What's in a Name? Nationalist Movements and Public Discourse

A notable theme of public discourse in Canada is the naming of nations. Denominating nations involves much more than the ethnic labeling familiar in polyethnic states like the United States, where Italian-Americans, Asian-Americans, and so on seek political recognition. ¹ As in other multinational states, much of Canadian politics in the past three decades has involved competing assertions of nationhood, some of which reject the very label “Canadian.”