Problematizing Canadian exceptionalism
A study of right-populism, white nationalism and Conservative political parties
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl/0000-0000-0000-1127Keywords:
Right-populism, racial governance, Conservative Party of Canada, CanadaAbstract
The myth that Canada has resisted the “West’s populist wave” persists despite evidence that demonstrates otherwise. This article traces how the assumption that Canada has avoided the rise of right-wing populism and white nationalism is tethered to the fiction that Canada has been a raceless society. After briefly reviewing the myth of racelessness and the history of right-populism in Canada, the article explores how the Reform Party of Canada conceptualized “the people” in racialized terms. This article examines how the Conservative Party of Canada’s appeals to symbolic “diversity” and denial of systemic oppression have enabled more overt forms of racism. By examining the recent rise of hate crimes, this article makes the case that a direct link can be traced between the Conservative government’s seemingly neutral discourses about the preservation of Canadian “heritage” and “common values” and the re-emergence of right-wing populism and the re-emboldening of white nationalism in Canada.
Downloads
Metrics
Downloads:
PDF 4535
References
Abu-Laban, Y., and Gabriel, C., 2002. Selling Diversity: Immigration, Multiculturalism, Employment Equity, and Globalization. Peterborough: Broadview Press.
Abu-Laban, Y., and Stasiulis, D., 1992. Ethnic Pluralism under Siege: Popular and Partisan Opposition to Multiculturalism. Canadian Public Policy [online], 18(4), 365–386. Available from: https://doi.org/10.2307/3551654 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/3551654
Backhouse, C., 1999. Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900–1950. University of Toronto Press.
Bird, K., and Rowe, A., 2013. Women, Feminism, and the Harper Conservatives. In: J. Farney and D. Rayside, eds., Conservatism in Canada [online]. University of Toronto Press, 165–183. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442666313-012 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442666313-012
Boutilier, A., 2018a. CSIS sees “significant” jump in far-right activity online. The Toronto Star [online], 7 October. Available from: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/10/05/csis-sees-significant-jump-in-far-right-activity-online.html [Accessed 9 October 2018].
Boutilier, A., 2018b. Rise of right-wing extremists presents new challenge for Canadian law enforcement agencies. The Toronto Star [online], 7 October. Available from: https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/10/07/rise-of-right-wing-e%E2%80%A6s-presents-new-challenge-for-canadian-law-enforcement-agencies.html [Accessed 9 October 2018].
Canadian Issues, 2005. An Interview with Stephen Harper: Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. Canadian Issues, Summer, 8–9.
CBC News, 2011. Harper says “Islamicism” biggest threat to Canada. CBC News [online], 6 September. Available from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-says-islamicism-biggest-threat-to-canada-1.1048280 [Accessed 18 November 2019].
de la Torre, C., 2015. Introduction. In: C. de la Torre, ed., The Promise and Perils of Populism: Global Perspectives [online]. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1–28. Available from: www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt12880g5.3 [Accessed 11 May 2020].
Finkel, A., 2014. Harper’s vision of the future requires reshaping of the past. Labour/Le Travail [online], 73(Spring), 197–199. Available from: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/544837/pdf [Accessed 11 May 2020].
Flanagan, T., 1992. The Reform Party’s Multiculturalism Policy [online]. The Reform Party of Canada. June. Available from: http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/digital/collection/reform/id/1004/ [Accessed 1 February 2013].
Flanagan, T., 2000. First Nations? Second Thoughts. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Flanagan, T. 2009a. Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773575387
Flanagan, T., 2009b. Waiting for the Wave: The Reform Party and the Conservative Movement. Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780773575271
Gill, S.D., 2002. The Unspeakability of Racism: Mapping Law’s Complicity in Manitoba’s Racialized Spaces. In: S. Razack, ed., Race, Space, and the Law: Unmapping a White Settler Society. Toronto: Between the Lines, 157–183.
Goldberg, D.T., 2002. The Racial State. Malden: Blackwell.
