Canadians and the memory of World War I: One hundred years on

Abstract

While a recent poll still showed forty per cent of Canadians did not know what role their country played in the conflict, memories of the Great War, real and manufactured, continue to shape Canadians’ sense of themselves.  As was the case during the war, the “two solitudes” – English- and French-speakers – see matters in profoundly different ways.  The “birth of a nation” creation myth remains dogma for the Anglo majority, and ensures that awareness of the war –a “good” war despite the appalling loss of life– is entirely centered on its impact on Canadian identity.  Equally parochially, for the Quebécois the war is defined as their victimization –through conscription– by the colonial excesses of their fellow citizens. As well, at least among Anglophones, the war is invoked in debates about Canada’s national and international identity, where advocates of “Warrior Canada” with its proud military history and tradition of robust defence of “freedom” appall and are in turn appalled by advocates of the “Peaceable Kingdom” interpretation.  In these contemporary clashes of ideology, World War I constitutes a historical prop for both sides –agolden moment ennobled by the sacrifice, or a tragedy where one can respect the sacrifice but not the action or its purpose.