Left-wing nationalism tends to be a feature of post-colonial states, where the fight for independence or liberation from oppressors forms the nationalist narrative.
Not to apologize for wrongs is precisely the immature and offensive attitude of a Trump clone. If Canadians are to take credit for the many admirable features of the society we have both crafted and evolved, we must also take responsibility, as a nation, for the torts we committed in the process of doing so, admit those responsibilities, and make a serious effort to mend the damage.
Making an apology is a mature thing to do, and if it is to have any real meaning, some forms of atonement or compensation should accompany it.
When the Government of Canada makes an apology for historical wrongs but does nothing about the wrong it has committed, it's a shallow effort and suggests hypocrisy. When Canadians imagine we have done NO wrongs historically, we're simply stupid in a stubborn, defensive posture that is disappointingly naive.
We have plenty of reasons to be proud of Canada. Being blind to our faults isn't one of them.
Your comment about Trudeau persuading leftists to dislike Canada struck a cord with me. I think that’s what has soured my view of Canada. How can you help but get that view when your Prime Minister actively seeks out the bad in Canada rather than the good. And I regard myself as a centrist. Definitely not a leftist.
This piece attempts to grapple with some large trends of our current historical moment, but in the end simply betrays a partisan preoccupation by asserting that the prime mover at work in all of it is simply Justin Trudeau.
The trucker convoy was apparently launched by Justin in 2015 when he made the decision "to make denigrating Canada central to his Liberalism". And yet, the author is going to note connections with far right movements elsewhere, most significantly in the U.S. Did Trudeau launch these global movements at the same time, as well?
Various apologies to Indigenous Peoples are cited as central to this "deliberate strategy" of treating Canadians as a "fallen people" of "dumping on Canada" such that, in the process of "persuading leftists to dislike their country", Trudeau has "unleashed" the right-wing forces of nationalism we now face.
Presumably the author does not favour these colonial acknowledgements. How then are we to understand the project of reconciliation, as called for by the Supreme Court of Canada, which acknowledges the need to reconcile, within our legal and political system, the prior occupancy of First Nations with the assertion of Crown sovereignty. Is Trudeau responsible for these calls by the SCC, also? Justin's been one busy little bee!
Presumably the author does not favour the reality of Indigenous prior occupancy and prefers the colonial fiction of 'terra nullius', that the land was empty when colonials unilaterally asserted Crown sovereignty. But then, how do you explain those treaties? The Crown does not do treaties with its subjects? And why would you do treaties if the land was empty? I guess it's better just not to think about such things, right SCC?
It remains unclear and unexplained why such acts of recognition can not make Canada stronger? Rest upon a more solid foundation. Unless of course, the old colonial Canada is the nationalist vision to which you are univocally clinging. Are we supposed to embrace residential schools, murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, or the graves of Indigenous children as all part of the glorious project of building a better Canada? This obvious rejoinder goes by as if unnoticed.
Are we all supposed to wait for Old John Eh to step out of that photo of himself and his Confederation buddies at the Charlottetown Conference and pull down his own statues to British colonial triumphalism? Is it not the task of each generation to deal with the contradictions of its inheritance? Nope, under the rug you stay!
The author concludes one does not need a weather vane to see which way this wind is blowing, and rest assured the wind be blowing pretty hard at this point: "the assimilation of Canada into the United States". The evidence for this curious conclusion is apparently that the folks at the convoy rally seemed utterly confused about what country and political system they are living in. Too much American tv? Or is right wing nationalism (how ironic) a globalist phenomenon which transcends borders? But hey, Justin's still singularly responsible!
Rather than suggesting these folks need to go back and upgrade their education, apparently Justin simply needs to be held responsible for unleashing their ignorance. Even though education is a provincial responsibility. Not unlike responsibility for most of those mandates those convoy folks seemed equally confused about.
Andrew, I am intrigued by your contention that acknowledgement of historical wrongs makes Canada "risible." Does nationalism depend, in your view, of ignoring historical reality? Is it wrong to apologize for past atrocities? If there is a problem here, and I think there is, it is that the recognition of past wrongs has not gone alongside working actively to right the wrongs, but rather a digging in of the heels, being forced to deal with the problems rather than proactively taking on the work. For instance the reluctance to deal with the Indigenous Child and Family Services CHRT ruling - putting off the problem over and over until forced to deal with it.
