Peaceful, tolerant and orderly? A feminist analysis of discourses of ‘Canadian values’ in Canadian Foreign Policy

Discourses of Canadian values have been asserted with frequency in Canadian foreign policy documents and public pronouncements. Such statements frequently represent Canada as a peaceful, tolerant, and orderly liberal nation, free of inequalities. This article argues that this discourse has several effects. First, it serves to obscure on‐going histories of marginalization in Canada that occur along the lines of gender, race, disability, sexuality, and class. Second, this discourse represents Canada as heroic and altruistic in its conduct overseas. This can be disrupted through feminist and anti‐racist scrutiny of questionable actions abroad, including those undertaken in Somalia and Afghanistan. Third, discourses of Canadian values produce a narrative of “Canada the good” that is implicated in the governance of Canadians. Such discourses incite Canadians to autonomously self‐govern in accordance with liberal citizenship, to live up to the standards of liberal behaviour set out in discourses of Canadian values. The article concludes with an exploration of the implications of this analysis.