Interesting Article On Origins...
...of Canadian values and our never ending central versus western culture wars.
I'd never thought of it this way, but I guess there is a reason why folks down in Southwestern Ontario think the way they do and why we Westerners are so different. Never the twain shall meet?
I'd never thought of it this way, but I guess there is a reason why folks down in Southwestern Ontario think the way they do and why we Westerners are so different. Never the twain shall meet?
"Writing in 1972, Margaret Atwood asserted that whether it was early explorers, the French vis-à-vis the English, or English Canada in the 20th century in relation to the United States, “the central symbol of Canada is undoubtedly survival.”RTWT
Atwood’s interpretation of her Canada came from the Loyalist experience of what is now southern Ontario (though Montreal and parts of Atlantic Canada can also be included). That culture was born in fear after the American Revolutionary war of 1776 that forced many Loyalists north; it was added to by the War of 1812. The result was a central Canadian narrative, one literary critic Northrop Frye labelled as the “garrison culture,” where one is constantly on the defensive and expects an attack.
The survival narrative makes sense in central Canada. It doesn’t apply in the West..."
Labels: Canada, Canuckistanis, history
posted by Louise at 11:02 am
4 Comments:
See also Susannah Moodie and Anna Brownell Jameson for the chord struck in Margaret Atwood.
That anti-Americanism was pretty mainstream here in Saskatchewan, the birthplace of North American socialism. But I think (hope) we've turned the corner. The Dippers are absolutely beside themselves in full-throated, unrestrained hysteria. The writing is on the Wall. Pun intended.
Actually, I was referring to the sense of dread and foreboding that seemed to follow upon homesteading in the forests of Upper Canada...as opposed to the attitude awakened by settlers in the prairies.
Well, I think there was plenty of dread and foreboding amongst the early settlers on the prairies. Most of them didn't make it. Their crops failed year after year due to the short, cold growing season and all they had at their disposal was varieties of grain developed for warmer climes. The famous Bell Barn (just outside my hometown, btw) was built so it could accommodate settler families and it has small windows all around it (it is round, too) so that the settlers could use it as a fort during the "troubles" with Riel and his people. In fact, I had a great uncle and a grandfather who drove a supply wagon from Prince Albert to Batoche to bring supplies the red coats. There were wars between the Yanks and the Indians going on just to the south. In fact, as you probably know, the railroad was built across the southern Canadian prairie to keep the Yanks at bay. All told, it was a pretty scary, hardscrabble era. So I don't think the Upper Canada settlers had a monopoly on fear.
I remember listening to a lecture once (can't remember the name of the guy) the thesis of which that the ideology of the block settlements, which were primarily Eastern Europeans, was very different than the English (my folks), in that they, being of peasant stock, were far more inclined to expect the state to take care of things for themselves than the English were, and it was from these ethnic settlements that the CCF and later the NDP drew their strength. He said the evidence of that shows up in the voting patterns across the province. It was very interesting.
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