The main artifact chosen for this scrapbook is the first priority from the Canadian Heritage Report on Plans and Priorities (RPP). As mentioned in the introduction, this priority highlights the core themes of promoting diversity and inclusion, engaging and inspiring youth, promoting reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and connecting Canadians with their natural environment. Outcomes, such as promoting tourism, and key departmental activities, such as working intergovernmentally to engage youth, Indigenous Peoples, and ethno-cultural communities, are also noted. Priorities are plans or initiatives that a department focuses on for a given planning period, and articulate what is important for a given timeframe (Treasury Board Secretariat 2015: http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/hgw-cgf/oversight-surveillance/ae-ve/cee/pubs/lex-eng.asp). In a high-level fashion, this priority articulates how the Government of Canada is organizing Canada 150 celebrations through its bureaucracy, along with the key values the government wishes to promote through the festivities. As a whole, the priority reflects the modern process of Canadianization outlined by Edwardson, wherein cultural vitality is aligned with economic interests and that there is a diversion of attention towards developing a Canadian identity promoting the myth of the ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ in spite of reality pointing to the contrary (2004, 25). While values such as multiculturalism, engagement, and environmentalism are promoted, other ‘Peaceable Kingdom’ values such as equality, social welfare, and peacekeeping are not explicitly or implicitly noted. This priority directly links Canada 150 with economic growth, demonstrating that attention is paid to the economics underlying cultural politics and identity formation. Within the priority, it is also explicit that these values are being projected both domestically and abroad. Through this artifact, it is clear that the machinery of government is being leveraged to promote certain values even if they are at odds with actual policies being implemented. Since the core themes are to be reflected in the projects that get promoted, there is a degree of hegemony in which values are promoted. This evokes Bruce Curtis’ argument, where administration and bureaucracy can be used to create an identity (2001,316). Overall, these values present a framework that can be used to assess other artifacts in this scrapbook.
This artifact is significant on a personal level for multiple reasons. As a public service employee, the values articulated here reverberate throughout the public service and will likely affect my work in one way or another. Given that the values promoted are aligned with Liberal values, the ostensible non-partisan bureaucracy is being used to promote a particular political brand. Alex Marland previously warned about the implications of political branding: it has a “tightening grip” on civil servants who are supposed to work on the public’s behalf (2016, xxiv). Rather than implementing a government’s agenda, public servants play a performative role in the promotion of a political party’s projected image. While I find that the core themes are agreeable, consideration must be paid to alternate visions of Canadian values that exist within a diverse country. If this is not done, then the public service risks siding with the governing party over the interests of the citizens (Nimijean 2005, 39). By not including dissenting voices, a lopsided image of Canada, one amenable to the governing party of the day, is presented, possibly alienating large swathes of the country. Overall, this artifact highlights the relationship between the bureaucracy and the governing party, along with the issues that can arise. Namely, this refers to the bureaucracy being complicit in promoting rhetoric over substantive policy, with actual policy consequences being ignored in favour of the image.
