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
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Contending loyalties
Cultural pluralism
Reasonable accommodation
Sovereigntists
Federalists
Royal Commission