I AM CANADIAN Identity, Territory and the Canadian National Landscape

On television, on the radio, in classrooms, in parliamentary debates, in bars, cafés and restaurants across Canada, the subject of “being Canadian” is on everyone’s lips. I Am Canadian, a Molson Canadian © commercial, is the reason for this recent “Canadian identity” frenzy, having moved into center stage by tapping into a well-rehearsed obsession in Canada with issues concerning national identity and anti-American sentiment. I Am Canadian stars an average “Joe” who passionately informs Canadians as to what distinguishes them from Americans and renders them unique as celebrated Canucks. For those unfamiliar with this recent event, a play by play of the commercial goes something like this: Joe enters, dressed in a flannel shirt, a tee shirt and jeans. He clears his throat and tests the microphone, which squeals. As he begins to speak, the screen behind him lights up with the image of the Canadian flag. “I am not a lumberjack or a fur-trader,” he states as the screen behind him shows representations of Joe dressed as a lumberjack and a fur-trader, “and I don’t live in an igloo.” “I don’t eat blubber or own a dog sled,” he continues, “and I don’t know Jimmy, Suzy or Sally, although I’m certain they’re really really nice.”

Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, in a mounting crescendo, accompanies the rest of the commercial.[1] “I have a Prime-Minister, not a President,” Joe explains, as the image behind him shifts from the Canadian Parliament buildings to the image of the White House, “I speak English and French, not American, and I pronounce it about, not a-boot (image of a boot).” The Canadian flag once again prominently in the background, the camera pans to Joe’s face in a center screen close-up. “I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my back-pack,” he continues, his voice becoming louder in tandem with a crescendo in the music. “I believe in peace-keeping, not police-keeping, diversity, not assimilation, and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.” With increasing emotion, he faces the audience as he prepares for his final oration. “A toque is a hat,” he says, “a chesterfield is a couch, and it is pronounced zed, not zee. Canada is the second largest land-mass in the world, the first nation of hockey, and the best part of North America.” Opening his arms as the camera brings him forward to full center, where he is dwarfed by the Canadian flag, Joe passionately exclaims: “My name is Joe and I AM CANADIAN.”

The I Am Canadian commercial, which airs predominantly during hockey games, though also during regular television scheduling and in movie theaters, reflects popular aspects of what “being Canadian” signifies within the national imagination. First, it reminds Canadians of the strong (and unfailing) connection between nationalism, beer and hockey in Canada. This implicit relationship is underscored in the I Am Canadian commercial by the fact that it is not deemed necessary to foreground beer. No mention of beer is made throughout the commercial, the only concession to Molson Canadian © being the final logo, where the “Molson Canadian” label is interchanged with the words “I am Canadian.” Secondly, the commercial builds on anti-American sentiment, which many Canadians define as a central aspect of “being Canadian.” I Am Canadian does so by foregrounding the misinformed caricature many Americans paint of Canadians.

As a nationalist centerpiece, the I Am Canadian commercial is unanimously successful, as a result of which it has already found a secure place in the popular lingo of the nation, where the terms of Joe’s engagement are being mimicked, not criticized. This response is not surprising: the practice of superimposing identity onto questions of national territory has long been the norm in Canadian cultural politics. The I Am Canadian commercial can therefore be located as one instance in a long tradition of nationalist events in Canada, each of which serves to define and circumscribe, once and for all, the identity and territory of Canada. Following in this exclusive tradition of...