My perspective - Apologies
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- Published on Thursday, January 25, 2018
Kate Jackman - Atkinson
Neepawa Banner & Press
鈥淪orry鈥�. While we may not claim total ownership of the word, as we can with 鈥渆h鈥�, it鈥檚 as Canadian a word as you will find. On any street, in any Canadian town or city, you will find someone unnecessarily apologizing for bumping into an inanimate object. Almost as Canadian an image as skating on a frozen lake is the Canadian apologizing for being bumped into in a grocery store. So ingrained in the Canadian psyche is politeness, that when Canadian Geographic and The Walrus joined forces to put together 鈥淭he Story of Canada in 150 Objects鈥�, 鈥減oliteness鈥� was ranked number one.
For the most part, we are proud of this defining Canadian feature. We are proud of our international peacekeeping work and our perpetually high status in international rankings of the friendliest countries. Many Canadians take this trait seriously, we smile with glee when another survey comes out ranking us among the 鈥渘icest鈥� countries in the world. Our friendly status extends into cyberspace as well. A recent study by two PhD candidates at McMaster University in Ontario found that Canadians were much more positive than our neighbours to the south. They looked at the most commonly used words in more than three million tweets that were geotagged as being from either Canada or the US, from February to October 2015. Aside from the names of popular sports teams, Canadians鈥� most frequently used words included 鈥済reat鈥�, 鈥渁mazing鈥�, 鈥渂eautiful鈥� and 鈥渇avourite鈥�. And of course 鈥渉ockey鈥� and 鈥渆h鈥�. How about the Americans? Most of their mostly commonly used words can鈥檛 actually be printed, but the ones that can include 鈥渉ate鈥�, 鈥渉ell鈥�, 鈥渢ired鈥�, 鈥渉urt鈥� and 鈥渁nnoying鈥�. Yet another opportunity to feel smug about our niceness.
There are a few theories to explain Canadians鈥� niceness. One, put forward by Nelson Wiseman, director of Canadian Studies at the University of Toronto, is that it鈥檚 due to Canada鈥檚 long history of being ruled by centralized regimes, starting with the French and British. Along those lines is also the fragment theory, which argues that colonial nations are composed of fragments from the nations that colonized them. In Canada, the values and characteristics of the early European settlers, and in particular the conservative British immigrants, shaped Canadian culture. Then there is the idea of necessity, put forward in the humorous how-to-guide, 鈥淗ow to be a Canadian: Even if you already are one鈥�. It argues that Canadians must be polite to one another because you never know when you might need your neighbour鈥檚 help when you鈥檙e stranded in the middle of a blizzard.
Americans seldom have to overcome their differences and unite against the weather and while Canada was founded by an international corporation and then a bunch of conservative Europeans, the United States has a strong and celebrated heritage of individualism and rebellion. Indeed, to a certain degree, Canadians鈥� perceived niceness is also a matter of being compared to Americans. If we were neighbours with, say Finland, it wouldn鈥檛 be such a unique trait.
At the end of the day, Canadians鈥� niceness is a stereotype. While it鈥檚 rooted in some truth, and perhaps some national branding, we know it鈥檚 not entirely true; we鈥檝e all seen our fellow Canadians cut in line, honk at slow moving vehicles and berate some poor sales clerk. The 鈥渘ice Canadian鈥� is an image that has served us well over the past 150 years. In a world of increasing fracture and animosity, will it become a liability to be exploited by bullies, or an asset to make us a shining beacon in a dark world? Only time will tell.
