For many years Canada has feared the increasing influence of its North American neighbours on its culture. It has become a major growing anxiety for the people in power to keep Canada’s separate identity and to promote Canadian culture in an effective way without depending on the United States. Since the invasion of the United States’ culture, the Canadian government has initiated policies and programs to protect Canadian Culture and thus Canada has become more culturally independent. The Canadian Government made three different ways to help protect the Canadian culture. The first was the Canadian Government Motion Picture Bureau (CGMP) which was created in September 1918, during the end of WWI. The second was the thought of prosperity …show more content…
The Canadian Council of Arts encouraged Canadians to produce original work. The Canadian Council of Arts gives out monetary rewards to artists which interprets that it makes going into the arts appealing. Another motivation and encouragement that the government takes to roll is to grant scholarships or loans to persons in Canada for research in the arts in Canada, or to people in other countries to study in the arts in Canada. This not only encouraged Canadian citizens to pursue on their goals, but also encourages unemployed creators from all over the world to begin their career in Canada. With all this talent on the loose in Canada, laws were put into place in order to immerse Canadians in their culture. The Canadian Council of Arts has also helped keep Canada’s oldest culture alive. By preserving and helping support artists and art organization from indigenous communities. To this day, the Canadian Council of Arts have helped collect $6.3M for indigenous communities to keep the culture from vanishing. Overall, the country prospered and flourished an array of talent from not only Canadians, but also immigrants from different places whom were more than happy to start up their lives in …show more content…
Laurent. The Massey report took on a great tool for Canadians as before the Massey report Canadian art and entertainment industries were threatened and disregarded as the United States dominated. This report recommended that Canadian broadcasting corporation's should plan to produce more media programs in both English and French so that they could be transmitted country wide. This was also very useful as the Quebecois during that time had emphasized how they were losing their culture to the English born Canadians and how their language and culture were not being supported in Canada. The idea of having media programs in both languages was to unify the two cultures to create one multicultural identity. The Report also determined that the radio stations were limited only in major Canadian cities. So, it recommended that Radio broadcasters should spread and expand more radio programs in other than the major cities like Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. The final recommendation was to employ more Canadian artists at concert venues and to play more Canadian made music on local radios. A Canadian artist that majored and inspired Canadians was Paul Anka. Paul Anka was in a way like Canada’s Elvis Presley. His songs “Diana” and “My Way” went onto being great hits, mostly listened to by young adults. Paul Anka was praised and promoted in other countries, such as Hawaii, which had posters of his
As its own state Quebec would have the capacity to act, consolidate and further create their own cultural identity (Heard, 2013). For example, Quebec could foster the national language to be French. By gaining independence from Canada, Quebec can then create their own laws, own immigration rules and levy taxes (Heard, 2013). This would allow Quebec to be completely independent from the rest of Canada, but they would have connecting boarders like the United States and Canada do.
Much has been written about the ways in which Canada's state as a nation is, as Peter Harcourt writes, "described" and hence, "imagined" (Harcourt, "The Canadian Nation -- An Unfinished Text", 6) through the cultural products that it produces. Harcourt's terms are justifiably elusive. The familiar concept of "Canadian culture", and hence Canadian cinema, within critical terminology is essentially based on the principle that the ideology of a national identity, supposedly limited by such tangible parameters as lines on a map, emerges from a common geographical and mythological experience among its people. The concept that cultural products produced in Canada will be somehow innately "Canadian" in form and content first presupposes the existence of such things as inherently Canadian qualities that can be observed. Second, it presupposes a certain commonality to all Canadian artists and posits them as vessels through which these said "inherently Canadian qualities" can naturally flow. Third, it also assumes the loosely Lacanian principle that Canadian consumers of culture are predisposed to identify and enjoy the semiotic and mythological systems of their nation, and further connotes that Canadians have fair access to their own cultural products. Since these assumptions are indeed flawed but not altogether false, this paper will deal with the general relationship between the concept of Canada, its cultural texts, and its mythological and critical discourse as an unresolved problematic that should be left "open" in order to maximize the "meaning potential" of films as cultural texts within the context of "national identity," an ideological construct that remains constantly in flux.
Canada is an ethnically diverse country. The notion of "multiculturalism" began circulating in Canada in 1971 and is a word that is now commonly used to define this country, unlike the word "melting-pot" which is used to describe Americans' loss of ethnic identity. The broadcasting system in Canada is pressured by the government to acknowledge the culturally diverse society by broadcasting a fair representation of the population in terms of ethnicity. This is achieved through the many acts that have been passed through parliament: the multiculturalism policy of 1971, the Canadian Multiculturalism Act of 1988, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms of 1982, the Ethnic Broadcasting Policy of 1985, and most recent, the Broadcasting Act of 1991. These legislative and policy frameworks have provided guidelines for the management of Canadia...
