Opinion: Canadian Patriotism

Well today is Canada Day a day to celebrate our country and the love of our own beer. I have always loved Canada Day as an amazing party and have in the past been generally a very proud Canadian. I saw Canada as a very large beautiful jewel of the world that is a beacon of freedom and light. When I got involved in activism and realized what Canada was doing that patriotism took a hit.

I learnt about Canadian History and how awful groups such as the First Nations were treated and how many were killed and many others were forced into programs to eradicate their culture. I also learnt about what we did to Chinese and Japanese immigrants at different points in time, where it took "three dead chinamen for one mile of railway" or something close to that racist sentiment at the time, or the Japanese during World War Two. I began to learn more about what Canada was doing today with the detention of people on Security Certificates as well as our rapidly growing imperialist foreign policy. Our foreign policy includes a coup d'etat in Haiti, the occupation of Afghanistan, now support of Israel, the pushing of genetically modified organism including the terminator seed, as well the silence on Guantanamo due to our own Guantanamo North. All these factors made it hard to be proud of Canada.

Then I revisited the issue after hearing all the American Patriotism as dissent south of the border. I realized that it is not patriotic to simply accept a system of imperialism, environmental degradation, as well as the erosion of human rights. What is patriotic is saying that you love Canada because, of such you will dissent and fight against anything that endangers democracy and smears the ideals of Canada. The ideals of Canada is certainly a jingoistic term, but that includes a country of inclusion, liberty, justice, and equality. Whether Canada has ever actually been there is another question. Regardless Happy Canada Day.