ABSTRACT
State, business, and elite interventions in the symbolic representation of Canada have been seen as necessary for the survival of the nation-state and the building of national identity. Attempts to define and construct Canadian identity have changed in tandem with the project of managing the diverse populations of the country. This chapter explores the cultural politics of the authoritative ‘narratives of nationhood’ that were officially sanctioned by government institutions in 1992. These stories of the nation, designed to promote national identity, I shall call pluralist ‘pedagogies of patriotism’. They highlight Canada’s pluralism within a linear narrative of Canada’s past, present and future, and they do so with the goal of building national identity. Whitelaw argues that ‘the seeking out of identity-whether it is defined as singular or plural-continues to underscore the majority of conceptions of Canadian culture in the public sphere (1997:22).
