Table 1: Summary Statistics for Categories from Canadian Identity Questionnaire
 

Categories	Sum	Mean	Stand Dev
Canadian Activities	173	1.16	1.92
Canadian Affection/Identification	152	1.02	1.29
Canadian Disp. Characteristics	526	3.53	2.90
Canadian Identity Crisis	108	.72	1.29
Canadian Nature/Geography	37	.25	.70
Canadian Other/Soap-Boxing	23	.15	.54
Canadian Policies	124	.83	1.31
Canadian Relations	200	1.34	2.32
Canadian Symbols/Objects	46	.31	1.01
Canadian Total	1387	9.31	5.61
Ethnic Activities	233	1.56	2.07
Ethnic Affections/Identifications	144	.97	1.61
Ethnic Disp. Characteristics	262	1.76	2.39
Ethnic Identity Crisis	61	.41	.92
Ethnic Nature/Geography	12	.081	.43
Ethnic Other/Soap-Boxing	9	.060	.33
Ethnic Policies	11	.35	.86
Ethnic Relations	52	.11	.47
Ethnic Symbols/Objects	17	.11	.47
Ethnic Total	796	5.34	4.75

 

 This sample of young people also reported in

Table 2: The 19 Most Frequent Answers to 'What does it mean to be Canadian?'
 

Frequency

Statement

42 (8) (6) 21 18   18 15 11 10 10 9 8 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6

- (Non)-American:  - Different from US ((more so than similar) in constitutional priorities, inner cities, health care, persona, political corruption, right wing evangelical maniacs, friendlier)  - Distinct from US: more humble, polite, caring, mild, socially conscious - Freedom: (to be who or what one wants, of choice from governmental controls, career, speech, school, work, play, and beliefs)  - Diverse people (mix), more diverse than we think, diversity is our uniqueness, being diverse, Many different backgrounds, traditions, beliefs & types of Canadians (races), many distinct societies, many cultures shared by all, exposed to many traditions  - Proud: (7 - Proud of being Canadian ) - World: (4 - Model for the world in peace-keeping (multiculturalism, diversity, low crime) traditions ) - Multicultural (diverse ethnic) country, multicultural environment  - Equal rights against discrimination, to education, to vote, to express my feelings, non-dominance of any one race, to jobs - Tolerant: tolerance (acceptance) of different: traditions, religions and beliefs - Respectful: to animals, environment, forestry, others, different cultures, traditions, & religions  - [I'm unclear about my relationship to Canadian Identity]: Canadian Identity means not much to me, difficult to say how I fit in to Canadian identity, hard to say why I am proud to be Canadian, I feel in a state of limbo, I feel that I don't fit in, don't think about Canadian Identity often, don't think Canadian is something I need to define myself, don't think of myself as being Canadian, I find it difficult to say who I am because of diversity  - Knowing: politics, the native cultures, knowledgeable, may or may not know cultural histories, & traditions of Canada - Living in Canada  - Medical and Social System protects everyone (lucky to have) to have this welfare system & State, even kept by conservatives - Not a specific, unique or distinct (concrete) culture, way of being, or ethnicity  - Beautiful (spectacular) country, land, mountains, sea, prairies, rivers  - Fear [lament] losing identity socially, culturally (through free-trade), that national pride Will end with reform (& American media) - Influential persons (Robertson Davies, Joni Mitchell, Oscar Peterson, Pierre Trudeau, & the guy who invented insulin)  - Others: (E.g., More caring than others ) - People:(3- people can retain their (Indo-Canadian) culture)

 

 These responses can be compared with another sample taken in Vancouver five years earlier, as reported in

 Table 3: Most common responses to "What is Canadian Identity?"
from Tonks and Bhatt (1991).
 

Frequency	Statement
48 (8) (7) 29 26 20 18 13 10 8 8 7	- Reference to United States - Different from US - Mosaic, not melting pot of US - Freedom - Ethnic (racial) diversity (mosaic) - Unclear idea of Canadian identity (confused) - Multiculturalism - Peaceful - Don't believe there is one (identity) - Patriotically passive (not nationalistic) - Friendly - Laid-back

 

More discussion is forthcoming