Remembrance Day Essay

Nationalism is a driving force behind politics and can be used by the state to change the populaces view on a certain subject. Benedict Anderson gives a strong definition of what nation really is and nationalisms historical emergence, which is key to understanding an article written by Yves Frenette that gives us a Canadian context to the concept of nationalism. After these two articles we can look at different articles and statements that were made around Remembrance day, a day for the commemoration of the sacrifices made by the men and women who served Canada during times of war and times of peace. Most recently we can compare the statements of the twenty-third Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau on this Remembrance day. As well as the
Kilford’s arguement aligns well with Anderson’s idea of a nation and the values that are expressed in Frenette. Kilford’s idea of a multiculutral Canada that has evolved over time to commemorate the sacrifices of the soldiers from a primarily white european background shows that Canada is truly the community that Anderson defined. People do not get the same things from Canada, but when it comes to remembering all the fallen soldiers that died in service of their country, people from all walks of life come together to honour that sacrifice. It also matches Anderson’s idea of the community being imagined, these immigrants who arrived well after the war have the image in their mind of what the soldiers look like, and they imagine that they are just like them and they have the common interests that all Canadians do. Being an immigrant himself Kilford has an idea of what multiculturalism is and as he states “our multicultural society is the backbone of Canada”(Kilford). For Frenette this is a key part of the liberal idea of nationalism. Multiculturalism is being more adopted and as Kilford says the nation that was once French and British settlers and the First Nations people has been joined by people fleeing persecution or simply a better