the most
popular improv. / sketch troupes of its time.
► CODCO
and Kids in the Hall were long
running sketch shows on CBC.
► Picnicface
Halifax.
is a new comedy troupe based in
► Popular
► Gerry
Dee
► Russell
► Mary
► Rick
stand up comedians include
Peters
Walsh
Mercer
► Although
there are many others, both
present and past.
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Dan Ackroyd
Jon Wing
Bowser and Blue
Sean Cullen
Tom Green
Howie Mandel
Ron James
► Other
types of performing arts include:
 Live theatre
 Dance
►Modern
►Ballet
►Jazz
There are also many Canadians who work in design
and directing who are not front and centre, but who
have the power to imbue Canadian Identity into their
work.
► Athletes
Reflect Canadian Identity
Canada is known worldwide for its hockey
players. Canada is home to some of the
greatest hockey players ever and we
continue to export players all over the
world.
Besides hockey, Canada is known in other
sports as well.
► Canada
has become a growing force in
baseball as well.
► And
basketball.
► At
one point, Canada had the world’s fastest
man.
► Canadians
have done particularly well at
both the Summer and Winter Olympics.
► There
are many Canadians playing and
coaching in many sports all around the
world.
► The
Canadian work ethic has travelled the
globe and has an influence worldwide.