I would greatly appreciate a response from you. I find your assertions very troubling.
Didn't know who Andrew Potter is & started to read what appeared to be a knowlegeable analysis...quickly degenerated into the usual anti-Trudeau screed albeit without the name-calling.
Any law that divides people into "free" and "convicts" is the most-divisive of all. I spent four decades under a cannabis law that would have clapped me in jail, and we were a good 10% of the population, estimates say. The proponents of this divisive law knew well they were marginalizing youth and ethnic groups, which is why they preferred the Spanish word for the leaf, to associate it with "Mexican rapists". Man, that was divisive. AND they knew it was unscientific, less-defensible than alcohol prohibition, that's why their laws prohibited medical research into it.
And, while it wasn't so much law, as who got fired from their teaching job, the overall right spent decades divisively dividing society into the 90% that were sane and healthy, and the 10% that suffered from the perversion/illness of homosexuality. I spent the 90s reading about the stealthy, child-endangering "gay agenda" in Alberta Report, and watching high politicians give the belief system cover and sympathy.
Those provide a pretty huge contrast to Mr. Potter's concern that liberals were "divisive" by passing mask mandates. The contrast being that those were quite old, invented decades ago, we were just, ahem, conserving, old, proven wisdom for plague-fighting. Scientifically-proved to save lives, and therefore extremely popular (84% last Feb 2) once that message got around, the old people I know are overboard on them, wearing them outdoors sometimes. But they are very, VERY unpopular with about 10% of the population, who then cry that these 84% popular rules are "divisive".
I'll tell you this for nothing: if that 10% ever got their hands on power, they'd forbid research into whether masks or vaccines even work, just like their righty predecessors did with cannabis.
So, to sum up: the utterly unscientific prohibition of cannabis from our homes, and gays from jobs of trust, were long-held right-wing positions. They were both suddenly abandoned by the right in just the last decade, and those former positions never spoken-of any more, are never called "divisive" about those 10% groups.
There must be something special about this 10% that entitles them to call 84% of us "divisive".
What is it, Mr. Potter?
Oh, and as for crapping on Canada, nobody craps on Canada like right-wing commentators who constantly call the country weak, ineffectual, unable to fight, unable to command respect on the "world stage", and, of course, divided.
I completely disagree that Trudeau has taught Canadians to "dislike their country". Winners write the history, and until the last 20 years, the reality of how Canada came into being was cloaked in secrecy, less we learn that our birth wasn't all peaceful and that we didn't run around sharing food and singing Kumbaya. I still believe this is the greatest country in the world, but I'm glad I know the truth of our beginnings., Now I expect my governments to do something about it.
Compared to what is happening in Ukraine, every single one of our major concerns is little more than petulant whining. We need to get our collective heads out of our rear ends and come to terms that there are more important things than needing to wear a mask. The worst thing I can imagine is having to call myself "American".....and that thought in itself is entirely petty. Trudeau is, and has been a terrible PM. Our "loyal opposition" has been equally useless, and divisive.
I wonder if we can find a way to return to the idea that Canada matters. Who we are, and why we can travel anywhere in the world and be welcomed. If we could only treat each other the same way at home.
So the number of protesters wrapping themselves in confederate CSA flags must mean that the protesters showed a lot of love for slaveholding? And those that "proudly" displayed Nazi symbols were showing their love for, well you know what? (In the latter case I'm afraid the answer is "yes".) I didn't see the not-really-truckers show much love for their fellow Canadians who live in Ottawa (really they are Canadians) and who they were only too eager to harass and threaten. Perhaps they could show their love of Canada by learning just how the governments of Canada work.
Anti-Americanism is simply a distraction tool that has been used by Canadian politicians to suite their own agendas since our Confederation.
Fear and disrespect of the US has been engrained into our culture by those seeking to mask mediocrity of their own leadership.
The result has been the rise of an anti-American bigotry that is a stain on our national character.
We have benefitted immensely by our proximity to the US and have shared North America peacefully for close to a century.
Given that the US defends the free world, we have been able to divert the wealth that results from our trade with America from funding our own security to providing the social benefits we enjoy.
In spite of the relationship that has been so positive for us, our propensity to disdain America, its culture, its governance and its people gives rise to constant predictions that the situation is going to change to the point where we become enemies.
