The 32- hour documentary series <i>Canada: A Peoples History</i> was aired in 2000-2001 and has been widely disseminated: it is now available as video and DVD sets and has been aired in at least nine languages. In this thesis I examine the packaging of the series, that is, the images and promotional blurbs on the boxed DVD set and the introductory and concluding segments of the series, and I intensively examine Episode 10 Taking the West (1873-1896). Through Critical Discourse Analysis, I closely examine the language and other semiotic material used in <i>Canada: A Peoples History</i> to analyse power relationships in the series. As well as paying attention to the overall structure of the verbal and visual text, I am attentive to the way in which grammar and words are used, and the representation that is portrayed through these elements. In this thesis, I find that while the series does include women and Aboriginal people, <i>Canada: A Peoples History</i>s use of language and images portrays a Canadian identity that privileges Whiteness and masculinity and that presents current power imbalances in society as natural and inevitable. By devaluing women and Aboriginal people in its representation, <i>Canada: A Peoples History</i> lends legitimacy to the systemic discrimination against women and Aboriginal people in Canadian society. I find that the series presents past events as inevitable, over which people had no control or influence, and I argue that this presentation encourages people to accept the current situation, rather than challenging it and seeking alternatives.

The 32- hour documentary series <i>Canada: A Peoples History</i> was aired in 2000-2001 and has been widely disseminated: it is now available as video and DVD sets and has been aired in at least nine languages. In this thesis I examine the packaging of the series, that is, the images and promotional blurbs on the boxed DVD set and the introductory and concluding segments of the series, and I intensively examine Episode 10 Taking the West (1873-1896). Through Critical Discourse Analysis, I closely examine the language and other semiotic material used in <i>Canada: A Peoples History</i> to analyse power relationships in the series. As well as paying attention to the overall structure of the verbal and visual text, I am attentive to the way in which grammar and words are used, and the representation that is portrayed through these elements. In this thesis, I find that while the series does include women and Aboriginal people, <i>Canada: A Peoples History</i>s use of language and images portrays a Canadian identity that privileges Whiteness and masculinity and that presents current power imbalances in society as natural and inevitable. By devaluing women and Aboriginal people in its representation, <i>Canada: A Peoples History</i> lends legitimacy to the systemic discrimination against women and Aboriginal people in Canadian society. I find that the series presents past events as inevitable, over which people had no control or influence, and I argue that this presentation encourages people to accept the current situation, rather than challenging it and seeking alternatives.

Citizenship acquisition is often interpreted as indicating an immigrants successful integration into their new society. The literature includes a variety of behavioural, but not psychological, indicators of integration in the prediction of citizenship acquisition. Using an intergroup relations perspective, this study examined Asian immigrants intentions to become Canadian citizens. <p>Social identity theory was used to conceptualize the formation of a Canadian identity as an indicator of psychological integration into Canada. It was hypothesized that the stronger immigrants identify with Canada, the more likely they will want to acquire Canadian citizenship. Perceived discrimination and cultural incompatibility, as acculturative barriers to the formation of a Canadian identity, were hypothesized to relate negatively to intentions to acquire Canadian citizenship. The relationship between immigrants cultural identity and citizenship acquisition intentions was also explored, as was the importance of psychological predictors in relation to behavioural predictors of citizenship acquisition intentions. <p>One hundred and fourteen immigrants to Canada from Asia completed an Internet questionnaire about their experiences in Canada, and their intentions to become Canadian citizens. The results showed a positive relationship (r = .55) between respondents strength of Canadian identification and their intentions to apply for Canadian citizenship, as well as an unexpected positive relationship (r = .15) between their perceptions of discrimination against immigrants in the Canadian labour market and their citizenship acquisition intentions. Cultural identity and perceptions of cultural incompatibility were unrelated to their citizenship acquisition intentions.<p>A hierarchical multiple regression showed that the combination of English ability, length of time lived in Canada, participation in Canadian society, Canadian Identification, and Perceptions of discrimination against immigrants in the labour market accounted for 36.5% of the variance in citizenship acquisition intentions. Only Canadian identification and perceptions of discrimination contributed uniquely to the variance. It was concluded that Canadian identity is importantly related to immigrants citizenship acquisition intentions, and that psychological acculturation is relevant to the study of citizenship acquisition. These novel findings are important and expand the citizenship acquisition literature as well as contribute to the further development of social identity theory.

