In Canada, Trump’s threats inspire musical notes of resistance

Some Canadian musicians and content creators are reflecting a sudden surge in patriotism as they listen anxiously to the crescendo and decrescendo of United States President Donald Trump’s rhetoric against their country.

The pro-Canada songs currently spreading across social media, including some by Canadian celebrities, reveal a range of reactions to Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, while also contributing to the national mood.

These songs are striking, because Canadians have in recent decades been relatively uninterested in loud assertions of nationalist sentiment, outside of sporting events.

Shared identity

When shared identity has been emphasised, it has often been to promote provincial separatism or the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Uncritical Canadian nationalism has, to some, felt inappropriate since the 2015 findings and recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Patriotic feelings were further complicated during the pandemic, when the flag was co-opted by people opposing public health restrictions.

In these contexts, many commentators have for some time struggled to locate a shared Canadian attitude toward the nation.

Terms such as “multicultural nationalism”, “plural nationalism” or even “a postnational country” are perhaps the best descriptors of nationalist sentiment when it’s expressed in Canada.

In music, Canadian nationalism is only rarely articulated, beyond performances of the anthem. The pop songs that tell particularly Canadian stories tend to be more sentimental than nationalistic – songs like Gordon Lightfoot’s Canadian Railroad Trilogy or Anne Murray’s Snowbird. Yet something has shifted since...

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