PERCEIVE IT?
EXAMINING POLISH PERCEPTIONS
OF CANADIAN IDENTITY*
This paper investigates the Polish perception of Canada as a cultural, political and social entity, examining Canadian identity from the detached perspective of an East ern European country that has always been strongly influenced by the idea of Americanness.
I claim thatthe Polish idea of Americanness has completelyincorporated the idea of Canadian-ness, whichalmost does not exist as a separate entity for Polish people.
We hardly identify Canada as having aseparate cultural identity. One ofmy student
respondents, when asked about Canadian culture, said: “It blurs”. This enigmatic designation, in short, gives the very truth about the identification of Canada and Canadianness in Poland. Canada with its history and culture dissolves in the big pot called America. The history of both countries developed simultaneously. Multi culturalism brought about by immigrants determined the cultural and social faces of both countries, and the dominance of the English language was another common characteristic. For an observer from a remote country, the discernment of separate identities is necessarily, very difficult, identification mustbe and in fact is very hard tocomplete.
Stuart Hall, inoneofhismany articles devoted to the problemof identity entitled Who Needs Identity, regards identification as one of the basic terms in discussing identity.
“In common meaning identification is a construction on the back of a recognition of some common origin or shared characteristics with another person or group, or with an ideal, and with the natural closure of solidarity and allegiance established on this founda
tion. ”* 1 - he writes.
* This paper was presented at the Canadian Conference in Tonin, April 2001.
1 S. Hall: Who Needs Identity. In: Questions of Cultural Identity (Hall & du Gay eds ), Lon
don, Thousand Oaks, New Dehli: Sage Publications 1998, p. 3.
This means in practice, that it is first necessary to identify (recognize) some Ca
nadian features and then identify (associate) oneself with them in order to call one self Canadian. Hall argues that the process of identification is completed through differences. “This entails the radically disturbing recognition that is only through the
relationto the Other, the relation towhat is not (...) to what hasbeen called its con stitutive outside.”2 Although identity is not wholly defined by exclusion, every national identity exists within a global system, and, as a part of that system, the membersofa nation construct a national identitybydefining it against that which it is not. For example, according to Morley(1992) the new European identity is devel oped on the basis of being ‘not American’. The same basis seems to be true for the Canadians who are also attempting to conceive of their identity through their rela tionto Americans. In the area of media studies, forexample, there are many works (for example Miller, 1984, or Goldman/Winter, 1991) that attempt to prove that Ca
nadians have an identity distinct from Americans, whose media products dominate Canadian air waves.
2 Ibidem, p. 5.
3 K. Romaniszyn, Cbłopi polscy tv Kanadzie (1896-1939), Warszawa: PAN, IRWiR 1991, p. 17.
I wish to examine the problem ofCanadian identity from a totally different angle and see how Poles have been identifying/recognizing Canadianness. I realize that identities are constructed within rather than not outside of discourse and that my approach to the problem might be considered a bitself-willed. Fortunately, the dis
cursive practice in the subjectof identity has not been clearlyestablishedand look ing at a nation’s identity from the position of an external identifying observer could be interesting. It isnot my intention toanswer the question: Whatdoes it mean to be Canadian? But rather: What does Canadian mean?
To get a more historical perspective I began by looking for some tracesof iden tification of Canadianness in the diaries and letters of Polish immigrants to Canada.
Secondly, I had a brieflook at some of Arkady Fiedler’sworks about Canada, which are quite popular in Poland and which might have had a great influence on shaping the Polish image of Canada. Finally, a simple questionnaire and focus group discus sion helped me to find a more empiric and contemporary picture of the issue. All these sources of information provided me with the impression that Canada has not been perceived as a separate cultural entity with its own national character, but rather as the northernextension of the U.S.A. - part of the Great MythicalAmerica.
After its discovery in the 15th century, America was perceived by Europeans to be the mythical Eden, the Promised Land or El Dorado. It wascalled the New World in opposition to Old Europe, and it represented a new mankind freed from old mistakes and washed of old sins. Colonization built up the American Myth of a beautiful, rich virgin land that would accept and feed anyone and everyone who neededit. It was truefor the whole North Americancontinent.
