In pursuit of a Canadian identity : the creation of national colonial narratives through national historic sites in Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract

Within Canada, a variety of national colonial narratives are present which represent it as a welcoming, multicultural, and just country. These narratives do not include the histories of a variety of minority or marginalized nations, notably those of the First Nations, Métis, and Inuit. Canada’s national colonial narratives have been constructed mainly through avenues such as National Historic Sites (NHS). This thesis argues that Canada’s national colonial narratives are reliant on a version of Canadian history, which centres, sanitizes, and romanticizes the history of French and British colonisation in Canada while sidelining or ignoring Indigenous and other marginalized histories. Recognition of these realities would destabilize the legitimacy of the Canadian state and require the settler Canadian population to confront a variety of uncomfortable realities. This argument is forwarded through an analysis of two NHS in Nova Scotia, Canada, (the Fortress of Louisbourg NHS, and the Halifax Citadel NHS). The versions of history presented at these NHS create Canadian national colonial narratives and have real world impacts, particularly on Indigenous peoples.