Citizenship acquisition is often interpreted as indicating an immigrants successful integration into their new society. The literature includes a variety of behavioural, but not psychological, indicators of integration in the prediction of citizenship acquisition. Using an intergroup relations perspective, this study examined Asian immigrants intentions to become Canadian citizens. <p>Social identity theory was used to conceptualize the formation of a Canadian identity as an indicator of psychological integration into Canada. It was hypothesized that the stronger immigrants identify with Canada, the more likely they will want to acquire Canadian citizenship. Perceived discrimination and cultural incompatibility, as acculturative barriers to the formation of a Canadian identity, were hypothesized to relate negatively to intentions to acquire Canadian citizenship. The relationship between immigrants cultural identity and citizenship acquisition intentions was also explored, as was the importance of psychological predictors in relation to behavioural predictors of citizenship acquisition intentions. <p>One hundred and fourteen immigrants to Canada from Asia completed an Internet questionnaire about their experiences in Canada, and their intentions to become Canadian citizens. The results showed a positive relationship (r = .55) between respondents strength of Canadian identification and their intentions to apply for Canadian citizenship, as well as an unexpected positive relationship (r = .15) between their perceptions of discrimination against immigrants in the Canadian labour market and their citizenship acquisition intentions. Cultural identity and perceptions of cultural incompatibility were unrelated to their citizenship acquisition intentions.<p>A hierarchical multiple regression showed that the combination of English ability, length of time lived in Canada, participation in Canadian society, Canadian Identification, and Perceptions of discrimination against immigrants in the labour market accounted for 36.5% of the variance in citizenship acquisition intentions. Only Canadian identification and perceptions of discrimination contributed uniquely to the variance. It was concluded that Canadian identity is importantly related to immigrants citizenship acquisition intentions, and that psychological acculturation is relevant to the study of citizenship acquisition. These novel findings are important and expand the citizenship acquisition literature as well as contribute to the further development of social identity theory.

This thesis begins by examining the factors that have resulted in the dependent nature of Canada's political and economic structure, and proceeds to examine how this has contributed to the cultural amorphousness of English Canadian identity. The hegemonic authority of American and trans-national interests, established and maintained in the cultural sphere through the extensive monopoly of the distribution of cultural and media products, perpetuates the amorphousness of English Canadian culture through the appropriation of Canadian space by the international image industry. Such categorization of Canadian space reflects and perpetuates the imaginary representation of Canada within the dominant ideology as an indistinct and amorphous entity, and comes to usurp the materiality that constructs the lived identities of English Canadians.

The history of the Great War has been dominated by accounts that view the War as an international conflict between nations and soldiers that contributed to the consolidation of Canadian cultural and political independence and identity. In many cases, the War has assumed a foundational—even mythic—status as integral to the building of a mature state and people. Since the 1970s, however, there has been an efflorescence of Canadian plays that have problematized traditional representations of the War. Many of these plays are set on the home front and explore the ways in which the War, in the form of disease, disaster, and intra-communal in-fighting and suspicion, invaded Canadian home space. What they suggest is that the War was not simply launched against an external enemy but that the War invaded Canadian communities and households. This dissertation examines five of these plays: Kevin Kerr’s Unity (1918), Guy Vanderhaeghe’s Dancock’s Dance, Trina Davies’ Shatter, Jean Provencher and Gilles Lachance’s Québec, Printemps 1918, and Wendy Lill’s The Fighting Days, all of which were written and published after 1970. Ultimately, it demonstrates that these plays, by relocating the War to Canadian terrain, undertake an important and radical critique; they suggest that the understanding of the War should not be restricted to overseas conflicts or Canadian national self-definition but that it should be expanded to encompass a diversity of people and experiences in domestic and international settings. At the same time, this thesis recognizes these plays as part of an emergent, bourgeoning Canadian dramatic genre, one which attests to Canadians’ continued preoccupation with the War past.

Holocaust monuments are often catalysts in the ‘nationalization’ of the Holocaust – the process by which Holocaust memory is shaped by its national milieu. Between 2009 and 2011, the Parliament of Canada debated a bill which set out the guidelines for the establishment of a National Holocaust Monument (NHM), which ultimately became a federal Act of Parliament in early 2011. I examine the discourse generated by this bill to understand how the memory of the Holocaust is being integrated into the Canadian identity, and argue that the debate surrounding the NHM has been instrumental in the ‘Canadianisation’ of the Holocaust. I summarise my findings by placing them into dialogue with other national memories of the Holocaust, and identify three distinct features of Holocaust memory in Canada: a centrifugal trajectory originating in the Jewish community, a particular-universal tension rooted in multiculturalism, and a multifaceted memory comprising several conflicting – though not competing – narratives. Monuments de l’Holocauste sont souvent des catalyseurs de la «nationalisation» de l'Holocauste – le processus par lequel mémoire de l'Holocauste est formé par son milieu national. Entre 2009 et 2011, le Parlement du Canada a débattre un projet de loi qui crée les lignes directrices pour la mise en place d'un Monument national de l'Holocauste (MNH), qui est finalement devenu une loi fédérale du Parlement au début de 2011. J'examine le discours généré par ce projet de loi pour comprendre comment la mémoire de l'Holocauste est intégrée dans l'identité canadienne, et soutien que le débat entourant le MNH a joué un rôle déterminant dans la «canadianisation» de l'Holocauste. Je résume mes conclusions en les plaçant dans le dialogue avec d'autres mémoires nationales de l'Holocauste, et d'identifier trois caractéristiques distinctes de mémoire de l'Holocauste au Canada: une trajectoire centrifuge d’origine dans la communauté juive, une tension particulière-universelle enracinée dans le multiculturalisme, et une mémoire à multiples facettes comprenant plusieurs récits contradictories – mais pas compétitifs.

