Tim Horton’s and the Canadian Identity

Defining a cultural identity in a country as broad as Canada, in terms of both geography and diversity, is no easy task. Not only is Canada the second largest country in the world, it is also one of the most diverse. Canada has always been an immigrant’s nation. It was largely the newly settled British and French who provided the framework for this nation and has seen waves of immigrants throughout its existence coming from all parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. Our tendency to provide a tossed salad approach to immigration, rather than the melting pot concept in the United States, has made Canada a country where newly introduced cultures continue to flourish even as they grow roots in the ‘Great White North’. This immigrant-based society has created a level of tolerance seen nowhere else in the world but it also provides us with a somewhat confusing source for national pride. So, on the rare occasion when we Canadians can find a source of unifying national pride, we grab onto it with both hands and refuse to let go (even if the source of national pride is a chain restaurant selling coffee and donuts).

Tim Horton’s was founded in Hamilton in 1964 by hockey player Tim Horton which, after Horton’s death in a car crash in 1974, was taken over by investor Ron Joyce who oversaw the expansion of Tim Horton’s into Canada’s largest fast food restaurant chain. There are currently over 3000 locations in Canada with the chain currently controlling 22.6% of all fast food industry revenues in the country. Even more amazingly, Tim Horton’s commands 76% of the market for baked goods and 62% of the Canadian coffee market (Starbucks is a distant second, controlling 7% of the market).

However, Tim Horton’s is not just the largest restaurant brand in the country. Along with hockey, Tim Horton’s remains the only tangible symbol in Canada that is presented nationwide. Every single province and territory has at least one Tim Horton’s. Tim Horton’s are present in the frozen tundra of the Inuit north, the Quebecois countryside, Toronto’s downtown core, small farming towns in the prairies, at the center of mountain peaks in Banff, and in the midst of Pacific air in Victoria. Regardless that Tim Horton’s is, without a doubt, a symbol of corporate dominance, Tim Horton’s is our corporation. We have supported its growth into a mega success of a country and, despite the huge variance in views and cultures across the broad swath of land we call home, Tim Horton’s plays a role in all of our lives. The question that remains of course, is it a good thing that our national identity remains so closely tied to a coffee chain?

Most observers would comment that Tim Horton’s is a sad thing to have as a unifying symbol. However, Tim Horton’s is not so much a symbol of our obsession with coffee as it is how relaxed we Canadians really are. We enjoy freedom, tolerance and peace without rubbing it into the faces of others. We feel no need to define a national symbol to enforce our identity upon others. The only reason Tim Horton’s remains so intertwined with the Canadian identity is because for whatever reason people feel the need to tie the Canadian identity to something tangible. I argue that the less tangible nationalism we enforce, the better it is for the nation, because it decreases homogeneity and increases diversity. At the end of the day, Canadians themselves represent Canada by practising tolerance and kindness. Tim Horton’s is merely something we like, not something we believe in.