Ha, T.T., 2015. Intentional or not, Harper’s words drew a line between us and others. The Globe and Mail [online], 18 September. Available from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/intentional-or-a-slip-old-stock-canadians-is-always-a-message-to-the-others/article26424488/ [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Haque, E., 2012. Multiculturalism within a Bilingual Framework: Language, Race and Belonging in Canada [online]. University of Toronto Press. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442686083 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442686083
Harper, S., 1991. A Reform Vision of Canada [online]. Transcription of the Speech to the Reform Party Assembly, Saskatoon, 5 April. Available from: http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/digital/collection/reform/id/6574/rec/2 [Accessed 1 February 2013].
Harper, S., 2018. Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption. Oxford: Signal.
Henry, F., and Tator, C., 1999. State Policy and Practices as Racialized Discourse: Multiculturalism, the Charter, and Employment Equity. In: P.S. Li, ed., Race and Ethnic Relations in Canada. 2nd ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 88–115.
Hook, D., 2001. Discourse, Knowledge, Materiality, History: Foucault and Discourse Analysis. Theory & Psychology [online], 11(4), 521–547. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354301114006 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354301114006
Hopper, T., 2015. Taking stock of “old stock Canadians”: Stephen Harper called a “racist” after remark during debate. National Post [online], 19 September. Available from: https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/taking-stock-of-old-stock-canadians-stephen-harper-called-a-racist-after-remark-during-debate [Accessed 18 November 2019].
James, C., 2008, Re/representation of race and racism in the multicultural discourse of Canada. In: A. Aldi and L. Shultz, eds., Educating for Human Rights and Global Citizenship. Albany: SUNY, 97–112. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9780791478608-009
Kealey, G., 2014. Harper and Non-History. Labour/Le Travail [online], 73, 213–214. Available from: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/544842/pdf [Accessed 11 May 2020].
Kirkham, D., 1998. The Reform Party of Canada: A Discourse on Race, Ethnicity and Equality. In: V. Satzewich, ed., Racism and Social Inequality in Canada: Concepts, Controversies and Strategies of Resistance. Toronto: Thompson Educational, 243–267.
Kwak, L.J., 2018. Still Making Canada White: Racial Governmentality and the “Good Immigrant” in Canadian Parliamentary Immigration Debates. The Canadian Journal of Women and the Law [online], 30(3), 447–470. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.30.3.005 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.30.3.005
Kwak, L.J., 2019. New Canadians are New Conservatives: Race, Incorporation and Achieving Electoral Success in Multicultural Canada. Ethnic and Racial Studies [online], 42(10), 1708–1726. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1508734 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1508734
Laclau, E., 2018. Populism: Ambiguities and Paradoxes. In: E. Laclau, On Populist Reason. London: Verso, 3–20.
Laycock, D., 2002. The New Right and Democracy in Canada: Understanding Reform and the Canadian Alliance. Oxford University Press.
Laycock, D., 2005. Populism and the New Right in English Canada. In: F. Panizza, ed., Populism and the Mirror of Democracy. London: Verso, 172–201.
Li, P., 2001. The racial subtext in Canada’s immigration discourse. Journal of International Migration and Integration [online], 2(1), 77–97. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-001-1020-1 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-001-1020-1
Mackey, E., 1999. The House of Difference: Cultural Politics and National Identity in Canada. University of Toronto Press.
Mahrouse, G., 2018. Minimizing and Denying Racial Violence: Insights from the Quebec Mosque Shooting. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law [online], 30(3), 471–493. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.30.3.006 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.30.3.006
Maloney, R., 2015. Tories Pledge Tip Line to Combat “Barbaric Cultural Practices”. The Huffington Post [online], 2 October. Available from: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/10/02/tip-line-barbaric-cultural-practices-tories_n_8234610.html [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Manning, P., 1992. Reducing the Potential for Racism in Canada [online]. Transcription of speech. Reform Party of Canada, June. Available from: http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/digital/collection/reform/id/4659/rec/1 [Accessed 1 February 2013].
Milewski, T., 2015. Conservatives crank up values clash by taking aim at “barbaric cultural practices”. CBC [online], 2 October. Available from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-conservatives-barbaric-cultural-practices-1.3254886 [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Moffitt, B., 2015. Contemporary Populism and “The People” in the Asia-Pacific Region. In: C. de la Torre, ed., The Promise and Perils of Populism: Global Perspectives. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 293–311.