Is Canada a nation or has its control just switched empirical hands? As Professor Hutcheson asked, did Canada go from "Colony to Nation or Empire to Empire?" This question has greatly influenced Canada's changing identity since her birth as a British colony with Confederation in 1867 to the present day. The purpose of this essay is to critically analyse the shifting Canadian identities between the years 1890 to 1960. The objective is to illustrate Canada's transforming identity by using the novels The Imperialist by Sara Jeanette Duncan, Barometer Rising by Hugh MacLennan, and Fifth Business by Robertson Davies and to connect the stories of each of these works of fiction to the varying political, economic, and social issues of their times. Each book is written by a prominent author, and portrays an accurate reflection of the demanding political, economic, and social concerns throughout the late nineteen and first half of the twentieth century of Canadian history. All of the novels reflect Canada's peripheral view of the world, as opposed to a central point of view, because throughout its history Canada has always been perceived as a secondary player. As George Grant says in his literary piece Lament for a Nation, Canada is "a branch plant society" , meaning Canada is controlled by another power. The essential question is where has Canada's loyalties traditionally lay and how has this shaped the Canadian identity. The Imperialist by Sara Jeanette Duncan, written in 1904 reflects a very British influenced Canada. At this time, Canada is still a British colony under British rule, and the people of Canada are very content to consider themselves British. The novel predominately ill...
The economic progress Canada made after the war lead to the growth of the country. New industries emerged from innovations of products like automobiles, radios, television, digital computers and electric typewriters (Aitken et al., 315). Canadians quickly adapted back to the “buy now, pay later” strategy rather than careful budgeting during the Great Depression (Liverant). Almost everything that Canadians did was influenced from new inventions; television was the most influential. Canadians conversations, humour, and lifestyle were influenced from television (Aitken et al., 315). Trade relations between the United States and Canada had become more efficient due to the St. Lawrence Seaway. The mass development of the St. Lawrence Seaway, in 1954, was to provide a large wate...
The Government of Canada will support all of Canada’s cultures and allow resources to the immigrants who have demonstrated a desire and effort to maintain their own culture and identity.
...an film pioneers include Jack Warner, born in London, Ontario and co-founder of the Warner Brothers, and Louis B Mayer, a major Hollywood personality from New Brunswick. Even though the industry was taken by Hollywood, there have been a lot of Canadians that have greatly contributed to the industry and has influenced the industry.
In conclusion, Canada was influenced throughout the 1920's by America, that by 1929 Canada became very similar to America in social trends, economics and produce. But has this stopped in modern day era? Canada continues to be heavily influenced by the amount of American products and media outpouring into Canada. Canada has made attempts throughout time to impede the onslaught of American invasion but American invasion is seen on a huge global scale. Hit movies, tv shows, products among others are generally based on American culture, views, or based within American domain. It is a reign yet to be stopped.
...Y, Emily (December 17, 2000). “ An American Guide to Canadian Media” Online at: http://www.icomm.ca/emily/cancon.html , consulted on February 12, 2004.
Do you know that despite Canada being called multicultural and accepting, Canada’s history reveals many secrets that contradicts this statement? Such an example are Canadian aboriginals, who have faced many struggles by Canadian society; losing their rights, freedoms and almost, their culture. However, Native people still made many contributions to Canadian society. Despite the efforts being made to recognize aboriginals in the present day; the attitudes of European Canadians, acts of discrimination from the government, and the effects caused by the past still seen today have proven that Canadians should not be proud of Canada’s history with respect to human rights since 1914.
In the last 20 years the penetration of the Canadian market by American cultural industries is still extremely strong. The United States is still the main source of culture products. American products represent 81% of all culture commodity imports. Canadians watch American TV shows, listen to American music, love American sports teams, drive American cars and buy American goods at American stores like Walmart. They eat American food, drink American beer (sometimes).
Canada as a nation has been striving to characterize itself as more ?Canadian? for decades. This has included numerous struggles and events such as protests, bans, and the creation of the Massey Commission, to encourage national development in the arts, and support major companies like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and National Film Board (NFB). However, this has not been an easy task for the Canadian government, as major influences from below the border (the United States) have been captivating the Canadian audiences by large. American media has had a momentous revolutionizing effect on Canada, even through efforts made to define Canada with its own cultural identity.
There are many Canadians who have managed to make an impact on the world. Amazing Canadians can not only manage to change people’s lives, but improve them as well. Only an amazing Canadian can make the world distinguish Canada in a commendable and noteworthy way and make Canadians proud to be Canadian. By examining Young’s musical and song writing career, his role in the Farm Aid organization, and his role in the Bridge School Benefit, it is clear that Neil Young is an amazing Canadian.
But today more then even Canadian culture is affected by the American influence. Media, American artists, economic dependence, American propaganda and political pressure from the United States is making Canada too Americanized. All of these factors reflect on the social life of ordinary Canadians threatening the heritage and the traditions that define Canada as independent country. Canada and the United States are the largest trade partners in the world. It is the result of the geographical position of two countries and the free trade between two countries.
The culture of Canada refers to the shared values, attitudes, standards, and beliefs that are a representative of Canada and Canadians. Throughout Canada's history, its culture has been influenced by American culture because of a shared language, proximity, television and migration between the two countries. Over time, Canadian-American relations have helped develop Canada’s identity during the years 1945-1982; thus introducing changing social norms, media and entertainment. In support of this, due to the United States being approximately 9.25 times larger in population and having the dominant cultural and economic influence, it played a vital role in establishing Canada’s identity. With Canada being its neighbour, naturally, the United States would influence their way of life upon Canada.