In the shadow of free trade: Nationalism, feminism and identity politics in contemporary English Canada

English-Canadian nationalism, defined as the organised pursuit of greater c ultural and economic independence from the United States, has long faced si gnificant internal and external challenges. The coming into effect of bilat eral and trilateral free trade agreements, on their own significant losses for the interest, coincided chronologically with the erosion of a progressi ve social movement presence in English Canada, a movement that had helped t o animate anti-free trade activism. This article examines the dynamics of c ontemporary nationalism with particular reference to organised feminism and other movements in English Canada.