The fact remains, however, that the US is largely unaware of this sentiment - they are largely indifferent to our politics and the use bigotry against them plays.
Recently progressive Canadians have been celebrating what they have convinced themselves of is the the downfall of America as the world’s most powerful nation.
As well, they appear to welcome their notion that Red China will be their successor.
The prospect of the potential subjugation of the Free World is, however, beyond their vision.
The demise of the US is their fond hope but what transpires after that is a blank.
The United States nor its politics is anywhere near the threat that the collapse of that nation would entail for Canada and its freedom.
Canadians must understand that their relationship with the US is their best hope of preserving their democracy rather than a threat to it.
The Liberal progressive notion that we can cast ourselves into a world in which American hegemony no longer exists yet retain our freedom is logically inexplicable.
Our only option at this point in time is to accept the fact that the US is not the ogre we have been indoctrinated to believe it is and to rehabilitate our attitude towards maintaining the relationship with them that has served us so well.
What we have to fear south of the border is far less the hazard than what is building outside of North America.
Uh, No. Conservatives in Canada have always been pro-Canadian nation, right back to Sir John A MacDonald. Stephen Harper regularly said this was the best country in the world. While I agree that Justin Trudeau has made a critical error in adopting the narrative that Canadian institutions and history are bad and has shown very little aptitude for uniting Canadians, this won’t stick. The Liberal Party will return to a more traditional pro-Canada stance. And the MAGA folks at the barricades didn’t even constitute a majority there.
Whatever people think of Andrew Potter's opinion piece, they must surely agree that it sparked an interesting exchange of comments. To answer Andrew's question, I suspect that Justin Trudeau, for one, loves Canada. However, he probably realizes that he would be roundly criticized, mocked, vilified and worse for saying so. I also think that he sincerely regrets the many wrongs perpetuated upon indigenous people here and elsewhere, and probably believes that it is appropriate for him to acknowledge that fact and apologize. Again, he would be right to think that if he said nothing, he would be roundly criticized, just as he is for saying something. By the way, I'm not a fan of 'nationalism' as in 'my country, right or wrong', or 'my country is better than your country'. And I don't believe the prime minister should be a cheerleader nor that we need one; just get on with helping the country be as good as it can be.
YES! Horsefeathers and every other Trudeau cultist should ask themselves: Would Ukrainians be fighting so hard if their government spent years teaching them to hate themselves? This was never true of Liberals in the past, who still acknowledged the residential schools, Japanese internment camps, Chinese exclusion act, Komagata Maru Incident, etcetera.
When progressive Twitter wrung its hands about whether the trucker protesters had sullied the Canadian flag beyond purpose, my reaction was: "How can it be more sullied than after five years of Trudeau shitting on it?"
I've voted Liberal or NDP since Pierre T.'s first election, but I can't vote any longer for parties or leaders who treat our country as nothing but a racist, genocidal hellhole (which leaves me politically homeless). We have work to do -- every human being and country ALWAYS has work to do -- but anyone who travels knows to be grateful for what we have and what we've accomplished. It's stunning to me that after five years of Trudeau, the proudest and most patriotic Canadians are those who've come from abroad, from virtually every continent and region of the world.
The problem with all the breast-beating apologies is that it looked bad, by comparison, when Trudeau refused to have ANYTHING to do with the truckers.
I know, I know. Commenters will say I'm comparing apples and oranges, but the fact is it looked as though Trudeau had no time for a group of people who felt aggrieved enough to drive all the way across the country to make a point. Our colourfully be-socked (but morally benighted) leader has always made it very clear where his sympathies lie, and it's not with the working class in Canada.
That so many Canadians are on board with this thinking really makes me wonder: just who do you think is delivering your Amazon packages?
Yes, I suppose the apologies were historically significant, but there were so many that after a while I and a lot of others started to roll our eyes every time our MSM covered yet another one. Is that insensitive? Oh probably. But again, there were so just so damned many.
I work in an institutional environment where leftist thinking dominates. We recently had three days of professional development offered to all employees. Out of 40 workshop offerings only two did NOT focus on colonization or some aspect of it.
At a time when a lot of my peers could really do with upping their tech skills--trust me, I know!--the institution I worked for put together this totally lopsided package. Only one colleague noticed it.
