Why does Canada suck at telling its own stories

[Furniture]

I think there are two factors not explicitly expressed here that are pretty significant.

1. The creative arts in Canada are pretty much entirely captured by the downtown Toronto/Vancouver/Montreal metropolitan mindset. There is no real room for things outside of it, unless those things mock the "others" of Canada. Corner Gas and Letterkenny are great examples, good shows but the entire premise is "look at these dumb rural folk, and their dumb problems". Military stories fall outside of what the creative care about, so they will get zero attention.

2. Canadians generally assume that anything made in Canada is crap, so have zero desire to invest in made in Canada stories about Canadians.

Given how urbanized Canada now is, I dont think there is much of a plausible fix for issue one. Issue two could be fixed by Canadians paying to see Canadian stories, but most will now do it via YouTube, so there is little money to be made, and little influence outside the already interested people.

 

[FSTO]

2. Canadians generally assume that anything made in Canada is crap, so have zero desire to invest in made in Canada stories about Canadians.

Example: The irrational hatred some Canadians have towards the Canadian Football League.

 

[FSTO]

Another Aussie movie, from 2024.

 

[Cdn_Merchant_Navy Guy]

At least in Greyhound they Yanks paid a passing homage to our efforts in BoA.

View attachment 100805

Canadian Naval Memorial Trust

I'll take watching "The Cruel Sea" over Greyhound any day of the week.

 

[Furniture]

Example: The irrational hatred some Canadians have towards the Canadian Football League.

That is a perfect example. Canadian university sports are another great example of Canadians prefering the big money flash of American entertainment over Canadian entertainment.

 

[daftandbarmy]

I'll take watching "The Cruel Sea" over Greyhound any day of the week.

"Snorkers! Good oh!"

 

[Cdn_Merchant_Navy Guy]

Growing up in the ‘80’s, the teaching of WW1 and WW2 could be summed as “The Conscription Crisis” and the injustice of women factory workers being replaced by returning men. And as a bonus, there were battles at places called Vimy and Dieppe.

Why does Canada suck at telling its own stories? Teaching history is as much about national "myth" as facts.
What’s the "myth" that being advocated? We’re now as far away from the start of WW2 as I was as child from the end of the Boer war. In my childhood, that conflict was taught as a positively villainous imperial conquest.

Australian historical myth movies have been built around dastardly English causing the deaths of noble Australians. "Breaker Morant", "Gallipoli", "The Light Horsemen". It’s not history, but’s fun for their identity.

In 2026, I would guess that half the Canadian population, if asked, would likely say that all Canadian history prior to 1980 was a dark time of intolerance. How do we teach WW2 when at not insignificant percentage of the population likely looks at the conflict through the lens of the Bengal famine?

The BBC, ITC, Channel 5 have done masterful works on contemporary British military subjects. What's stopping Global, CTV, maybe the CBC from doing the same?

1989 BBC – How to Make a Royal Marines Officer
2007 ITV1 – Guarding the Queen
2011 Sky History - How to Command a Nuclear Submarine
2022 Channel 6 – The Queen’s Guards: A Year in Service.

If you get the public aware of service, they may want to go back and look at the historical contexts of the CAF and maybe create a market for historical shows, entertainment, etc.

 

[daftandbarmy]

The BBC, ITC, Channel 5 have done masterful works on contemporary British military subjects. What's stopping Global, CTV, maybe the CBC from doing the same?

1989 BBC – How to Make a Royal Marines Officer
2007 ITV1 – Guarding the Queen
2011 Sky History - How to Command a Nuclear Submarine
2022 Channel 6 – The Queen’s Guards: A Year in Service.

If you get the public aware of service, they may want to go back and look at the historical contexts of the CAF and maybe create a market for historical shows, entertainment, etc.

And these programs, of course, can be roughly described as propaganda, feeding the 'ruling classes' the stories they want to hear while the younger people continue to avoid joining the military as if it was the plague

 

[Cdn_Merchant_Navy Guy]

And these programs, of course, can be roughly described as propaganda, feeding the 'ruling classes' the stories they want to hear while the younger people continue to avoid joining the military as if it was the plague

Good points.
And to correct my points - I see (thank you google AI !) that City TV did a show called Fallen Heroes, that there was a Global network documentary called "War Story", a CTV show "Combat School" (2009), a CBC show "Jetstream" (2008). I've not lived in Canada for a period of time, so were those shows of interest to the military community? Were they any good?

