Meaning of maplewashing | Babel Free

Definitions

The tendency for Canada and its history, culture, and politics to be idealized or sanitized, especially in relation to its neighbour the United States.

neologism, uncountable

Examples

“Luke Savage is a Toronto writer and producer with the Broadbent Institute. He says "maple washing" needs to end.”

“The 2016 election provided an especially becoming foil for Canada, whose history of "maple-washing"–sweeping unsavory aspects of its history and culture, like settler colonialism and genocide against Indigenous peoples, under the rug–was widespread even before such a handy distraction.”

“New stories are told to highlight the gaps, now visible, in settler narratives concerning photography’s extractive tendency and the role tourism plays in perpetuating what is increasingly called ‘maplewashing’, attempts to whitewash the settler history of what is now Canada.”

CEFR level