How can nation be understood as a civic concept?
An early draft of the Constitution Act, 1982, opened with the words "We, the people of Canada..." This phrase was later taken out, because some people disagreed with it. Consider what the deleted phrase implies - that Canada is a nation.
Discussion
Discussion
- Do people or events determine when a country becomes a nation?
- Do people have to share a long common history before they can feel they are part of a nation?
- Does the global community see Canada as a nation?
Is Canada a Nation?
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The fundamental freedoms set out in Section 2 of the Charter express the foundational values and beliefs of Canadians. When people, no matter what their ethnicity, culture, and language, agree to live according to particular values and beliefs expressed as laws, they have created a civic nation.
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Perspectives
Canadian's choice to live together as a civic nation is the reason the myth - even the joke - of Canadian politeness has arisen. Joke or not, this politeness is at the core of what Canadians are. "It is the means by which we accommodate each other...It is the secret recipe for a nation of different cultures, languages and customs whose citizens all get along. Canadians have used politeness to foment a social revolution. And from that revolution our Canada has emerged - young, creative, polyglot, open-minded, forward-thinking, fabulous."
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Civic nationalism - of the French, British, and American type - defines the nation not in terms of ethnicity but in terms of willingness to adhere to its civic values. Allegiance is essentially directed toward the state and its civic institutions and values. Ethnic nationalism - of the German and Polish type - defines the nation in terms of ethnic groups and birth. Allegiance is directed primarily at the nation, at the traditions, values and cultures incarnated in a people's history.
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Civic vs. Ethnic Nationalism
Making a Difference Assignment: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
Founding the Turkish Nation Read Making a Difference on page 33 of your textbook, and answer the following questions;
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