Multiculturalism or Melting Pot Discussion- Merged

[The Bread Guy]

I would suspect that many of those 24% have never left the big cities to see the rest of the country.

:nod:  Even within regions, I can tell you people from northern Ontario see/do some things VERY differently from folks from southern Ontario.  I hear bits of Quebec can also be pretty "regional," too.

If there's one common Canadian cultural identity, it's trying to prove we're not American.

Double  :nod:

If there was no unified Canadian culture... you kind of have to wonder why every time Canadians are portrayed on foreign shows, movies etc they always show us the same way.

And to some in the Netherlands ....

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

If there was no unified Canadian culture... you kind of have to wonder why every time Canadians are portrayed on foreign shows, movies etc they always show us the same way. Maybe to some Canadians, our culture is so much a part of how we go about aboot our everyday lives and how we comport ourselves that it has in fact become hard for us to see it on our own from an insiders perspective. Just food for thought.

Also, after a number of years working in the mines north of Fort McMurray, I will agree wholeheartedly with Sig Op's claim that Newfoundlanders have a very very distinct.. culture...  to put it politely   

Look at the underlined part: I am willing to bet that is the case for every nation in the world. When you are IN the culture, you can hardly see it and realize its existence. It is outsiders that can see it and describe it because they have a comparison base. For that reason it is difficult to define one's own culture and then proceed to take actions to "protect" it, especially since culture is a constantly evolving matter.

Same is true of large corporation. How many times have we heard of "corporate culture" of company  so and so, etc. In practice, if you ask the people inside an organization to tell you what their culture is, you get blank stares and insipid answers, yet outsiders regularly are able to tell you  "company XYZ has a great corporate culture and here is what they have: …"

In my view, the only way to "protect" that culture is to support mechanisms that let us expose us all to one another's regional sub-culture and learn about each other plus expose us all to some pan-Canadian concepts (like Coach's corner ). The rest follows suit. I personally can state that my service in the Naval reserve, which exposed me to Canadians from coast to coast  and let me spend long periods in both BC and the Maritimes has gone a long way in shaping the Canadian citizen I identify myself as today and at breaking down the provincial outlook I had as a youth. 

 

[Kat Stevens]

If there was no unified Canadian culture... you kind of have to wonder why every time Canadians are portrayed on foreign shows, movies etc they always show us the same way. Maybe to some Canadians, our culture is so much a part of how we go about aboot our everyday lives and how we comport ourselves that it has in fact become hard for us to see it on our own from an insiders perspective. Just food for thought.

Also, after a number of years working in the mines north of Fort McMurray, I will agree wholeheartedly with Sig Op's claim that Newfoundlanders have a very very distinct.. culture...  to put it politely   

Every time I've seen a "Canadian" character portrayed on American television, they've spoken more like someone from Fargo or Duluth than someone from Edmonton or Edmundston.  Where they get that "oot and aboot" thing from is a mystery to me, I've never heard that in Canada.

 

[Kirkhill]

Look at the underlined part: I am willing to bet that is the case for every nation in the world. When you are IN the culture, you can hardly see it and realize its existence. It is outsiders that can see it and describe it because they have a comparison base. For that reason it is difficult to define one's own culture and then proceed to take actions to "protect" it, especially since culture is a constantly evolving matter.
...

Fact that.

Coming to Canada with a Scottish accent provoked comment.  Not one Canadian recognized that they had an accent and were often quite upset at the thought.  I always found this particularly strange coming from a place where everybody took a perverse pleasure in not being understood because of our local accents and a similar pleasure in trying to identify someone in their first two syllables.

Canadians do have accents (multiple). Some are regional but there is also an urban-rural split that results in a Torontonian sounding different than a hoser from the Kawarthas but that hoser sounding very similar to a dirt farmer from Saskatchewan

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Torontonians are their own special breed. They don't do anything like anyone else 8)

 

[OldSolduer]

I'd like to say nasty things about othe parts of The world but I'd have to say "I'm sorry" too much.

 

[a_majoor]

In one of Samuel Huntington's last books Who Are We, Huntington outlines the immense efforts that the Americans collectively took from @ the 1880's to @1920 to create and immerse immigrants into a distinctly "American" culture.