The largest group of Polish immigrants arrived in Canada between 1896 and 1929- The first date was establishedby Clifford Sifton - the Minister of Interior who opened the Canadian borders for immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe. The closing date marks the Depression of 1929. Although public opinion did not favor Polish immigration to Canada,3 it increased everyyear.
By the 1920s there were over 100 000 Polish settlers in Canada (Mazurkiewicz;
Kogler). They were mostly peasants coming to Canada from poor regions ofsouth ern Poland who were leaving the country for economic reasons. Myths of American welfare and American dollars were extremely vivid in the Polish peasant’s aware
ness. This is probably why almost all of them were leaving their country forAmer
ica. Some ofthem did not realize what Canada was - terms such as American dis
trict and Americanprovince were their associations with the name.
Polish immigrants to Canada at that time came mostly from traditional societies which provided their members with solid, stable and fixed identities. In traditional societies “identity was a function of pre-defined social roles and a traditional system of myth which provided orientation and religious sanctions to define one’s place in the world.”4 Polish immigrants to Canada were very religious and they had a very strong cultural identity.5 Emigration often intensified the identification with the na
tive culture since, as one of the emigrants said, a good Pole can experience better abroad who be really is.6 Already possessinga strong and stable identity, Polish im
migrants sought rather to preserve than changeit. We must realize that they did not know the language, they were not fully accepted by the Anglo-Saxon inhabitants and they mostly settled in communities of their own nationality. It happened very often that they spoke only Polish and did not feel any need to learn English or French. Their social life was connected with local communities usually concentrated arounda localCatholic church.
4 D. Kellner, Media Cultures. London, New York: Routledge 1995, p. 231.
5 Polish peasants’ identity was more cultural than national. It was determined by their re
ligion, the region and the tradition of sociaty they were coming from. They did not develop national identity i.e. being and feeling a Pole, this was mostly because of the then political situation in which Poland as a autonomous country did not exist.
6 Pamiętniki emigrantów, Pamiętnik I, Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza 1971, p. 308.
However, even these quite simple, uneducated people tended to observe and draw conclusions from the new reality. Inthe diariesof Polish immigrants toCanada there are remarks about work ethos, about the organization of the country, democ racy and equality of citizens. They often compared their native country to here in America.
Moreover, there were some that distinguished “American” from “Canadian”.Józef Samulski, a peasant from the western part of Poland and the author of a very inter esting diary describing 30 years ofhis life in Canada, provides us with a very good example. As a Canadian citizen he hasa strongfeelingof belonging to Canada. The States is a different country for him; he does not like it and does not have a good opinion of Americans as people and a nation. During a visit to his home village in Poland, neighbours and relatives call him Americanbut he emphasizes thathe lives in Canada.
This clearly illustrates a typical phenomenon, that is present even now while talking about the States and Canada. For an average Pole who has been neither to Canada nor the U.S.A, nor is particularly interested in either of these countries, the term America serves for both. For those who visit North America the differentiation suddenly becomes very important.
Polish emigrants were mostly left their homes for America, which generally meant: better life, hope, money, chance and welfare. But they identified the new country once they had settled down in whichever one it was. For those whostayed in Poland, the U.S.A, and Canada wereboth America. Strangelyenough itis not true for every region of the country. In the south-east ofPoland (Krosno, Rzeszów), re
gions which saw a large emigration forCanada, the term Canadawassynonymous with welfare, success, money, etc. So even today, when someone is successful and rich, people from the region say: He has Canada(not America^ here.
The diaries I analyzed were written by emigrants who belonged to “the fathers’
generation”, who although spent many years on Canadian soil still felt Polish. The situation was different for the “sons’ generation” - those who arrived in Canada as small children orwere born there. They usually attended Canadian schools and the education system ensured that a great deal of the socialization of the members of the nation occurred in a similar way (Gellner, 1983). They usually spoke English better and acquired a new style of life. In the diaries, the fathers complain about their children changing names for these sounded more American and becoming to tally American.