Mosleh, O., and Green, M., 2019. They’re immigrants to Canada: So why are they supporting far-right parties that want to reduce immigration? The Toronto Star [online], 27 October. Available from: https://www.thestar.com/edmonton/2019/10/27/theyre-immigrants-to-canada-so-why-are-they-supporting-populist-parties-that-want-to-reduce-immigration.html [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Noël, A., 2014. History Under Harper: Leaving Québec, and Much Else, Outside Canada. Labour/Le Travail [online], 73, 210–212. Available from: http://www.lltjournal.ca/index.php/llt/article/view/5789/6650 [Accessed 11 May 2020].
Perry, B., and Scrivens, R., 2015. Right-Wing Extremism in Canada: An Environmental Scan. Public Safety Canada.
Perry, B., and Scrivens, R., 2016. Uneasy Alliances: A Look at the Right-Wing Extremist Movement in Canada. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism [online], 39(9), 819–841. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1139375 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2016.1139375
Perry, B., 2000. “Button-Down Terror”: The Metamorphosis of the Hate Movement. Sociological Focus [online], 33(2), 113–131. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2000.10571161 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00380237.2000.10571161
Perry, B., 2010. Policing Hate Crime in a Multicultural Country: Observations from Canada. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 38, 120–140. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2010.10.004
Perry, B., 2015. Disrupting the Mantra of Multiculturalism: Hate Crime in Canada. American Behavioral Scientist [online], 59(13), 1637–1654. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764215588816 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764215588816
Price, J., 2011. Orienting Canada: Race, Empire and the Transpacific, 1907–1956. Vancouver: UBC Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.59962/9780774819855
Prior, L., 2008. Repositioning Documents in Social Research. Sociology [online], 42(5), 821–836. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0038038508094564 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038508094564
Quan, D., 2015. Niqab ruling “not how we do things here”, says Harper. Vancouver Sun [online], 13 February. Available from: https://www.pressreader.com/canada/vancouver-sun/20150213/281779922557822 [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Razack, S., 1999. Making Canada White: Law and the Policing of Bodies of Colour in the 1990s. Canadian Journal of Law and Society [online], 14(1), 159–184. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0829320100005974 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0829320100005974
Razack, S., 2008. Casting Out: The Eviction of Muslims from Western Law and Politics. University of Toronto Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442687554
Razack, S., 2018. A Site/Sight We Cannot Bear: The Racial/Spatial Politics of Banning the Muslim Woman’s Niqab. Canadian Journal of Women and the Law [online], 30(1), 169–189. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.30.1.169 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjwl.30.1.169
Reform Party of Canada, 1991. Principles and Policies: The Blue Book [online]. Reform Party of Canada. Available from: http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/digital/collection/reform/id/2185/rec/21 [Accessed 1 February 2013].
Reform Party of Canada, 1991–1992. The Green Book: Issues and Answers [online]. Reform Party of Canada. Available from: http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/digital/collection/reform/id/526/rec/20 [Accessed 1 February 2013].
Reform Party of Canada, 1996–1997. Blue Sheet: Principles and Policies of the Reform Party of Canada [online]. Reform Party of Canada. Available from: http://contentdm.ucalgary.ca/digital/collection/reform/id/2322 [Accessed 1 February 2013].
Roy, P., 1989. A White Man’s Province: British Columbia Politicians and Chinese and Japanese Immigrants, 1858–1914. Vancouver: UBC Press.
Scrivens, R., and Perry, B., 2017. Resisting the Right: Countering Right-Wing Extremism in Canada. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice [online], 59(4), 534–558. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2016.0029 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/cjccj.2016.0029
Statistics Canada, 2018. Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2017 [online]. Infographic. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 29 November. Available from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-627-m/11-627-m2018051-eng.htm [Accessed 11 May 2020].
Taub, A., 2017. Canada’s Secret to Resisting the West’s Populist Wave. New York Times [online], 27 June. Available from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/world/canada/canadas-secret-to-resisting-the-wests-populist-wave.html [Accessed 26 July 2017].
