Brand Canada

Canada should harness its vast cultural, political, geographic, and linguistic knowledge to position itself at the leading edge of a global economy.

... We are cultures strung together

than the sum total of our histories ...

– From “We are more,” by Shane Koyczan, slam poet

Two weeks ago, I attended my stepson Neil’s graduation from the UBC Faculty of Engineering. It brought back memories of my own graduation 20 years earlier. Broadcaster Peter Gzowski was the keynote speaker, and we were a sea of bright white faces parading across the stage to collect our diplomas. What a difference 20 years can make. As Neil strode across the stage, he stood out, not only because he is six-foot-five, but because he is white – one of about 40 students within a class of 400.

Canada has changed. According to a 2008 Environics Research poll, Canada has the most globally connected population in the world. Through our families, work, volunteer, and travel experiences, our networks are vast, deep, and strong. And herein lies our greatest asset. In an increasingly complex and diverse world, Canadians have the unique capacity to be cultural translators – helping ourselves and potentially others to navigate through the formal and informal institutions, norms, languages, and customs of other cultures.

We are unique in the developed world. Where homogeneity is revered in some cultures, many Canadians see our multiculturalism as a fundamental symbol of Canada. It helps shape our national identity, our notions of citizenship. and our identification of common values. The Economist has said that Canada is “cool,” in part because we like being diverse.

But while others might think we are cool, Canadians haven’t fully embraced the country’s pluralism. We haven’t recognized the incredible value and knowledge that exists within our diverse ethnocultural and Diaspora communities. We haven’t valued the networks and knowledge that refugees bring to our country. Nor have we tapped into the experiences of our young overseas volunteers, our former diplomats, or the scores of people who have worked abroad with Canadian businesses, to help shape our understanding of the world. Here we are, a diverse, smart, and globally connected population marketing ourselves to the world with a fake lake and Muskoka deck chairs.

But what if we could find a way of recognizing and harnessing this incredible strength as a country? How could we translate our global connectivity into an exportable trait? We could brand Canada as the world’s centre of excellence for cultural translation. By tapping into our vast cultural, political, geographic, and linguistic knowledge, we could position our country at the leading edge of a globalized knowledge-based economy.

But in order to tap into this incredible social and economic wealth, we will have to first acknowledge that it exists. This means treating globally-connected Canadians as central to our communities – not as “other” in our society. This means addressing accreditation of foreign-trained professionals, recruiting for diversity on our boards and in our foreign service, building capacities in our universities to train for cultural translation, and recognizing the importance of the two-million-plus Canadians living abroad.

Imagine a country that not only understood its own banking system, but also knew the ins and outs of all the major (and minor) banking systems of the world. Imagine a cadre of international governance specialists who could reference the Canadian model of federalism and explain its attributes in relation to other governance models. Imagine a country that could provide intelligence about the religious, social, economic, or cultural traits of a failing state before troops are deployed.

While some might argue that this is a “middle power” orientation in a different cloak, it is not. To be an effective cultural translator requires a far more networked and horizontal approach to foreign policy. It requires individuals and institutions that can decipher the intricacies of a complex and interconnected world, that can decode different ways of knowing and that can identify new levers to solve global problems.

No other country in the world is better equipped to play this role than Canada. We have the artists, business people, poets, young social entrepreneurs, business leaders, and yes, engineers who can deliver on this new vision for Canada. But for them to succeed, we need to retire our old and myopic ways and let them lead.