The history of the Great War has been dominated by accounts that view the War as an international conflict between nations and soldiers that contributed to the consolidation of Canadian cultural and political independence and identity. In many cases, the War has assumed a foundational—even mythic—status as integral to the building of a mature state and people. Since the 1970s, however, there has been an efflorescence of Canadian plays that have problematized traditional representations of the War. Many of these plays are set on the home front and explore the ways in which the War, in the form of disease, disaster, and intra-communal in-fighting and suspicion, invaded Canadian home space. What they suggest is that the War was not simply launched against an external enemy but that the War invaded Canadian communities and households. This dissertation examines five of these plays: Kevin Kerr’s Unity (1918), Guy Vanderhaeghe’s Dancock’s Dance, Trina Davies’ Shatter, Jean Provencher and Gilles Lachance’s Québec, Printemps 1918, and Wendy Lill’s The Fighting Days, all of which were written and published after 1970. Ultimately, it demonstrates that these plays, by relocating the War to Canadian terrain, undertake an important and radical critique; they suggest that the understanding of the War should not be restricted to overseas conflicts or Canadian national self-definition but that it should be expanded to encompass a diversity of people and experiences in domestic and international settings. At the same time, this thesis recognizes these plays as part of an emergent, bourgeoning Canadian dramatic genre, one which attests to Canadians’ continued preoccupation with the War past.

Holocaust monuments are often catalysts in the ‘nationalization’ of the Holocaust – the process by which Holocaust memory is shaped by its national milieu. Between 2009 and 2011, the Parliament of Canada debated a bill which set out the guidelines for the establishment of a National Holocaust Monument (NHM), which ultimately became a federal Act of Parliament in early 2011. I examine the discourse generated by this bill to understand how the memory of the Holocaust is being integrated into the Canadian identity, and argue that the debate surrounding the NHM has been instrumental in the ‘Canadianisation’ of the Holocaust. I summarise my findings by placing them into dialogue with other national memories of the Holocaust, and identify three distinct features of Holocaust memory in Canada: a centrifugal trajectory originating in the Jewish community, a particular-universal tension rooted in multiculturalism, and a multifaceted memory comprising several conflicting – though not competing – narratives. Monuments de l’Holocauste sont souvent des catalyseurs de la «nationalisation» de l'Holocauste – le processus par lequel mémoire de l'Holocauste est formé par son milieu national. Entre 2009 et 2011, le Parlement du Canada a débattre un projet de loi qui crée les lignes directrices pour la mise en place d'un Monument national de l'Holocauste (MNH), qui est finalement devenu une loi fédérale du Parlement au début de 2011. J'examine le discours généré par ce projet de loi pour comprendre comment la mémoire de l'Holocauste est intégrée dans l'identité canadienne, et soutien que le débat entourant le MNH a joué un rôle déterminant dans la «canadianisation» de l'Holocauste. Je résume mes conclusions en les plaçant dans le dialogue avec d'autres mémoires nationales de l'Holocauste, et d'identifier trois caractéristiques distinctes de mémoire de l'Holocauste au Canada: une trajectoire centrifuge d’origine dans la communauté juive, une tension particulière-universelle enracinée dans le multiculturalisme, et une mémoire à multiples facettes comprenant plusieurs récits contradictories – mais pas compétitifs.

The Canadian government has long striven for an official national identity grounded in a cohesive sense of national unity, but this has been in contrast to the regional reality of the Canadian state. The postwar period reveals increased concern within Canada regarding its national identity, when the federal government was attempting to construct an intrinsic identity and trying to encode what it meant to be Canadian. When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, it became an additional element in this enduring struggle. After confederation, a cultural revival in the province further entrenched its distinct identity during the same period in which it was acclimatizing to a new Canadian reality. The main goals of this research are to comprehend how Newfoundland understood official Canadian identity in its post-confederation period and how the province pursued a distinct identity while becoming a part of Canada. This project examines how Newfoundland understood official constructions of Canadian identity during the post-1949 period to observe how Canada’s official national identity was understood outside of the dominant central-Canada perspective. This alternative regional perspective provides an understanding of how the realities of Canada’s regionalism play a role in why the official national identity was not as homogenous or uniting as the federal government had idealized. By addressing the national question of Canadian identity through a regional Newfoundland perspective, this project seeks to deepen and expand our knowledge and understanding of modern Canada and its continued regional realities.