Editing Culture of Canada (section)

===Values===
{{Main|Canadian values}}
[[Canadian values]] are the perceived commonly shared ethical and human values of Canadians. Canadians generally value freedom and individuality, often making personal decisions based on family interests rather than collective [[Canadian identity]].<ref name="g083"/> Tolerance and sensitivity hold significant importance in [[Multiculturalism in Canada|Canada's multicultural society]], as does politeness and fairness<ref name="g083"/> Canadians typically tend to embrace liberal views on social and political issues.<ref name="g083">{{cite web | title=Understanding Canadians | website=Simon Fraser University | url=https://www.sfu.ca/students/isap/explore/culture/understanding-canadians.html | access-date=2025-01-19}}</ref>  A majority of Canadians shared the values of [[Human rights in Canada|human rights]], respect for the law and gender equality.<ref name="u440">{{cite web | title=Perceptions of shared values in Canadian society among the immigrant population | website=Statistics Canada | date=2023-01-16 | url=https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/2923-perceptions-shared-values-canadian-society-among-immigrant-population | access-date=2025-01-19}}</ref> Universal access to publicly funded health services "is often considered by Canadians as a fundamental value that ensures national health care insurance for everyone wherever they live in the country."<ref>{{cite web|title=The Health of Canadians – The Federal Role|url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/content/sen/committee/372/soci/rep/repoct02vol6part7-e.htm|publisher=Parliament of Canada|access-date=5 January 2017|location=17.2 Universality|language=en|archive-date=January 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117231017/http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/372/soci/rep/repoct02vol6part7-e.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>  

The [[List of federal political parties in Canada|major political parties]] have claimed explicitly that they uphold Canadian values, but use generalities to specify them. Historian [[Ian McKay (historian)|Ian MacKay]] argues that, thanks to the long-term political impact of "[[Upper Canada Rebellion|Rebels]], [[Socialism in Canada|Reds]], and [[The Reform Movement (Upper Canada)|Radicals]]", and allied leftist political elements, "egalitarianism, social equality, and peace... are now often simply referred to...as 'Canadian values.'"<ref name="McKay2005">{{cite book|first=Ian|last=McKay|title=Rebels, Reds, Radicals: Rethinking Canada's Left History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gc_yHAW03fIC&pg=PA181|year=2005|publisher=Between The Lines|isbn=978-1-896357-97-3|page=181}}</ref> 
[[File:Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (English).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|A copy of the Canadian [[Charter of Rights and Freedoms]]]]
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was intended to be a source for Canadian values and national unity.<ref name="SnidermanFletcher1996">{{cite book|first1=Paul M.|last1=Sniderman|first2=Joseph F.|last2=Fletcher|first3=Philip E.|last3=Tetlock|title=The Clash of Rights: Liberty, Equality, and Legitimacy in Pluralist Democracy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vMxB6WFUckgC&pg=PA2|year=1996|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-06981-5|page=2}}</ref> The 15th Prime Minister [[Pierre Trudeau]] wrote in his ''Memoirs'' that:{{blockquote|Canada itself could now be defined as a "society where all people are equal and where they share some fundamental values based upon freedom", and that all Canadians could identify with the values of liberty and equality.<ref name="Trudeau1993">{{cite book|author=Pierre Elliott Trudeau|title=Memoirs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zqsJbzlwtwsC|year=1993|publisher=McClelland & Stewart|isbn=978-0-7710-8588-8|pages= 322–323}}</ref>}}

Numerous scholars, beginning in the 1940s with American sociologist [[Seymour Martin Lipset]]; have tried to identify, measure and compare them with other countries, especially the United States.<ref>Doug Baer, et al.  "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2579349 The values of Canadians and Americans: A critical analysis and reassessment] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522131239/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2579349 |date=May 22, 2019 }}". ''Social Forces'' 68.3 (1990): 693–713.</ref><ref name="Lipset1991">{{cite book|author=Seymour Martin Lipset|title=Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1O2U4s2yaaEC&pg=PA42|year=1991|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-90385-1|pages=42–50}}</ref> However, there are critics who say that such a task is practically impossible.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Neil|last1=MacDonald|title=A very short list of Canadian values: Neil Macdonald|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/neil-macdonald-kellie-leitch-values-survey-1.3759075|access-date=December 31, 2016|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]|date=September 13, 2016|archive-date=December 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231171639/http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/neil-macdonald-kellie-leitch-values-survey-1.3759075|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Denis Stairs (political scientist)|Denis Stairs]] a professor of political Science at [[Dalhousie University]]; links the concept of Canadian values with [[#Nationalism and protectionism|nationalism]]. [Canadians typically]...believe, in particular, that they subscribe to a distinctive set of values – ''Canadian'' values – and that those values are special in the sense of being unusually virtuous.<ref>Denis Stairs (2003),  "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/40203840 Myths, Morals, and Reality in Canadian Foreign Policy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190524190037/https://www.jstor.org/stable/40203840 |date=May 24, 2019 }}" ''International Journal'' Vol. 58, No. 22. pp. 239–256 DOI:10.2307/40203840</ref>