National Identity in Multilingual Countries: Narratives of Canadianness

Abstract

Nation membership is the most referred to form of social grouping. Nationalism and primary allegiance to one’s national group has been and remains seen as highly influential in social sciences, politics and overall mainstream discourse. Yet, nationalist thought and sense of belonging to a greater imagined community such as a nation requires an idea of cultural sameness. In a country such as Canada, with its large and diverse–multicultural and multilingual–population, what form (if any) does this national identity take? The main question this exploratory study aims to answer is how do young Canadians from different linguistic backgrounds negotiate their Canadian identity? This study uses mixed qualitative methods to explore the complex narratives of young Canadians in Quebec and Ontario; semi-structured interviews supplemented by online surveys. Collected narratives illustrate the complex and situated nature of identity work, offering diverse, fluid and at times contradictory accounts of Canadianness. Quebecois participants showcased highly contrasted identity stances ranging from complete rejection of Canadianness to pride and strong embracing of Canadian values. On the Ontarian side, while most respondents share this feeling of Canadian pride, a perceptible number of young Canadians shared a sense of disconnect with the imagined Canadian community and voiced cynicism over Canadian values and beliefs. Ultimately, the main finding of this study is a general difficulty in expressing Canadian sameness and unity. What these results imply is that in the Canadian context, the relevance of nationalism and thus national group as a primary social influence is debated and debatable. This study open doors to further research in the field of national identity in multicultural countries.