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Cultural protectionism in Canada has, since the mid 20th century, taken the form of conscious, interventionist attempts on the part of various Canadian governments to promote Canadian cultural production and limit the effect of foreign, largely American, culture on the domestic audience. Sharing a large border and (for the majority) a common language with the United States, Canada faces a difficult position in regards to American culture, be it direct American attempts to circumvent Canada’s cultural safeguards or simply the general diffusion of American culture in the globalized media arena. While Canada tries to maintain its cultural sovereignty, it also must balance this with responsibility in trade arrangements such as NAFTA. Look up Culture on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Wikinews has news related to this article: Culture and entertainment Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Cultural Development in Antiquity Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Culture and Civilization in Modern Times Classificatory system for cultures and civilizations, by Dr. Sam Vaknin...
Jump to: navigation, search Protectionism is the economic policy of protecting a nations manufacturing base from the effects of foreign competition by means of very high tariffs on imported goods, restrictive quotas, or other means of reducing importation. ...
(19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
It has been said that Canadian culture rests solely in the effort to distinguish itself from its southern neighbour, the United States. ...
The North American Free Trade Agreement, known usually as NAFTA, is a comprehensive trade agreement linking Canada, the United States, and Mexico in a free trade sphere. ...
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Pierre Elliot Trudeau, one of Canada's most famous prime ministers, well expressed the sentiment many Canadians feel about living with the United States: Living next to you (the USA) is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly or temperate the beast, one is affected by every twitch and grunt. Name Pierre Elliott Trudeau Number Fifteenth First term April 20, 1968–June 4,1979 Second term March 3, 1980–June 30, 1984 Predecessor Lester Bowles Pearson Successors Joe Clark John Napier Turner Date of birth October 18, 1919 Place of birth Montreal, Quebec Date of death September 28, 2000 Spouse...
One of the first such responses to perceived American cultural "invasion" was through the National Film Act of 1950 that strengthened the National Film Board. Its purpose was to help promote Canadian films and give money to projects that would help promote Canadian culture. This, unfortunately, had very little true impact on the situation and led to The Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences, also known as the Massey Commission. Toronto offices for the National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (or NFB) is a Canadian public film-making organization organized to both fund and produce films that educate Canadians and promote Canada around the world. ...
The Massey Commission advocated the creation of a government sponsored organization that would distribute grants to Canadian artists. This organization, named the Canada Council, helps distribute large sums of money in hopes of promoting Canadian culture. The Council had a greater impact than its parent, and continues to support emerging Canadian cultural talent through grants and other support. Jump to: navigation, search The Canada Council for the Arts, commonly called the Canada Council, is an agency of the Government of Canada created to foster and promote the study and enjoyment of, and the production of works in, the arts. ...
The Massey Commission also foregrounded a general sense that Canada risks being swamped by an invasion of foreign culture, most notably that of the United States. This led to an increased fear that Canada might well lose a distinct, national culture.
Broadcasting Standards With this fear in mind, the government appointed Robert Fowler to chair a Royal Commission that is known as the Fowler Commission in 1955. The Fowler Commission reported that the majority of Canadian stations, including the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, uses not Canadian material, but American. It was the Commission's belief that a quota system should be enacted to protect Canadian content on the airwaves. Jump to: navigation, search The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known by the abbreviation CBC, is Canadas government-owned radio and television broadcaster. ...
This recommendation, passed in 1958, shaped Canadian media significantly. It affirmed the CBC as Canada's official broadcasting station and, more importantly, it initiated the quota system. In its inception, the quota system said that 45% of all content broadcast on the airwaves must be Canadian in origin. While this number has fluctuated over the years, it has generally required that almost half of all programming on Canadian airwaves be Canadian in origin. To the dismay of some Canadians, this hasn't stopped abuse of the system. Networks repeatedly by-pass this requirement by broadcasting sporting events as "Canadian content", leaving more "culturally" oriented programming off the large-network airwaves. A quota is a prescribed number or share of something. ...
Canadian content or can-con refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requirements that radio and television broadcasters (including cable TV networks) must air a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada. ...
This reformation of the Canadian airwaves, according to some, did not have the desired impact on Canadians. T. B. Symons, shortly after the Fowler report's installation in Canadian law, released a report entitled "To Know Ourselves". The report looked at Canadian high-school history books and found that while the Winnipeg General Strike went without mention, the books contained two chapters on Abraham Lincoln. The report also looked at Canadian children's general knowledge of their government and most could not identify the Canadian head of state (Queen Elizabeth II) and the basis for Canada's law and founding (the British North America Act 1867). Elizabeth II in an official portrait as Queen of Canada (on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee in 2002, wearing the Sovereigns badges of the Order of Canada and the Order of Military Merit) Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) (born 21 April 1926), styled HM The...
The British North America Act of 1867 was the act that established the Dominion of Canada, by the fusion of the North American British colonies of the Province of Canada, Province of New Brunswick, Province of Nova Scotia. ...
While this cultural protectionism by the Canadian government has raised the hackles of certain companies, specifically Reader's Digest and TIME, it has also had a negative impact on Canadians, some historians believe. It has created a somewhat self-absorbed Canadian identity that has largely been defined as 'I AM NOT AMERICAN'. It has also led to many individuals and companies to dismiss all Americans into a stereotype that clearly sets up boundaries between Canadians and Americans. The cover of the May 2004 issue of Readers Digest. ...
Jump to: navigation, search 8:17 am, August 6, 1945, Japanese time. ...
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