DCHP-2

hyphenated Canadian DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Ethnicities, at times derogatory

  a Canadian of an ethnic background other than English or British.

  Type: 4. Culturally Significant — As an immigrant country, mixed ethnicities have been key to the development of Canada, despite racism and the implicit assumption of a white English or British norm (see in this context the 1929 quotation). Hyphenated Canadian has been used throughout the 20th century, as the quotations show, yet its uses have shifted from the white British immigrants of different backgrounds (French, Scottish or Irish versus the English "reference point" at the time). The term has a highly complex set of connotations that vary from negative (see the 1944 quotation in the context of acquiring full Canadian independence; the 1980 quotatoin) to the positive (see the 1997 quotation) to neutral (see the second 2005 quotation). Overall, the term seems to have carried more negative than positive connotations over the decades. The 2016 quotation and its call for current "assessment and re-examination" is a good conclusion to the complex situation concerning the term.
  Despite the name of this term, many examples of this expression do not use the hyphen, e.g. "Austrian Canadian" rather "Austrian-Canadian" .

  See also: French Canadian (meaning 1)  

  • The term "hyphenated American" dates at least back to 1891 (in The New York Times). Hyphenated Canadian was likely formed by analogy, although we have no conclusive evidence for this.

  • 1900  Hyphenated Canadians "I am a Canadian," continued the doctor [Principal Grant], "not a hyphenated Canadian, neither Scotch-Canadian, Irish-Canadian nor French-Canadian, and we will never be right till this name can be given to all of us in every Province. But I am not merely a Canadian: I am a British subject. The word Canadian means all that - a subject of Queen Victoria [...]. 
  • 1902  The only sound doctrine is that no one has the right to be supported for office or for Parliament simply because he is a French-Canadian, and English-Canadian, and Irish-Canadian, or any other kind of a hyphenated Canadian. 
  • 1915  "The time has come," said Mr. McMaster, "when we must drop the hyphen. We are neither French, English nor Irish, or any other sort, but must be just plain, un-hyphenated Canadians, ready to support Canada and our Empire." 
  • 1929  At various intervals since the taking of the last census there have been recurrences of a complaint that the schedules made no provision, or at any rate no adequate provision, for the classification of Canadian-born residents as Canadians; there have been English-Canadians, French-Canadians, Scotch and Irish-Canadians, and various other classes, the accent in all instances being placed upon the racial origin rather than upon the general national description. [...] The Government, apparently, has taken cognizance of this [...] and it is announced that when the next count is made the name of every man, woman and child will be recorded, some as Canadians, others as British subjects who are not Canadians, and the rest as aliens. The designation "Canadian" will apply to all those born in the Dominion, as well as to the children of Canadian parents born abroad and not naturalized in any other country; it will apply, too, to all British subjects who have acquired legal domicile in Canada, and to all naturalized persons and their children. [...] It has been noted, moreover, that this demand for an un-hyphenated Canadian category has come most frequently and insistently from those who have talked loudest of Canadian national quality and have been most critical of British ties and associations. 
  • 1944  She commended the resolutions passed at the conference, particularly that asking the Federal government "if after the war if would be possible to review the whole question of nationality in Canada" so that hereafter Canadians would be merely Canadians and not so-called hyphenated Canadians. 
  • 1965  In a no-holds barred Tuesday speech, Quebec MP Jean-Luc Pepin argued in favor of "hyphenated Canadianism" before an audience of Jewish-Canadian women. [...] "We are all hyphenated Canadians. If we stopped calling ourselves French-Canadians we would only have to find other hyphens to replace them - blonde-Canadians, red-haired-Canadians, etc." Rejecting the so-called mosaic theory of Canadianism, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of trade and commerce said the position or theory of the mosaic, i.e. that Canada is an organization of units or "ensembles" is not a valid one. 
  • 1980  Although this may break down substantially in the West and a lesser bit in Ontario, it seems to me that the really superb strength of Trudeau has been that he has not been seen as a "hyphenated" Canadian in Ontario and the Maritimes. 
  • 1992  STUDENTS AT Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School don't want to be 'hyphenated' Canadians, and don't feel Quebec should get special treatment. Those seemed to be the strongest sentiments among senior students who attended an assembly yesterday to hear Hamilton West MP Stan Keyes' views on the Charlottetown constitutional accord. 
  • 1997  The festival is about unity and multiculturalism; yet, there was a French-Canadian pavilion sponsored by the Alberta Francophone community, as well as the French pavilion. The dilemma that I have not been able to resolve is: If we are all "hyphenated-Canadians,'' then, why just a French-Canadian pavilion? Why not every pavilion being a display of "hyphenated-Canadian'' culture? Or, are the festival organizers and sponsors promoting and supporting the concept of Quebec sovereignty? I appreciate that French-Canadians offer a culture that is uniquely different from that of France. But, have not all of the other "hyphenated-Canadian'' cultures acquired, integrated and assimilated the attributes that have made them uniquely Canadian and distinct from their motherland? I would like to suggest that rather than encouraging, supporting and promoting "hyphenated-Canadian'' pavilions, that there be a pavilion that showcases the uniquely Canadian institutions (e.g. the RCMP, maple syrup, flipper pie, back bacon). This pavilion would be symbolic of how diversity has been a tool to unify Canada. That is what makes Canada uniquely Canadian. 
  • 2005  Radu no longer speaks Romanian, although he did when he was five, and repudiates any identity as a hyphenated Canadian. Nevertheless, he has been haunted all his life by his mother's stories, and only now feels they have been exorcised via the non-fiction. 
  • 2005  The social benefits of the museum would be endless and would enrich our community. Students could experience the value of the museum as a teaching and study facility. Veterans and their families would have a place to reflect. New immigrants and hyphenated Canadians would be able to understand how our nation was defined through blood, sweat and tears. 
  • 2016  In this issue, we explore why the concept of hyphenated Canadians and terms such as 'visible minorities,' 'newcomers,' and even 'race relations' require ongoing assessment and re-examination.