Defining Supremacy: Walter J. Bossy and the Conceptual Origins of the Canadian ‘Third Force’ (1931-1972)

This dissertation, entitled “Defining Supremacy: Walter J. Bossy and the Conceptual Origins of the Canadian ‘Third Force’ (1931-1972)”, examines a neglected aspect of the history of Canadian multiculturalism to illuminate the ideological foundations of the concept ‘third force’. Focusing on the particular thought of ultra-conservative Ukrainian Canadian Walter J. Bossy during his time in Montreal (1931-1970s), I demonstrate that the idea that Canada was composed of three equally important groups emerged from a context defined by reactionary ideas on ethnic diversity and integration. Two broad questions shape this research: first, what the meaning originally attached to the idea of a ‘third force’ was, and what the intentions behind the conceptualization of a trichotomic Canada were; second, whether Bossy’s understanding of the ‘third force’ precedes, or is related in any way to, postwar debates on liberal multiculturalism at the core of which was the existence of a ‘third force’. Based upon Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen’s theory of conceptual change (2008), this study concludes that Bossy’s conceptualization of the ‘third force’ shares the core idea of a trichotomic definition of Canada with postwar liberal multiculturalism, but radically differs from it in that Bossy’s ideas at the margin of the ‘third force’ (Christian and European supremacy, for example) never evolved. It was progressive sectors of the Canadian population who altered existing ideas at the margin of ‘third force’ and ultimately used the concept to propose a more plural and egalitarian society. This dissertation constitutes a contribution to the study of Canadian multiculturalism, radical-right ideology, and the history of concepts.