This kind of "we're all misogynist, racist, right-wing bastards here in Canada" thinking really has become the water in our fish-tank. Anyone who doubts this needs to work in leftist environment for a while. It's impossible to un-see it.
I see a lot of people in the comments calling themselves centrist.
...Wow. There's so much context missing from this article that it's almost painful to read.
For one thing, both Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper apologized for everything from the Komagata Maru incident to the residential school system and the abuses committed against Japanese Candians, as well as providing reparations to the Ukrainian Canadian community.
As for the idea that left-wing nationalism was dominant right up until 2017, what about all the criticism Indigenous and other activists were directing at Canada 150?
Some of these things have been festering for a pretty long time, and they've only come to the forefront in the last couple of years. Justin Trudeau is, however clumsily, trying to follow in Mulroney's and Harper's footsteps in making things right. You can judge how well he's doing it, but he's at least trying to look like he's addressing these problems. He's not actively encouraging Canadians to "hate" themselves.
But while Andrew Potter is wrong in attributing all these things to Trudeau Junior, he's right about the bigger problem developing. In some circles, showing any kind of pride in or love for Canada seems to equate to condoning everything from residential schools to the racist treatment of Japanese, Jewish and Indian people. We've gone from being Canada The Good, the friendly Peaceable Kingdom, to Canada The Bad, a malicious place with no redeeming value.
Apparently it's impossible to support things like Indigenous rights and restitution *because* you love Canada, and want to be able to fly your flag and listen to your national anthem with pride. No, either you have to uncritically cheer everything about Canada or you have to hate the entire thing and want it all burned down. I say bullshit to that.
Not to apologize for wrongs is precisely the immature and offensive attitude of a Trump clone. If Canadians are to take credit for the many admirable features of the society we have both crafted and evolved, we must also take responsibility, as a nation, for the torts we committed in the process of doing so, admit those responsibilities, and make a serious effort to mend the damage.
Making an apology is a mature thing to do, and if it is to have any real meaning, some forms of atonement or compensation should accompany it.
When the Government of Canada makes an apology for historical wrongs but does nothing about the wrong it has committed, it's a shallow effort and suggests hypocrisy. When Canadians imagine we have done NO wrongs historically, we're simply stupid in a stubborn, defensive posture that is disappointingly naive.
We have plenty of reasons to be proud of Canada. Being blind to our faults isn't one of them.
To paraphrase Andrew Potter,
a) Liberals believe Canada is ludicrous;
b) So Liberals set out to denigrate Canada beginning in 2015;
c) Liberals thereby persuaded progressives to dislike Canada because it is a nation of racists and bigots;
d) Leaving it open for the right to promote U.S. assimilation of our country.
Tripe, from start to finish.
Your comment about Trudeau persuading leftists to dislike Canada struck a cord with me. I think that’s what has soured my view of Canada. How can you help but get that view when your Prime Minister actively seeks out the bad in Canada rather than the good. And I regard myself as a centrist. Definitely not a leftist.
This piece attempts to grapple with some large trends of our current historical moment, but in the end simply betrays a partisan preoccupation by asserting that the prime mover at work in all of it is simply Justin Trudeau.
The trucker convoy was apparently launched by Justin in 2015 when he made the decision "to make denigrating Canada central to his Liberalism". And yet, the author is going to note connections with far right movements elsewhere, most significantly in the U.S. Did Trudeau launch these global movements at the same time, as well?
Various apologies to Indigenous Peoples are cited as central to this "deliberate strategy" of treating Canadians as a "fallen people" of "dumping on Canada" such that, in the process of "persuading leftists to dislike their country", Trudeau has "unleashed" the right-wing forces of nationalism we now face.
Presumably the author does not favour these colonial acknowledgements. How then are we to understand the project of reconciliation, as called for by the Supreme Court of Canada, which acknowledges the need to reconcile, within our legal and political system, the prior occupancy of First Nations with the assertion of Crown sovereignty. Is Trudeau responsible for these calls by the SCC, also? Justin's been one busy little bee!
Presumably the author does not favour the reality of Indigenous prior occupancy and prefers the colonial fiction of 'terra nullius', that the land was empty when colonials unilaterally asserted Crown sovereignty. But then, how do you explain those treaties? The Crown does not do treaties with its subjects? And why would you do treaties if the land was empty? I guess it's better just not to think about such things, right SCC?
