While many have joked about it online, it feels true that Canada hasn't seen a surge of national pride quite like this current wave since the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, when red mittens were everywhere and gold medals made us all feel a part of one team.

But also, this time feels different. The stakes are higher, and our need to come together as a country feels more urgent than ever. So, how do we turn this unprecedented moment of Canadian patriotism into something deeper than a fleeting reason to cheerlead for Canadian culture?

Today on Commotion, host Elamin Abdelmahmoud speaks with rapper Shad Kabango and actor Jay Baruchel about how art can help define and strengthen our national identity — and help us avoid the pitfalls that can come with nationalism.

Elamin: A lot of people are maybe realizing for the first time that they've been mostly consuming U.S. culture … without it even necessarily occurring to them that they're watching U.S.-made shows or listening to U.S.-made music…. And then they are maybe looking to change that. You, Jay Baruchel, have been banging this Canadian movies and Canadian television drum for some time. What does it feel like for you now, to have the whole country maybe catch up to a place that you've been at for some time?

Jay: Oh, well, that's a lovely question. I hadn't even asked myself that…. I'm psyched, and kind of inspired, and a bit surprised at this kind of reckoning of— choose your dirty word: patriotism, nationalism. Either way, it's been heartening. I'll say that I had doubts about how strong that strain was in our national identity, and would it weather a storm, for all the reasons you mentioned…. I think this is the kick in the arse that we've sort of needed, and I hope our country gets to blossom a bit more as a result of it.

Elamin: I like that in your answer, you said, "Choose your dirty word," in terms of nationalism, patriotism, because I do think that is a part of how we approach this conversation. It feels a little bit new to some folks. It feels a little bit like, how do I wear this particular outfit?

Shad, let me come to you. When I think about your music, I think about music that is distinctly rooted here, distinctly rooted in the conversations that we are having in this country.… And there's something about it that makes it different from music that was made anywhere else. When you take a step back, what is the role for you for Canadian artists in this particular moment?

Shad: I appreciate that comment. Hip-hop is so much about place, right? And situating yourself … and finding a way to take pride in that place, and where you come from, and that community, right? And specificity. That's part of the work that art can do: it can situate people, and reflect their own stories back to them. It can help them take pride in who they are and where they come from and where they're rooted, right? So I think that's just a thing hip-hop has certainly always done, but I think all art can play that role.

Elamin: I think about that as sort of an invitation to say, "Look around you and figure out what is the thing that makes your place distinct from any other place." And that can be as granular as your neighborhood, and as grand as your country. Part of becoming a country, part of zooming into the thing that gives you a collective identity is saying, "We do things a little bit differently here, and this is what it feels like for us to move through these different spaces."