Children's Literature and Canadian National Identity: A Revisionist Perspective

Abstract

Résumé: L'auteur rappelle le rôle essentiel que joue l'institution scolaire dans l'affirmation de l'identité et de la culture canadiennes; il plaide en favour de l'abandon de la vision eurocentrique traditionnelle et d'une plus grande ouverture a la diversité et au pluralisme. À cet égard, l'école primaire devrait non seulement sensibiliser les élèves a la variété des productions régionales mais aussi promouvoir l'égalité, la justice et la tolérance grâce à la diffusion d'une littérature de plus en plus multiculturelle. Summary: Canadian children's literature can play an important role in affirming a Canadian culture and identity. The school has always played and, whether we like it or not, always will play, an important role in promoting a national perspective. This article argues that there are commonplaces of our Canadian culture and identity that are inclusive of Canadians of all racial and ethonocultural origins and from all parts of Canada. The promotion of any national viewpoint is usually directed at the secondary level where Can-Lit and Canadian history become a focus for study. This viewpoint has traditionally been a Eurocentric perspective that has ignored the reality of Canada's current diversity. A focus on the secondary level ignores the fact that most societies have traditionally focussed on inducting their youth into the "tribe" before the age of thirteen. Therefore elementary schools have an important role to play in telling the Canadian story through children's literature, a literature that can not only reveal the splendour of our regional diversity, but one that can promote equity, justice and fairness through the richness of our multicultural literature.