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“The Men of the North” Redux: Nanook and Canadian National Unity

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 40; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/02722011.2010.519392

1943-9954

Samantha Arnold,

Canadian Identity and History

Abstract This article explores the operation of nordicity as a discursive resource in Canadian national identity. Drawing on the late nineteenth-century idea of Canadians as "the men of the north" and therefore having a particular national character, this article examines the way that the Inuit have been drawn into this discursive frame since the 1950s. The key argument advanced in this article is that idealized images of the Inuit as exemplars of "northern people" operate in various ways to affirm a "northern" identity for all Canadians. This claim is explored with reference to the images of Nanook of the North and of the Inuit as "a quintessential Canadian Folk." Continuities between the nineteenth- and twentieth-century versions of the "northmen" thesis are examined in this article. Keywords: nordicityNanookInuitCanadian identitynational unity Notes 1. Inuksuit (the plural form of inuksuk) are constructed of stones stacked to resemble the human figure (although other materials may be used). Although they are generally understood to serve as navigational markers, Nelson Graburn notes that they do not exclusively serve a functional purpose and may sometimes be nothing other than the Inuit rendering of "Kilroy was here." According to Scott Heyes, "To the Inuit, inuksuit are objects of veneration – they are embedded in the roots of Inuit society within songs, shamanism, myths, legends and stories." See Nelson Graburn, "Inuksuk: Icon of the Inuit of Nunavut," Études Inuit/Inuit Studies 28:1 (2004), p. 70; Scott Heyes, "Protecting the authenticity and integrity of the inuksuit with the arctic milieu," Études Inuit/Inuit Studies 26:2 (2002), p. 134. 2. "Vancouver Olympic emblem comes under fire," CBC News (27 April 2005), http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2005/04/26/Olympiclogo0426.html; see also Armstrong, Jane, "The friend nobody likes" The Globe and Mail (27 April 2005, April), p. A1. 3. Armstrong, op cit. 4. "Vancouver 2010 logo unveiled," CBC Sports (24 April 2005), http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2005/04/23/2010_vancouver050423.html 5. "Introducing Ilanaaq: Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games emblem celebrates Canada" (23 April 2005), http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/news/news-releases/-/36170/32566/1k0x6sz/introducing-ilanaaq-vancouver.html 6. Ruhl, Jeffrey, "Inukshuk Rising: Iconification, Brand Canada and Vancouver 2010," Canadian Journal of Globalization, 1:1 (2008), p. 26; see also Heyes, op cit., Graburn, op cit. 7. Mackey, Eva, House of Difference: Cultural Politics and National Identity in Canada (University of Toronto Press: Toronto, 2002); see also Pupchek, Leanne, "True North: Inuit Art and the Canadian Imagination," The American Review of Canadian Studies 31:1/2 (Spring/Summer 2001). 8. Ruhl, op cit., p. 26 9. Heyes, op cit., p. 134 10. Anderson, Benedict R. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (Verso: New York, 1991). 11. Grant, Shelagh, "Myths of the North in the Canadian Ethos," The Northern Review 3–4 (1989). 12. See, among others, Grace, Sherrill E. Canada and the Idea of North (McGill-Queen's UP: Montreal & Kingston, 2001); Heininen, Lassi and Heather N. Nicol, "The Importance of Northern Dimension Foreign Policies in the Geopolitics of the Circumpolar North," Geopolitics, 12:1 (2007); Hamelin, Louis-Edmond, Canadian Nordicity: It's Your North Too. trans. William Barr (Montreal: Harvest House, 1978); Keskitalo, E.C.H., Negotiating the Arctic: The construction of an international regime (New York and London: Routledge, 2004); West, D.A., "Re-searching the North in Canada: An Introduction to the Canadian Northern Discourse," Journal of Canadian Studies 26:2 (1991), pp. 108–119. 