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Secret Life of Canada

The Secret Life of Canada's new season begins with a 'sorry'

In the first episode of season six of The Secret Life of Canada, co-hosts Falen Johnson and Leah-Simone Bowen begin with an apology — sort of. They are going deep into the history books to try to finally answer the question: Do Canadians actually apologize more than anyone else?

It's the sixth season of the podcast about the country you know and the stories you don't

CBC Podcasts ·
Falen Johnson wears a white shirt and sits next to Leah-Simone Bowen, wearing a pink sweater. They sit in front of a microphone with a yellow background behind them.
Falen Johnson and Leah-Simone Bowen are back with a sixth season and begin with a look into the historical roots of the Canadian “sorry." (Photo by May Truong)

In the first episode of season six of The Secret Life of Canada, co-hosts Falen Johnson and Leah-Simone Bowen begin with an apology — sort of. They are going deep into the history books to try to finally answer the question: Do Canadians actually apologize more than anyone else?

Politeness and the national penchant for using the word "sorry" are frequently used to describe Canadians — often in comparison to Americans. A quick internet search on why Canadians apologize will often lead to an explanation that it stems from Canada's British foundations.

In this episode, Johnson and Bowen unpack the roots of the mea culpa and learn that while saying "sorry" and "désolé" too much may be how Canadians are perceived globally, early conflict resolution by early settlers and colonists was not always apologetic.

A painting circa. 1820 depicts a duel, between two men holding guns. Two other men stand back watching the duellers.
A painting circa. 1820 depicts a duel. By 1873, duels had been outlawed in Newfoundland, and duelling pistols were difficult to come by, making it accessible mainly to the upper class. (A painting circa. 1820)

Many of the British and French men who arrived turned to duelling to settle disputes. The British used guns while the French preferred swords. The first recorded duel was in 1646 in New France, now Quebec.

Duelling was eventually declared a criminal offence by Queen Victoria in 1844 and then became a part of Canada's criminal code in 1892. It's a strange part of the country's history, especially when investigating the perception that Canadians are by and large conflict-averse and apologize more than any other group of people.

In 2018, tongue in cheek headlines began to crop up in publications around the world declaring that Canada would be legalizing duelling. In actuality, the Federal Government was reviewing what it described to be  "obsolete" and "redundant" sections of the Criminal Code.

 Section 71 included that a person would be "guilty of an indictable offence" and possibly serve up to two years in jail for "attempts by any means to provoke another person to fight a duel."

Of course, duelling was not the only way people settled their disputes before the 1900s. Indigenous conflict resolution may have played a bigger role in influencing the Canadian conflict averse and contrite national persona, says Johnson.

An overhead view of the Indigenous People's Garden at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
An overhead view of the Indigenous People's Garden at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Dave Thomas, an Anishinaabe architect from Peguis First Nation in Manitoba, was a consultant on the project. (Submitted by Dave Thomas)

"While, not all Indigenous groups ...run by the same laws and concepts, we know that the idea of resolution through circle is something that a lot of people prescribe to," said Johnson. "Coming to consensus, conflict resolution [is] an Indigenous concept."

So while the British and French influences on Canadian culture are prevalent, so, too, are the Indigenous ones. As the country has grown and evolved, the apology has become a norm in the political sphere.

Though most of the Federal Government's apologies have been born out of decades of advocacy work by survivors and activists, co-hosts Bowen and Johnson learn that controlling a message and public perception can be as important.

Prime minister Stephen Harper apologizes for residential schools in 2008

16 years ago
Duration 2:54
Warning: This video contains distressing details. In Parliament, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivers an apology to residential school survivors and all Indigenous Canadians. Aired on a CBC live TV special on June 11 2008. To see the full event, visit http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1228444227817 About 150,000 First Nations, Inuit and Métis children were forced to attend the government-funded residential schools from the 19th century to 1996, when the last one closed. They lived in substandard conditions and endured sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. The system was "cultural genocide," said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2015. A 24-hour national Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available at 1-866-925-4419 to support former students and others affected by a residential school experience.

But, what about the question — do Canadians apologize more than anyone else? 

As the episode explores the works of many linguists and academics and the answer to this, Bowen found is no.

"One study we found, poured through hundreds of hours of dialogue from British, Canadian and American television and media and what they found was actually Americans use the word sorry way more in their television and movie dialogue, and Canadians and British less," said Bowen.

But if that's true, where does this perception come from?

Take a listen to this week's episode to find out more. Listen to more episodes here, and get transcripts of our series here.

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