Canada work-in-progress worth fighting for

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2023 (1172 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not everyone will celebrate Canada Day this weekend. Those who do may do it differently.

After new attention was given two years ago to potential unmarked burial sites on the grounds of former residential schools for Indigenous children, many Canadians are rethinking how to mark the birth of their country. Issues around the impacts of colonialism have raised the collective consciousness of many in recent years.

Those issues have sparked legitimate questions around who benefited from Confederation and who was marginalized in the process. It’s a healthy and necessary dialogue, one Canadians are increasingly embracing. That, ironically, is part of what makes Canada worth celebrating.

Canada Day is a different celebration than it used to be. It’s not just a day of flag-waving, wearing red and sporting the maple leaf. It’s also an opportunity to question the traditional interpretations of what Canada is and what it should strive to be.

When the Fathers of Confederation struck a deal 156 years ago to unite the British North American colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada (what is now Ontario and Quebec), they did so at the expense of Indigenous people.

First Nations were treated as an afterthought, their territories gobbled up by Euro-Canadian settlers and their livelihoods trampled on.

Three years after Confederation, people in the Red River Settlement (now Manitoba) were forced into the federation by imperial rule.

Some, mostly Métis, demanded a say in the terms of entry and took up arms to protect their rights. They succeeded, but still fell victim in subsequent decades to the race-based marginalization that marked the early days of Canada.

First Nations negotiated treaties with the Crown, before and after Confederation. Governments reneged on many of the solemn promises made in those binding agreements.

The assimilative policies forced on Indigenous people, including the use of residential schools and the many attempts to eradicate their language, culture and way of life, were cruel and inhumane. Deliberate attempts to erase a people were driven by a belief Indigenous culture and spirituality were inferior to white culture and Christianity.

It is something then-prime minister Stephen Harper addressed specifically in his 2008 historical apology on behalf of Canada.

Canadians are learning more about those truths.

The real story of Canada and how it affects today’s social order is inconvenient and uncomfortable. It doesn’t accord with the flag-waving, maple syrup version of the Dominion of Canada that was spoon-fed to most of us. It’s even more uncomfortable — and painful — for those directly affected by it.

That doesn’t mean Canada isn’t worth celebrating.

On the contrary: the fact Canadians can re-evaluate their history and question traditional narratives around nationhood is part of what makes Canada great. We have the constitutionally protected right to express those thoughts and opinions and to challenge long-held views of what it means to be Canadian.

Those rights, and the institutions that protect them, did not appear out of thin air. They are the product of generations of hard-fought battles — in legislatures, court rooms, through demonstrations and in theatres of war. They are not only worth protecting, they are worth celebrating.

Canada Day means different things to different people. For some, it’s a painful reminder of the country’s dark past and its continued shortcomings. It underscores the need for greater compassion and empathy for those affected by over 150 years of harmful policies towards Indigenous people.

At the same time, Canadians enjoy more rights and protections under the law than ever before. There is more acceptance and tolerance of others than at any point in the country’s history. Culturally learned phobias are evaporating, slowly.

Canada is one of the freest and safest countries in the world — two of the main reasons it attracts hundreds of thousands of immigrants a year.

It is far from perfect, and it strives to be a better place for more people. Inequities continue to be identified and addressed.

Canada is a work-in-progress, but it’s also growing up.

There are pockets of racism, bigotry and hatred. There is denialism of the country’s real history by some who fear accepting the truth will undermine their privileged position in life, but they are a small minority.

Canada is worth fighting for, with all its warts and glory. By most objective measures, it’s still the best country in the world in which to live.

Happy Canada Day.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca