Rectifying Revisionism: Canadian National Identity and War Commemoration

Abstract

Canadians have been given the torch, but are failing to hold it high, and are therefore breaking faith with those who died. This paper will argue that this phenomenon is primarily due to eroding remembrance of Canadian military heritage, through the weaponization of the ‘peacekeeping myth,’ and the geographic reality of continental separation from war cemeteries. With the aim to heal the damages of past revisionism regarding Canadian military heritage as a component of Canadian national identity, a standardized, national commemoration curriculum will be proposed, to ensure that our sacred pact to hold the torch high, is fulfilled.