Abstract:
Although the search for the answer to the ‘great Canadian problem’, the perceived lack of national unity and identity in Canada, has occupied Canadian politicians and public thinkers for over a century, studies of Canadian nationalism have often been framed in relation to either
exclusive (Québécois) nationalism or to the American neighbour to the south. In this work, the liberal Canadian nationalism of the postwar period itself is centred, and its role in governmental policies is studied through the person of J.W. Pickersgill, an influential civil servant, politician, and self described ‘ardent nationalist’ who viewed promoting Canadian unity as his greatest role in public life. Pickersgill’s personal concept of nationalism is placed within a historical context of liberal Canadian nationalism and defined as an inclusive nationalism. An analysis of two case studies from Pickersgill’s tenure as minister of Citizenship and Immigration, based in part on archival sources, reveals significant tensions and inconsistencies between Pickersgill’s ideal of inclusive nationalism and its application in practice, especially when it intersected with assimilationist governmental policies regarding Indigenous Canadians.
