Updating Canadian Identity

The Mark Radio ep.20: Does Canada remain a cultural mosaic, or is multiculturalism an outdated idea?

What does it mean to be Canadian? Is it the beer-drinking crowd, singing songs around a Muskoka campfire? The new immigrant studying for a citizenship test? Fishers emptying their nets, and farmers tending their fields? An Inuit building an inukshuk in Nunavut? Maple syrup? Hockey? Poutine? Or is the Canadian experience the amalgamation of all of these ideas, each playing their own part in the cultural mosaic?

Since Trudeau popularized the idea of the mosaic nearly 40 years ago, Canadians have proudly touted their diversity. Still, others argue that Canada is more than the sum of its parts and that the mosaic must be framed by overarching Canadian values.

So as we celebrate our country's 143rd birthday, The Mark Radio asks four experts what it means to be Canadian in 2010 and beyond.

On the show this week:

Shauna Sylvester, director of Canada's World, on what she learned about Canadian identity while taking the nation's ideological pulse.

Rudyard Griffiths, author of Who We Are: A Citizen's Manifesto, on why we need to move past multiculturalism to find a real Canadian identity.

Canadian ex-pat David Mader on why the best way to understand Canada is to leave it.

And finally, Philosophy professor John Russon on how where we're from affects who we are.

(Run-time: 29 minutes.)

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