It remains unclear and unexplained why such acts of recognition can not make Canada stronger? Rest upon a more solid foundation. Unless of course, the old colonial Canada is the nationalist vision to which you are univocally clinging. Are we supposed to embrace residential schools, murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls, or the graves of Indigenous children as all part of the glorious project of building a better Canada? This obvious rejoinder goes by as if unnoticed.
Are we all supposed to wait for Old John Eh to step out of that photo of himself and his Confederation buddies at the Charlottetown Conference and pull down his own statues to British colonial triumphalism? Is it not the task of each generation to deal with the contradictions of its inheritance? Nope, under the rug you stay!
The author concludes one does not need a weather vane to see which way this wind is blowing, and rest assured the wind be blowing pretty hard at this point: "the assimilation of Canada into the United States". The evidence for this curious conclusion is apparently that the folks at the convoy rally seemed utterly confused about what country and political system they are living in. Too much American tv? Or is right wing nationalism (how ironic) a globalist phenomenon which transcends borders? But hey, Justin's still singularly responsible!
Rather than suggesting these folks need to go back and upgrade their education, apparently Justin simply needs to be held responsible for unleashing their ignorance. Even though education is a provincial responsibility. Not unlike responsibility for most of those mandates those convoy folks seemed equally confused about.
How risible.
Andrew, I am intrigued by your contention that acknowledgement of historical wrongs makes Canada "risible." Does nationalism depend, in your view, of ignoring historical reality? Is it wrong to apologize for past atrocities? If there is a problem here, and I think there is, it is that the recognition of past wrongs has not gone alongside working actively to right the wrongs, but rather a digging in of the heels, being forced to deal with the problems rather than proactively taking on the work. For instance the reluctance to deal with the Indigenous Child and Family Services CHRT ruling - putting off the problem over and over until forced to deal with it.
I would greatly appreciate a response from you. I find your assertions very troubling.
Didn't know who Andrew Potter is & started to read what appeared to be a knowlegeable analysis...quickly degenerated into the usual anti-Trudeau screed albeit without the name-calling.
Any law that divides people into "free" and "convicts" is the most-divisive of all. I spent four decades under a cannabis law that would have clapped me in jail, and we were a good 10% of the population, estimates say. The proponents of this divisive law knew well they were marginalizing youth and ethnic groups, which is why they preferred the Spanish word for the leaf, to associate it with "Mexican rapists". Man, that was divisive. AND they knew it was unscientific, less-defensible than alcohol prohibition, that's why their laws prohibited medical research into it.
And, while it wasn't so much law, as who got fired from their teaching job, the overall right spent decades divisively dividing society into the 90% that were sane and healthy, and the 10% that suffered from the perversion/illness of homosexuality. I spent the 90s reading about the stealthy, child-endangering "gay agenda" in Alberta Report, and watching high politicians give the belief system cover and sympathy.
Those provide a pretty huge contrast to Mr. Potter's concern that liberals were "divisive" by passing mask mandates. The contrast being that those were quite old, invented decades ago, we were just, ahem, conserving, old, proven wisdom for plague-fighting. Scientifically-proved to save lives, and therefore extremely popular (84% last Feb 2) once that message got around, the old people I know are overboard on them, wearing them outdoors sometimes. But they are very, VERY unpopular with about 10% of the population, who then cry that these 84% popular rules are "divisive".
I'll tell you this for nothing: if that 10% ever got their hands on power, they'd forbid research into whether masks or vaccines even work, just like their righty predecessors did with cannabis.
So, to sum up: the utterly unscientific prohibition of cannabis from our homes, and gays from jobs of trust, were long-held right-wing positions. They were both suddenly abandoned by the right in just the last decade, and those former positions never spoken-of any more, are never called "divisive" about those 10% groups.
There must be something special about this 10% that entitles them to call 84% of us "divisive".
What is it, Mr. Potter?
Oh, and as for crapping on Canada, nobody craps on Canada like right-wing commentators who constantly call the country weak, ineffectual, unable to fight, unable to command respect on the "world stage", and, of course, divided.
