Canada Day

Canada Day 2023, the 156th anniversary of the birth of this country. I remember when it was called Dominion Day because that was what Canada first became, a dominion. It’s also the beginning of the summer season, “Summertime and the livin’ is easy”. Well, not for everyone.  There are still too many dispossessed, homeless, discriminated against, and sufferers of physical or mental health challenges.  And too many people have no access to primary care providers, mental health help and necessary support.  As on every Canada Day, a number of new Canadians were presented with their Canadian citizenship.

There appears to be an increase in rage in this country, not helped by some political leaders.  You only have to read some letters to the editor or the comment section of online news stories to get a sense of that rage.  Renewed rage against the LGBTQ community.  Rage against immigrants.  As an immigrant myself, I take exception to that.  I keep wondering if they expect me and other first-generation Canadians to go back to where we came from.  Does my almost 28 years of military service to Canada count for anything?  As for the LGBTQ community, I wonder why this seems to have arisen again after what seemed years of acceptance.  Other discriminatory practices seem to be given new life lately.  Discrimination against Asian people, against African Canadians, against Muslims and against Indigenous peoples seems to be on the rise.  I always thought that Canada was a welcoming and accepting place.  We once prided ourselves on not having the racial problems of our neighbour to the south.  This no longer seems to be the case.

But I’m an optimist, perhaps naively so.  Probably like most or, hopefully all, of my readers, I love Canada.  It is such a beautiful place.  You only have to travel almost anywhere in this country to admire its beauty.  On the whole, the people are friendly and helpful.  As immigrants, it welcomed my parents and I and gave us an opportunity to prosper. That’s why I remain optimistic that Canada will grow from a good country to a great country.  We have some great things to reflect on.  Our military prowess in two world wars, Korea, and Afghanistan, plus our peacekeeping successes.  Our acceptance of refugees from all parts of the world when there was a real need, plus the prosperity we have allowed many of them achieve.  There are so many Canadian successes, whether in medicine, architecture, the arts, engineering (or as those of us in that business like to say, injunring), Arctic development, and many other endeavours. 

But to become really great, Canadians must work and live more closely in the best interests of the country. We must get over our prejudices and divisions.  We must become more patriotic (perhaps not so overboard as our American cousins), more tolerant, and take more pride and interest in our institutions.  We must stop listening to those who, for their own purposes, say that Canada is a bad place, a failed country, a loser. We’re not and never have been.  We just don’t pay enough attention to our own strengths and place in history.  We let other countries define our culture and our history.  We now have over 40 million willing souls to help Canada become a better place.  Let’s get going and do it.