While there are many who would tell us that Canada feels broken, it is only so to those who get their news from demagogues and their ilk. There is, however, much to be reflective and humble about, and this country does a pretty solid job of cultivating both. Not for us the jingoistic flag-waving of our southern neigbours.
Perhaps we can better appreciate our own capacities by contrasting our country with the United States, which has a virtuoso ability to endlessly tear itself apart. The recent Supreme Court decisions on affirmative action, discrimination against the LGBTQ community, and student debt relief all attest to that fact. And given that there is a very fertile environment within which their demagogues thrive, there is no relief in sight for that benighted nation. Hatred, intolerance and discrimination, paraded as patriotism, are cancers eating away at that country. Their refusal to confront their historic and current racism only ensures that the erosion continues.
By contrast, despite its many problems, Canada stands as a beacon of hope. Yes, we have an epidemic of homelessness, opiate abuse, ongoing environmental decline and governments too influenced (controlled?) by the corporate agenda. But we also have an open and generous heart collectively and individually, one that is reflected in our daily actions and government policy. We are a country that has not lost hope for something better, although that hope is often sorely tested. Our multiculturalism and our efforts at reconciliation speak to the better angels of our nature.
In short, our faith in ourselves and others, our compassion for others, help to define us as a country. It is something we might be inclined to doubt if we listen to the outsized influence social media have conferred upon the unhinged and extreme, but if we read enough and are sufficiently self-aware, we can put those into the category and perspective they belong.
None of this should give us a sense of complacency, however; I do look at the future with trepidation and, at times, despair. That this Canada Day sees many of us staying indoors because of the 500 wildfires raging and polluting our air is cause for grave concern, and an alarming harbinger of worse to come.
This Canada Day also sees us becoming more insular in our outlook. One has only to look at the outrage directed toward the government at Bill C-18, the implementation of which will see Google and Meta withholding Canadian news from their sites. Personally, as a newspaper reader, I am not alarmed by that threat - relying on those two giants for news is like living one's life in a dimly-lit closet. Choosing to read only a narrow range of news, something that newspapers serve to prevent, means that we live our lives in boxes, and our awareness of the world around us decreases tremendously. I am not hopeful of any great renaissance of traditional media, but I do fear the expanding umbra of ignorance that "narrowcasting" promotes.
But to end as I began, we are still a young nation that has resisted the cynicism marring many older ones. Deep down, I think we feel that there is still much potential for the betterment of ourselves and others in the country we call home. Canada, and all it represents, is a country that lights a candle instead of cursing the enveloping darkness.
HAPPY CANADA DAY.