I completely disagree that Trudeau has taught Canadians to "dislike their country". Winners write the history, and until the last 20 years, the reality of how Canada came into being was cloaked in secrecy, less we learn that our birth wasn't all peaceful and that we didn't run around sharing food and singing Kumbaya. I still believe this is the greatest country in the world, but I'm glad I know the truth of our beginnings., Now I expect my governments to do something about it.
Compared to what is happening in Ukraine, every single one of our major concerns is little more than petulant whining. We need to get our collective heads out of our rear ends and come to terms that there are more important things than needing to wear a mask. The worst thing I can imagine is having to call myself "American".....and that thought in itself is entirely petty. Trudeau is, and has been a terrible PM. Our "loyal opposition" has been equally useless, and divisive.
I wonder if we can find a way to return to the idea that Canada matters. Who we are, and why we can travel anywhere in the world and be welcomed. If we could only treat each other the same way at home.
So the number of protesters wrapping themselves in confederate CSA flags must mean that the protesters showed a lot of love for slaveholding? And those that "proudly" displayed Nazi symbols were showing their love for, well you know what? (In the latter case I'm afraid the answer is "yes".) I didn't see the not-really-truckers show much love for their fellow Canadians who live in Ottawa (really they are Canadians) and who they were only too eager to harass and threaten. Perhaps they could show their love of Canada by learning just how the governments of Canada work.
Typo in the article: "A makor catalyst" s/b "A major catalyst"
Anti-Americanism is simply a distraction tool that has been used by Canadian politicians to suite their own agendas since our Confederation.
Fear and disrespect of the US has been engrained into our culture by those seeking to mask mediocrity of their own leadership.
The result has been the rise of an anti-American bigotry that is a stain on our national character.
We have benefitted immensely by our proximity to the US and have shared North America peacefully for close to a century.
Given that the US defends the free world, we have been able to divert the wealth that results from our trade with America from funding our own security to providing the social benefits we enjoy.
In spite of the relationship that has been so positive for us, our propensity to disdain America, its culture, its governance and its people gives rise to constant predictions that the situation is going to change to the point where we become enemies.
The fact remains, however, that the US is largely unaware of this sentiment - they are largely indifferent to our politics and the use bigotry against them plays.
Recently progressive Canadians have been celebrating what they have convinced themselves of is the the downfall of America as the world’s most powerful nation.
As well, they appear to welcome their notion that Red China will be their successor.
The prospect of the potential subjugation of the Free World is, however, beyond their vision.
The demise of the US is their fond hope but what transpires after that is a blank.
The United States nor its politics is anywhere near the threat that the collapse of that nation would entail for Canada and its freedom.
Canadians must understand that their relationship with the US is their best hope of preserving their democracy rather than a threat to it.
The Liberal progressive notion that we can cast ourselves into a world in which American hegemony no longer exists yet retain our freedom is logically inexplicable.
Our only option at this point in time is to accept the fact that the US is not the ogre we have been indoctrinated to believe it is and to rehabilitate our attitude towards maintaining the relationship with them that has served us so well.
What we have to fear south of the border is far less the hazard than what is building outside of North America.
Uh, No. Conservatives in Canada have always been pro-Canadian nation, right back to Sir John A MacDonald. Stephen Harper regularly said this was the best country in the world. While I agree that Justin Trudeau has made a critical error in adopting the narrative that Canadian institutions and history are bad and has shown very little aptitude for uniting Canadians, this won’t stick. The Liberal Party will return to a more traditional pro-Canada stance. And the MAGA folks at the barricades didn’t even constitute a majority there.
Whatever people think of Andrew Potter's opinion piece, they must surely agree that it sparked an interesting exchange of comments. To answer Andrew's question, I suspect that Justin Trudeau, for one, loves Canada. However, he probably realizes that he would be roundly criticized, mocked, vilified and worse for saying so. I also think that he sincerely regrets the many wrongs perpetuated upon indigenous people here and elsewhere, and probably believes that it is appropriate for him to acknowledge that fact and apologize. Again, he would be right to think that if he said nothing, he would be roundly criticized, just as he is for saying something. By the way, I'm not a fan of 'nationalism' as in 'my country, right or wrong', or 'my country is better than your country'. And I don't believe the prime minister should be a cheerleader nor that we need one; just get on with helping the country be as good as it can be.