Governments, business and civic organizations (churches, service clubs etc.) worked tirelessly to create patriotic songs, celebrations, holidays, novels (Horatio Alger novels) and other cultural trappings (the American perchant for flying National Flags virtually everywhere seemingly dates to this time). At the same time, these groups also worked very hard to integrate these new Americans with schooling (english language training for adults, so they could become factory workers, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance each morning in primary schools etc.). Even the "American Creed" dates to near the end of this period:

I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon these principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.

So American culture is just as "created" as many others, and the "Melting Pot" requires the hard work and attention of an entire "Kitchen staff" in order to assimilate the immigrant population and absorb gently them into the body politic.

 

[cryco]

Just watch Fugget about it, to see what Canadian culture is. Right?  (I find the show pretty funny)

 

[Kat Stevens]

The US version of culture, the melting pot, is far superior to our multiculturalism.  Melting pots accept and adopt the more desirable traits of its contributors and rejects the rest, whereas a multiculture system promotes individual enclaves.  The melting pot creates Americans, Trudeau created hyphens.

 

[mariomike]

I would suspect that many of those 24% have never left the big cities to see the rest of the country. 

You may be right. One third of Canada's population live within a 100-mile radius of Toronto. I suspect many vacation up north in summer and down south in winter, rather than east or west.

 

[Old Sweat]

You may be right. One third of Canada's population live within a 100-mile radius of Toronto. I suspect many vacation up north in summer and down south in winter, rather than east or west.

Not even the Maple Leafs can drive them to want to see the rest of the country.

 

[mariomike]

Not even the Maple Leafs can drive them to want to see the rest of the country.

;D

And then there's this:

( Mayor ) Tory wants a second Toronto NHL team
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/02/26/tory-wants-a-second-toronto-nhl-team

 

[dimsum]

You may be right. One third of Canada's population live within a 100-mile radius of Toronto. I suspect many vacation up north in summer and down south in winter, rather than east or west.

Getting off-topic, but it has been explained to me that North American regional culture is split north-south rather than east-west.  ie. Someone from Vancouver will have more in common with someone from Seattle and San Francisco than someone from Halifax.

 

[Old Sweat]

Getting off-topic, but it has been explained to me that North American regional culture is split north-south rather than east-west.  ie. Someone from Vancouver will have more in common with someone from Seattle and San Francisco than someone from Halifax.

That may be true to a certain extent, at least until the Mason-Dixon lines is reached in the East and somewhere around the 35th parallel west of the Mississippi, at least east of the Colorado River..

 

[mariomike]

Getting off-topic, but it has been explained to me that North American regional culture is split north-south rather than east-west.  ie. Someone from Vancouver will have more in common with someone from Seattle and San Francisco than someone from Halifax.

They explained it basically the same way to us during training. That one-half of the population of the United States is within a one-day drive of Toronto.

 

[Robert0288]

;D

And then there's this:

( Mayor ) Tory wants a second Toronto NHL team
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/02/26/tory-wants-a-second-toronto-nhl-team

On the bright side, now Toronto can say they will never be last place in the league.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Canada is somewhat large geographically.  It has several unique cultures.

 

[a_majoor]

Several books work to explain cultural geography in North America.

Some older ones are The Nine Nations of North America

Warpaths

and more recently An Empire Wilderness{/color]

You may have your own (and I'm interested to see other works on this topic).

 

[Pieman]

I got to work closely with some American troops overseas. I recall they started graphing the number of times I said 'Eh?' in a conversations. Other than that there was little difference between us. We worked really well together, no issues. I found them nothing like the American stereotypes I heard growing up. I now work with American civilians and find the same thing.

I've also worked with Europeans, and their cultural differences are more blatant (not just language issues) and you have to be mindful of it. It can get ugly fast...especially with Germans, ha.

I've come to really dislike the way Canadians will point out how they are different from Americans as a way of identifying themselves. Little of it is actually true, and I've come to find it an embarrassing way to portray ourselves. When Americans ask me what Canadians are like I just tell them there is very little difference. Except Canada seems to think it can do everything their big brother USA can do, despite our much smaller population. I'm finding it's one of our major short comings as a country.

 

[chrisf]

I got to work closely with some American troops overseas. I recall they started graphing the number of times I said 'Eh?' in a conversations. Other than that there was little difference between us. We worked really well together, no issues. I found them nothing like the American stereotypes I heard growing up. I now work with American civilians and find the same thing.

I'm not sure what you'd call an American "stereotype" but if you ever find yourself in the southern United States, I assure you, the locals will do their best to meet or exceed all of your expectations of 'murica.