 

[FSTO]

And these programs, of course, can be roughly described as propaganda, feeding the 'ruling classes' the stories they want to hear while the younger people continue to avoid joining the military as if it was the plague

A good depression and dust bowl will cure the youngsters of those ideas pretty quick!!

 

[lenaitch]

Growing up in the ‘80’s, the teaching of WW1 and WW2 could be summed as “The Conscription Crisis” and the injustice of women factory workers being replaced by returning men. And as a bonus, there were battles at places called Vimy and Dieppe.

Why does Canada suck at telling its own stories? Teaching history is as much about national "myth" as facts.
What’s the "myth" that being advocated? We’re now as far away from the start of WW2 as I was as child from the end of the Boer war. In my childhood, that conflict was taught as a positively villainous imperial conquest.

Australian historical myth movies have been built around dastardly English causing the deaths of noble Australians. "Breaker Morant", "Gallipoli", "The Light Horsemen". It’s not history, but’s fun for their identity.

In 2026, I would guess that half the Canadian population, if asked, would likely say that all Canadian history prior to 1980 was a dark time of intolerance. How do we teach WW2 when at not insignificant percentage of the population likely looks at the conflict through the lens of the Bengal famine?

The BBC, ITC, Channel 5 have done masterful works on contemporary British military subjects. What's stopping Global, CTV, maybe the CBC from doing the same?

1989 BBC – How to Make a Royal Marines Officer
2007 ITV1 – Guarding the Queen
2011 Sky History - How to Command a Nuclear Submarine
2022 Channel 6 – The Queen’s Guards: A Year in Service.

If you get the public aware of service, they may want to go back and look at the historical contexts of the CAF and maybe create a market for historical shows, entertainment, etc.

You make a decent point about a country telling its myths. In terms of military, it seems our myth is we are, and apparently to some, always were peacekeepers. The military in the US looms large in their psych and their entertainment industry is so large that they get to tell their myth so well and so many times that it simply becomes their true history to many Americans. I understand that if you make a movie about WWII it will focus on your soldiers, but very few make even a passing reference to the other allies. If they do, it is either the British were stoggy, rule-bound and lacked aggression, or a snide aside about Montgomery.

The BBC produce quality stuff on many fronts. Not knowing their budget, having over twice the population and having to maintain a network a fraction of the size of the CBC probably has a lot to do with it. What is stopping the CBC from doing similar is corporate direction and money. The BBC doesn't have to allocate large parts of its budget to Inuit and Aboriginal issues. What's stopping Global and CTV from producing something is money. They know the market can't support the money it would cost to produce a high quality product that will likely have no international sales.

Good points.
And to correct my points - I see (thank you google AI !) that City TV did a show called Fallen Heroes, that there was a Global network documentary called "War Story", a CTV show "Combat School" (2009), a CBC show "Jetstream" (2008). I've not lived in Canada for a period of time, so were those shows of interest to the military community? Were they any good?

I remember Jetstream and thought it was pretty decent. Our daughter gave us a CD set covering a cruise on a USN carrier. It was pretty good. One storyline followed a young crew member who just wasn't fitting in and discharged before the end of the cruise. I'm not sure the RCN would allow that level of unfiltered access. Besides, again, who would watch it? Organizations like PBS and National Geographic have massive corporate donors.

 

[mariomike]

The military in the US looms large in their psych and their entertainment industry is so large that they get to tell their myth so well and so many times that it simply becomes their true history to many Americans.

Possibly worth mentioning , at this point of the discussion , American men were drafted until 1973 .

The military may , or may not, be better remembered there, for better or worse.

 

[foresterab]

FTFY

My full apologies to the members of the Royal Canadian Navy. HMCS is the proper abbreviation.

Can't believe I messed that up.

 

[Furniture]

My full apologies to the members of the Royal Canadian Navy. HMCS is the proper abbreviation.

Can't believe I messed that up.

That deserves a flogging through the fleet... but we'll let it slide this time.