Literary works concerning Canada, although not numerous, provide the Polish reader with a similar picture of the country as partof mythical America. One of the influential writers who helped shape the popular image of Canada mostly during communist times was Arkady Fiedler, a traveler who wrote about his trips to Can ada. In the times when our borderswereclosed his books were almost compulsory for anyone dreaming about becoming a traveling Pole. In his books, Canada ap
peared on one hand as a wild country full ofclean rivers, vast woods filled with deer, buffaloes and bears and inhabited by hermits or Indians. But, on the other hand, Canada was for him an extension of the U.S.A, with all the economic mecha
nisms, technical power and people’s life style. He mentions how americanization changed the native Canadians’ way of life by, for example, replacing horses with cars. When Fiedler talks about Canadian citieshe usually uses the term North Ameri
can or American, not Canadian. The cities are, for him, totally American including their inhabitants who live anAmerican way of life. Even one of the events he de
scribes called the Stampede, which is celebrated in Calgary and is considered to be Canadian, is in fact a typical Wild West cowboys’ culture celebration. Because read by so many, Fiedler’s picture of Canada was very influential and it certainly created a Polish identification ofCanada: wilderness on the one hand and a rich, mythical American countryon the other.
What determines ofCanadianness forcontemporary Poles? It is definitely the re sult of the previously mentioned facts provided by emigrants, their families and by the authors ofsome books that created a kind of common opinion. Nowadays, the media could also be considered a powerful tool in creating or fixing features of Canadianness but I do not think that a contentanalysis of Canadian media products presenting a piece ofCanadian reality can be broadlyrepresented.
Taking into consideration the results of myshort research conducted for this pa
per, I have to admit that the recognition of Canada and Canadianness in Poland has not changed much.
I asked 40 Poles aged 14-35, mostly secondary school and university students, about some Canadian general knowledge. Theanswers, or rather lack thereof, show explicitly that our knowledge of Canada is not greater than our knowledge of a small African country.
Over 80%of respondentsdid not know who the leader of Canada was. Some an
swered that the British Queen (3) was, some said the President (3) and only one person mentioned the Prime Minister. Nobody knew his name. About 20% could not
name the Capital City; another 20% gave a wrong answer (Toronto, Montreal,
“Octawa” andOntario).
95% could not name any personality connected with Canadian history - there were just two historical figures: McKenzie and Brant and almost 8% did not know any Canadian historicalevent. The remaining 20% ofthe collected answers included World War II, the discovery of America and the foundation ofCanada (very smart I).
Only 2 answers can be considered correct and they both concerned the War of 1812. When asked about any representative of Canadian culture (writer, painteror musician) they mostly gave names of pop-stars (C. Dion - 6 and B. Adams - 4).
Lucy M. Montgomery’simmortality gained 3 ‘votes’. Almost 50% were unableto give any answer.
Questions about products associatedwith Canada elicited only6 answers: maple syrup, hockey, wood, chestnuts, cod-liveroil and... a set of flies for fishingtrout and graylings.
Finally, almostall of the respondents chose Niagara Falls and the Great Lakes as the tourist attractionsof Canada.
Also, the focus group discussion with 6 students of the Jagiellonian University confirmed my hypothesis. Firstly, one of them suggested that such a thing as Cana
dian culture did not exist, and although another student protested and claimed that every country had its culture, they all agreed that they did not know it, and could not identify any characteristics.
They also had very few associations with Canada: hockey, forests, cold weather, small population, Celine Dion and Brian Adams. One of the students expressed his opinion that Canadian culture is in fact American culture. Another one confirmed this with the argument that 80% of the Canadian population lives in cities near the U.S.A, border, so it is a matter of course that the culture is influenced. My question about FrenchCanada and the French cultural influence was rejected on the grounds that itdid nothave a bearing on culture, maybe only on politics.
When I asked them for reasons as to why Canadian culture is indistinguishable, they blamed: multi-culturalism, numerous religions, different nations. And they pro
vided Mexico as a contrast. When asked where they would prefer to live, in Canada or the U.S.A., they all chose the U.S.A. -the reason being thatthey would not like to live inanunknown country.
During the discussion I realized that Canada does not actually have a cultural stereotype - at least not one I have heardof.
Stereotypes are means of communication which help us to construct meaningout of certain phenomena alien to us. As a simplified, one-sided formulation of the phe nomena, stereotypes always cause discussion and are provocative. One idea of a possible stereotype of Canada that comes to my mind is of Wildernessas depicted in Fiedler’s book, and the hesitation ofone studentwho had to decide whether she would like to live in the U.S.A, or Canada. RejectingCanada she said: “Well, maybe there is a civilization there, but...”
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