13. West, op cit. 14. Said, Edward W, Orientalism (Vintage Books: New York, 1979), p. 22 15. Grace (2001 Grace, Sherrill E. 2001. Canada and the Idea of North, McGill-Queen's UP: Montreal & Kingston. [Google Scholar]), op cit. 16. Francis, Daniel, National Dreams: Myth, Memory and Canadian History (Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1997), p. 153. 17. Atwood, Margaret, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (Concord: House of Anansi Press Limited, 1972). 18. Thomas Berger, Northern Frontier, Northern Home: The Report of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, revised edition (Vancouver/Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 1988), p. 32. 19. Said, op cit., p. 3. 20. Graburn, op cit., p. 75. 21. Graburn, op cit., p. 71. 22. Cited in Grace (2001 Grace, Sherrill E. 2001. Canada and the Idea of North, McGill-Queen's UP: Montreal & Kingston. [Google Scholar]), op cit., p. 47. 23. Berger, Carl, The Sense of Power (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970), p. 61 24. Hougham, G. M., "Canada First: A Minor Party in Microcosm," The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 19:2 (May, 1953), p. 174. 25. Haliburton, R. G., The Men of the North and Their Place in History: A Lecture Delivered before the Montreal Literary Club, March 31, 1869 (Montreal: John Lovell, 1869), p. 1. 26. Berger, Carl, "The True North Strong and Free," in Peter Russell (ed.) Nationalism in Canada (Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1966), p. 5. 27. Haliburton, op cit., p. 2. 28. For a survey of the views of other Canada Firsters on the matter of the national benefits of a cold climate see Berger (1970 Berger, Carl. 1970. The Sense of Power, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [Google Scholar]) op cit. and (1966) op cit. 29. Ibid., p. 2. 30. Ibid., p. 10. 31. Ibid., p. 2. 32. Ibid., p. 6. 33. Ibid., p. 10. 34. Ibid., p. 2. 35. Berger (1970 Berger, Carl. 1970. The Sense of Power, Toronto: University of Toronto Press. [Google Scholar]), op cit., p. 131. 36. Haliburton, op cit., p. 9. 37. Cited in Berger (1966 Berger, Carl. 1966. "The True North Strong and Free," in Peter Russell (ed.)". In Nationalism in Canada, Toronto: McGraw-Hill. [Google Scholar]) op cit., p. 11. 38. Berger (1966 Berger, Carl. 1966. "The True North Strong and Free," in Peter Russell (ed.)". In Nationalism in Canada, Toronto: McGraw-Hill. [Google Scholar]) op cit., p. 12. 39. Cited in Berger (1966 Berger, Carl. 1966. "The True North Strong and Free," in Peter Russell (ed.)". In Nationalism in Canada, Toronto: McGraw-Hill. [Google Scholar]) op cit., p. 13. 40. Mackey, op cit., p. 32; emphasis in original. 41. Op cit., pp. 163–164. 42. The man portraying Nanook was an Inuk named Allakariallak. See Grace, Sherrill, "Exploration as Construction: Robert Flaherty and Nanook of the North," Essays on Canadian Writing 59 (Fall, 1996). 43. Francis, op cit., p. 164. 44. Grace (1996 Grace, Sherrill E. 1996. Exploration as Construction: Robert Flaherty and Nanook of the North. Essays on Canadian Writing, 59 Fall [Google Scholar]), op cit., Online Version – no page 45. Brody, Hugh, The People's Land: Eskimos and Whites in the Eastern Arctic (Markham: Penguin Books Canada, 1975), p. 81. 46. Pearson, Lester B., "Canada Looks 'Down North,'" Foreign Affairs, 24:4 (1947), p. 638 47. Mackey, op cit., pp. 77–78. 48. Pupchek, op cit. 49. Brown and Barbeau (1927, p. 1) cited in Pupchek, op cit., p. 195. 50. Brown and Barbeau (1927, p. 3) cited in ibid. p. 195. 51. Pupchek, op cit., p. 197. 52. McKay, cited in Pupchek, p. 197. 53. Woo, Benjamin, "Red and White Tights: Representations of National Identity in Canadian Comic Books," unpublished Masters Thesis, Queen's University (2004), p. 80. 54. Pupchek, op cit., p. 198. 55. cited in Francis, op cit., p. 165. 56. Francis, op cit., p. 167. 57. Pupchek (op cit., p. 203) cites as an example the ordered destruction by sledgehammer of an Inuit bust of Elvis Presley, noting that it was saved by a civil servant.