Canadian Discourse and Emotions on Terrorism: How Canadian Prime Ministers Speak about Terrorism since 9/11

Abstract

This paper analyses the character of the discourse and emotions invoked in speeches delivered by prime ministers of Canada from the 9/11 terrorist attacks up until now. There is increased recognition in academic literature of the need to study emotions, because people are not rational beings and they base their decisions on feelings. Especially the discourse on terrorism is often emotional. The paper argues that there is a need to study the discourse on terrorism and emotions in them, because if the discourse is manipulative it can lead to adoption of counterterrorism measures that are considered ineffective or even counterproductive. This paper attempts to fill the gap in academic literature on terrorism discourse, which usually focuses only on the United States and United Kingdom, by providing a study of Canadian discourse on terrorism. The paper presents an analysis of speeches delivered by Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin, Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau conducted in NVivo. It finds that each of these prime ministers attempts to influence emotions to some extent to gain support for their counterterrorism policies by invoking emotions such as fear or hate. However, there are also some more calming and less emotional features of the speeches.