The Myth of Alberta Culture

Sorry about the lack of posts recently. I’ve undertaken a new research assignment through my little company which has kept me somewhat more busy than my last job. In this case, I’m doing some writing for an Alberta jobs placement website, trying to entice people to move to this province for some God-forsaken reason.

I noticed through my research that much of the factual evidence in Alberta government web pages comes from the Canadian Encyclopedia, a reference material which can be found in every library in this great dominion — if you’re willing to accept a considerably dated edition.

Whilst in research mode, I came across this little gem under the heading of “Culture” within the Alberta section of the 2003 Canadian Encyclopedia:

[Alberta culture] has had to combat 2 major negative forces: the persistence of a “frontier ethos” that emphasizes economic materialism and rugged individualism, and a cultural dependency on external metropolitan centres as New York, London, Toronto and Los Angeles.

[...]

Yet it has its advantages.

Who wrote this, Pierre Trudeau?

First off, culture is what it is; it does not always have to mean classical music, modern art, interpretive dance and what have you. A culture of a community or region is defined by its people and institutions, not by some hack editor sitting in a dimly-lit cubicle in suburban Toronto.

While it is true that Alberta is still a young province, it has a deep history through its original inhabitants, through their early European settlers, and through the diverse influx of foreign immigrants of the past 120 years or more. As such, it culture is still evolving and obtaining an identity. Hence, the “frontier ethos” and “rugged individualism” unique to the place and time.

Second, what North American regional culture is itself not defined in some way by London, New York or Los Angeles? Which Canadian province is not affected by the cultural in-roads of the Toronto-based CBC which, in itself, is often influenced by London through the BBC?

The province is not the best place for everybody, and it seems that the rapidly growing economy has changed the Alberta culture yet again. Yet, to say that it has no positive culture of its own outside of that which is “dependent” on external centres is as elitist as it is wrong.

There are good people here, creative people doing creative things. Culture can not be confined to the dance hall or poetry readings; it is in the communities, in the boardrooms, during public festivals, through its businesses and organizations. In fact, it is because of — not despite — the independent spirit that Alberta has been able to develop its own unique identity in the world.

Which is something I would not expect the editors of the Canadian Encyclopedia to recognize. Apparently, Wikipedia is not the only source of biased information out there.

But at least wiki is current.