The People’s Party of Canada, 2019a. Canadian identity: Ending official multiculturalism and preserving Canadian values [online]. Gatineau: The People’s Party of Canada. Available from: https://www.peoplespartyofcanada.ca/canadian_identity_ending_official_multiculturalism_and_preserving_canadian_values_and_culture [Accessed 18 November 2019].
The People’s Party of Canada, 2019b. Immigration: Reducing Overall Levels and Prioritizing Skilled Immigrants [online]. Gatineau: The People’s Party of Canada. Available from: https://www.peoplespartyofcanada.ca/immigration_reducing_overall_levels_and_prioritizing_skilled_immigrants [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Thobani, S., 2007. Exalted Subjects: Studies in the Making of Race and Nation in Canada. University of Toronto Press.
Tremblay, M., and Pelletier, R., 2000. More Feminists or More Women? Descriptive and Substantive Representations of Women in the 1997 Canadian Federal Elections. International Political Science Review [online], 21(4), 381–405. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512100214004 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512100214004
Troster, A., 2006. The axe falls on minority rights in Canada. Rabble.ca [online], 26 September. Available from: https://rabble.ca/news/axe-falls-minority-rights-canada [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Tunney, C., 2016. Kellie Leitch defends “anti-Canadian values” survey question. CBC News [online], 2 September. Available from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/leitch-responds-survey-question-1.3746470 [Accessed 18 November 2019].
Turnbull, S., 2020. Pipeline protesters need to “check their privilege”, Conservative leader says. CTV News [online], 14 February. Available from: https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/pipeline-protesters-need-to-check-their-privilege-conservative-leader-says-1.4812204 [Accessed 15 February 2020].
Valpy, M., and Graves, F., 2018. The contradictions at the heart of Canada’s multiculturalism. The Globe and Mail [online], 14 December. Available from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-contradictions-at-the-heart-of-canadas-modern-multiculturalism/ [Accessed 11 May 2020].
van Dijk, T.A., 2000. On the analysis of parliamentary debates on immigration. In: M. Reisigl and R. Wodak, eds., The Semiotics of Racism: Approaches to Critical Discourse Analysis. Vienna: Passagen, 85–103.
van Dijk, T.A., 2008. Discourse and Power. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-07299-3
Walker, B., ed., 2012. The African-Canadian Legal Odyssey [online]. Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History and University of Toronto Press. Available from: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442666801 [Accessed 11 May 2020]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/9781442666801
Ward, W.P., 1978. White Canada Forever: Popular Attitudes and Public Policy Toward Orientals in British Columbia. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
Wherry, A., 2011. “Canada is, and always has been, our country”. Maclean’s [online], 23 January. Available from: https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/canada-is-and-always-has-been-our-country/ [Accessed 11 May 2020].
Zine, J., 2018. The alt-right and the weaponization of free speech on campus. Academic Matters: OCUFA’s Journal of Higher Education [online], Fall. Available from: https://academicmatters.ca/the-alt-right-and-the-weaponization-of-free-speech-on-campus/ [Accessed 11 May 2020].
Zuquete, J.P., 2015. “Free the People”: The Search for “True Democracy” in Western Europe’s Far Right Political Culture. In: C. de la Torre, ed., The Promise and Perils of Populism: Global Perspectives. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 231–255.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Laura J. Kwak
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
OSLS strictly respects intellectual property rights and it is our policy that the author retains copyright, and articles are made available under a Creative Commons licence. The Creative Commons Non-Commercial Attribution No-Derivatives licence is our default licence, further details available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 If this is not acceptable to you, please contact us.
The non-exclusive permission you grant to us includes the rights to disseminate the bibliographic details of the article, including the abstract supplied by you, and to authorise others, including bibliographic databases, indexing and contents alerting services, to copy and communicate these details.
For information on how to share and store your own article at each stage of production from submission to final publication, please read our Self-Archiving and Sharing policy.
The Copyright Notice showing the author and co-authors, and the Creative Commons license will be displayed on the article, and you must agree to this as part of the submission process. Please ensure that all co-authors are properly attributed and that they understand and accept these terms.
