In Pax Americana, Canada is portrayed as a victim of American imperialism. Trump’s annexation talk and the resulting patriotic fervour likely feels novel for many Canadians, but it is not new: consider the War of 1812, in which a largely divided pre-Confederation Canada came together to repel an American invasion, a vital moment for the beginnings of Canadian nationalism.

Yet for many groups in this country, the very concept of patriotism is complicated and sometimes painful.

In recent years, Canada has seen a widespread reckoning with what it is and who it commemorates. Morgan points to examples such as the 2022 renaming of Toronto Metropolitan University in response to concerns about the influence of the school’s former namesake, Egerton Ryerson, on the development of Canada’s residential school system, and the defacing or removal of monuments to Sir John A. MacDonald in some Canadian cities. These conversations have largely been driven by previously marginalized groups, something Morgan sees as ultimately healthy.

“Indigenous Nations, the Black community in Canada, and other groups have always had their histories but it’s only been in the last perhaps 30 or 40 years that they’ve actually had the political and cultural clout to be able to make a point in public forums and be listened to,” she says. 

Morgan says Pax Americana is a fascinating commentary on who controls the narrative of commemoration. “She’s used these [plaques] to talk about an imagined future, you know, but then, on the other hand, she’s also referenced figures from Canadian history like Fred Loft, an Indigenous leader from Six Nations and an army veteran.”

Vandor says she wanted the piece to illustrate history’s elasticity, the potential for historical narrative to be bent in favour of whomever wields it.

“I tried to pull things from history as a sort of wink to these events that have happened, these people who have existed, to make a nod to this idea that history is very changeable and twistable. Things can be recalibrated and readjusted for new generations to suit their purposes,” she says.

Vandor says although she feels sadness and frustration over the breaking of ties between Canada and the U.S., she also sees it as a potential path to something better for Canada.

“I don’t think this generation will be able to forget that sense of betrayal overnight, but in a way, having our sovereignty threatened might be the best thing possible for Canada,” she says. “It’s time for us to grow up, stop feeling so divided, really knuckle down into being Canadian and untying ourselves from the United States.”         

The conclusion of Pax Americana is deliberately left somewhat open-ended; although the plaques claim the resistance has been put down and Canada subsumed into a unified North America, the possibility of ongoing resistance remains. 

“It was very intentional that every viewer finds their own way in and out of the story, that the narrative was whatever the viewer wanted to bring to it,” Vandor says. “They’re almost prompts rather than a prescriptive storyline. I think I have my own ideas, but it’s up to you to find your own.”