Being Canadian: The Fine Balance of Citizenship and Identity | SFU | Feb 14 2007

SFU | February 14, 2008

I had the opportunity to participate in a dialogue at SFU. It began with a number of creatively stimulating exercises with performance artist and dialogue practitioner Nadia Chaney. Following that, I gave a short presentation about cultural identity and the complexity of Canadian identity. My point being it has been difficult for us to define Canadian identity because we are trying to use terms that don't carry meaning in the Canadian experience. The discussion was lively and engaged. Of course, it wasn't until I left that I thought of the following questions:

What are the dimensions or planes of Canadian identity? Perhaps to help the dialogue we need to separate the different aspects of Canadian identity--legally, socially, culturally, politically and geographically--and discuss them separately. How do these different aspects intersect and when do we get them confused? What does it mean to be a "practicing Canadian"? Is that what we mean by citizenship?

Thank you to Tony Penikett and his students for the opportunity to participate.

Description of the program

Being Canadian is more than holding a valid passport, sewing our country’s flag
on a backpack, or believing in peacekeeping. What does citizenship mean in a
country like ours, with its immense cultural, social, geographic, and economic
diversity? This course will actively explore the:

• nature of identity and the tensions surrounding diverse loyalties that arise under the multicultural Canadian mosaic;
• constitutional and policy challenges posed in defining who is a legal citizen;
• responsibilities of citizenship and the nature of democratic engagement; and
• appropriate political, economic, and cultural roles for Canada internationally.

We will use film, music, and writing to probe how and why issues associated with citizenship policy, cultural identity, and democratic action form, grow, change and disperse, and explore who we are as Canadians and what we might become as
the collective Canada.

Dialogue Objectives

• Communicating the spirit of concentrated conversation among equals and promoting the types of deep listening that is the essence of dialogue
• Encouraging interdisciplinary public assembly and dialogue that provides a unique environment for learning and an unusual resource to stimulate social progress.
• Creating an environment that encourages mutual understanding between diverse perspectives bridging science with the social sciences and humanities, students and academics with community leaders.

Schema Magazine

Being Canadian: The Fine Balance of Citizenship and Identity | SFU | Feb 14 2007

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