Reconciling Nationalist Loyalties - EICS

Reconciling Nationalist

Loyalties

Focus Questions

• How do nationalist loyalties shape people’s

choices?

• What choices have people made to affirm

nationalist loyalties?

• How can nationalist loyalties create conflict?

• How have people reconciled contending

nationalist loyalties?

Discussion

• Synonyms for loyalty are commitment,

allegiance, faithfulness, devotion, fidelity,

steadfastness and attachment.

• Which do you apply to your feeling for your

country? Why?

• Choices and decisions can force you to confront

your loyalties.

• Can you think of any examples of such a

situation?

• Loyalty is a behavior that can stem from

patriotism.

• In can inspire a variety of behaviors.

• Loyalties can strongly affect people’s decisions

Ex. Volunteering to go to war

Becoming involved in a political campaign

Contending Loyalties In Canada

• Contending Loyalties are loyalties that compete.

People sometimes need to choose among

various loyalties based on their commitment

level to these loyalties.

• People can feel loyalty to more than one nation.

• In Canada, the First Nations would be an

example of people who have contending

loyalties to their ancestry and Canada

• In 1982, First Nations chose to affirm their

status as nations by restructuring and

reorganizing the National Indian Brotherhood

and renaming it the Assembly of First Nations.

Quebec

• Quebecois have along history of grappling with

contending nationalist loyalties. There have been

conflicts regarding conscription in both world

wars as well as two referendums on Quebec

sovereignty. Conflict between federalists and

sovereignists.

Newfoundland

• Because Newfoundland joined confederation so

late, they developed their own sense of

nationalism. July 1, is commemorated not only

as Canada Day, but as the anniversary of the

battle of Beaumont-Hamel, the bloodiest day in

Newfoundland history, where the

Newfoundland Regiment was all but wiped out.

• Most immigrants are aware that Canada is a civic

nation. They know that the law guarantees them

the same rights as all other Canadians. Canada

has cultural pluralism and official

multiculturalism. Diversity is celebrated.

• But the vision of Canada as a bilingual and

multicultural society has also sparked debate as

to how far a pluralistic nation should go to

accommodate and protect the rights of

minorities.

• There is concern that multiculturalism and

pluralism are encouraging people to remain loyal

to their home country/culture rather than to

Canada. Ever since Confederation, people have

disagreed over whether the idea of reasonable

accommodation supports or undercuts the

shared sense of Canadian identity.

• Examples: Kirpans in schools

: Sikh turbans in RCMP

: Hijab in government offices

: Picture-free documents

• Reconciling can mean to come to terms with the

past or mending a broken relationship. When

people of nations disagree, or when their

national loyalties lead them to pursue

contending goals, an attitude or reconciliation

can bring them together and enable them to

coexist in peace.

• Example: Canadian government recognizing

Aboriginal treaty rights

: Royal Commission on Aboriginal

Peoples

: Settling land claims

: Truth and Reconciliation commission

in post-Apartheid South Africa

Chapter 3 Vocabulary

• Contending loyalties

• Cultural pluralism

• Reasonable accommodation

• Sovereigntists

• Federalists

• Royal Commission