Reflections On Differences

While there is much favourable talk about King Charles' Throne Speech yesterday, from my point of view the most important aspect was his emphasis on Canada as a distinct nation, one with a history and ties to something much larger than ourselves. We have a culture and a character and ideals that need to be savoured and promoted. If there ever was a time to stress this, it is now.

Were I still teaching, and the lesson was about the use of comparison and contrast, I would use Canada and the United States as models. For the purpose of today's post, one basis of contrast will suffice.

Canada, although we have had many stumbles, has traditionally been open to 'the other.' People come here from all over the world, attracted to our traditions of peace, order and good government. Consequently, our multiculturalism is one of the shining jewels of our identity. And while we are perhaps less open than we used to be, we still exceed what many other nations have fallen prey to: xenophobia and exclusion.

Those two ugly qualities are on full display in the United State as it quickly descends into an authoritarianism that would have seemed inconceivable just a few years ago. Attacks on judges, rule by fiat (a.k.a., executive order), interference in states' rights and academic freedom are rampant under Trump. One sees that the traditional safeguard against such excesses, the separation of powers, is being rapidly dismantled, aided immensely by a craven, submissive legislative branch.

Consider the latest salvo, as the U.S. continues to close itself off from the rest of the world.

US President Donald Trump's administration has ordered US embassies around the world to stop scheduling appointments for student visas as it prepares to expand social media vetting of such applicants. 

An official memo said social media vetting would be stepped up for student and foreign exchange visas, which would have "significant implications" for embassies and consulates.

 Foreign students who want to study in the US are usually required to schedule interviews at a US embassy in their home country before approval.

State department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters on Tuesday: "We take very seriously the process of vetting who it is that comes into the country, and we're going to continue to do that."

This move is likely retaliation for Harvard's refusal to surrender its academic freedom to the Trump regime, a retaliation that includes the freezing of grants.

Harvard University has been the focal point of the president's ire; he has frozen $2.65bn (£1.96bn) in federal grants to the institution and has sought to put other federal funding worth $100m under review.

The university's president has said the cuts will "hurt" the country, not just Harvard, because academics were conducting research deemed "high-priority" by the government. 

The implications of these actions are great, and telegraph a message that the U.S. is no longer a welcoming, inquisitive nation but rather one that is collapsing in on itself. 

Let that be a lesson to every Canadian lest we succumb to the temptation of complacence. We have something here that needs to be constantly nourished, and I am cautiously optimistic, after Carney's initial symbolic act of asking the King to read the Throne speech, that we are on the right track.