YES! Horsefeathers and every other Trudeau cultist should ask themselves: Would Ukrainians be fighting so hard if their government spent years teaching them to hate themselves? This was never true of Liberals in the past, who still acknowledged the residential schools, Japanese internment camps, Chinese exclusion act, Komagata Maru Incident, etcetera.
When progressive Twitter wrung its hands about whether the trucker protesters had sullied the Canadian flag beyond purpose, my reaction was: "How can it be more sullied than after five years of Trudeau shitting on it?"
I've voted Liberal or NDP since Pierre T.'s first election, but I can't vote any longer for parties or leaders who treat our country as nothing but a racist, genocidal hellhole (which leaves me politically homeless). We have work to do -- every human being and country ALWAYS has work to do -- but anyone who travels knows to be grateful for what we have and what we've accomplished. It's stunning to me that after five years of Trudeau, the proudest and most patriotic Canadians are those who've come from abroad, from virtually every continent and region of the world.
The problem with all the breast-beating apologies is that it looked bad, by comparison, when Trudeau refused to have ANYTHING to do with the truckers.
I know, I know. Commenters will say I'm comparing apples and oranges, but the fact is it looked as though Trudeau had no time for a group of people who felt aggrieved enough to drive all the way across the country to make a point. Our colourfully be-socked (but morally benighted) leader has always made it very clear where his sympathies lie, and it's not with the working class in Canada.
That so many Canadians are on board with this thinking really makes me wonder: just who do you think is delivering your Amazon packages?
Yes, I suppose the apologies were historically significant, but there were so many that after a while I and a lot of others started to roll our eyes every time our MSM covered yet another one. Is that insensitive? Oh probably. But again, there were so just so damned many.
I work in an institutional environment where leftist thinking dominates. We recently had three days of professional development offered to all employees. Out of 40 workshop offerings only two did NOT focus on colonization or some aspect of it.
At a time when a lot of my peers could really do with upping their tech skills--trust me, I know!--the institution I worked for put together this totally lopsided package. Only one colleague noticed it.
This kind of "we're all misogynist, racist, right-wing bastards here in Canada" thinking really has become the water in our fish-tank. Anyone who doubts this needs to work in leftist environment for a while. It's impossible to un-see it.
I see a lot of people in the comments calling themselves centrist.
Right.
No pun intended.
...Wow. There's so much context missing from this article that it's almost painful to read.
For one thing, both Brian Mulroney and Stephen Harper apologized for everything from the Komagata Maru incident to the residential school system and the abuses committed against Japanese Candians, as well as providing reparations to the Ukrainian Canadian community.
https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/a-timeline-of-official-apologies-from-the-federal-government
As for the idea that left-wing nationalism was dominant right up until 2017, what about all the criticism Indigenous and other activists were directing at Canada 150?
http://activehistory.ca/2017/04/canada-150-whats-to-celebrate/
Or how about Chief Dan George's "Lament For Confederation" back in 1967?
https://www.aptnnews.ca/national-news/a-lament-for-confederation-a-speech-by-chief-dan-george-in-1967/
Some of these things have been festering for a pretty long time, and they've only come to the forefront in the last couple of years. Justin Trudeau is, however clumsily, trying to follow in Mulroney's and Harper's footsteps in making things right. You can judge how well he's doing it, but he's at least trying to look like he's addressing these problems. He's not actively encouraging Canadians to "hate" themselves.
But while Andrew Potter is wrong in attributing all these things to Trudeau Junior, he's right about the bigger problem developing. In some circles, showing any kind of pride in or love for Canada seems to equate to condoning everything from residential schools to the racist treatment of Japanese, Jewish and Indian people. We've gone from being Canada The Good, the friendly Peaceable Kingdom, to Canada The Bad, a malicious place with no redeeming value.
https://jared-milne.medium.com/reflections-on-canada-day-2019-two-sides-to-the-coin-6c9bad8afa1e
Apparently it's impossible to support things like Indigenous rights and restitution *because* you love Canada, and want to be able to fly your flag and listen to your national anthem with pride. No, either you have to uncritically cheer everything about Canada or you have to hate the entire thing and want it all burned down. I say bullshit to that.
https://jared-milne.medium.com/reflections-on-canada-day-2018-the-meaning-of-true-patriot-love-44d5d3762955