Canada can quite accurately be described as a "nation of nations".

Many different national and ethnocultural entities have contributed to the development of our Canadian nation -- in many different ways and at many different periods of history. That's what makes Canada truly unique among the world's nations.

Canada is not a nation in the European sense of a nation encompassing a compact geographic area populated largely by one ethnic nationality. (It should be noted, however, that most European "nations" had sizeable national minorities throughout their history and have, by the 21st century, become multicultural societies through immigration.) Nor is Canada a nation in the "manifest destiny" understanding of a nation that Americans like to define themselves with -- a nation forged in war, both a revolution against an external ruler and a war amongst themselves to keep this nation together. Instead, Canada's development as a nation was a largely peaceful process and a progressive one in which many nations came to form a part of the whole over a prolonged period of time.

First -- over 30,000 years ago -- came the aboriginals, who justifiably earned the title of "First Nations".

Next came the British (or one can break this general designation down even further -- the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish) and the French, whom we can refer to as "European Founding Nations" (on a national basis), in the 17th century.

The British first settled along Atlantic colonies that were to join Canada at a later date, while it was the French who settled in the Saint Lawrence Valley region which was to give this country its name, as well as setting up their own Atlantic colony -- Acadia. After the 18th century American Revolution, the British element increased substantially as United Empire Loyalists moved into both the Atlantic colonies and the west part of what was then Canada, forming the foundation of Ontario. In the 19th century, more British colonists were to establish that beachhead on the west coast that was to become British Columbia. At the end of that century, as Canada assumed a territorial mass that stretched from sea to sea, came the need to settle the Prairies provinces. That's when "Regional Founding Nations" such as the Ukrainians arrived. Following the Second World War and, especially after immigration rules were liberalized in the sixties, many more nations from all around the world arrived to give Canada a truly global multicultural character -- in other words, the world's first international country.

Any attempt to define specific nations within this international country cannot be done in a vacuum. One has to take the entire mosaic -- in its full context -- into consideration. That's why the Harper initiative to define Quebec as a "nation within a united Canada" and the Liberal Party Quebec wing's proposed resolution to recognize Quebec as a nation and, more ominously, find ways to "officialize" this, are misguided and can only lead to the kind of acrimonious and divisive debate that accompanied the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accord debacles.

Furthermore, recognizing a territorial entity (Quebec) as opposed to an ethnoculturally-defined people (Francophones) opens the door to separatist claims, while ignoring the cultural minority rights of Francophones who live outside Quebec and non-Francophones who live inside that province. It may be reasonable to recognize a French-speaking nation within Canada, based upon history, numbers, official bilingualism and the fact that French-speaking Canadian culture is fundamentally different from English-speaking Canadian culture, and even more vibrant, since it isn't dwarfed by a massive English-speaking cultural behemoth to the south. But such a nation includes people from all across Canada -- not just one province. A Chretien from St. Paul, Alberta, is as much a part of this nation as a Chretien from Shawinigan, Quebec.