Theses on Canada Day

I know nobody asked, but this year I felt it was my grown-up duty to share some thoughts about our country on Canada Day.

Canada is doing enviably well

It’s important to maintain a sense of proportion – by any comparative standard, Canada is a functional and decent country. Canada’s economy is prosperous and dynamic, its society is tolerant and inclusive, its politics are responsive and responsible and its state is gentle and restrained. This is worth recognizing and preserving.

Don’t assume things will stay that way

Please don't vote for her, ever

There’s nothing locked in about Canada’s relative success. Canadian political institutions are young and only half-formed – leaders strengthen them when they respect their democratic, inclusive spirit but can also undermine them by exploiting technicalities and loopholes to win political fights. The first time a leader pulls off a dirty trick – whether proroguing the Parliament or going around a Supreme Court decision – it comes off as a dick move, but it can rapidly become just another political tactic, with Canadian democracy permanently compromised.

The rule of law is a big deal

They're like nine nerdy Santa Clauses. Their present for you - your rights.

Governments control armies. They can give orders to police. Put differently, they have power. Corporations and rich people have a different kind of power – they control the livelihoods of their employees and impact the lives of consumers, especially if their business involves essential products or creates pollution and waste that the public has to deal with. They have the money to buy influence and run roughshod over individuals. Law exists to control power to prevent, or at least limit, its potential for abuse. When the law is optional, especially in regard to powerful actors, regular people lose the only civil, peaceful protection they have against abuse.

Some people don’t get to be selfish

There’s an argument that you hear all the time – everyone is selfish, everyone is only doing what they do for personal gain, everyone is a sell-out only in it for the money. When you hear this you can be 100% confident that it applies to the person making it and 0% confident that it applies to person being accused. There are professions that are so important to public life that those serving in them cannot just be in it for themselves without everyone suffering. Doctors have a responsibility to their patients that cannot be traded away. Lawyers must put the law before their bottom line, police officers must respect the public. Scientists and intellectuals must put intellectual integrity above profit opportunities. Politicians… well, those guys are pretty selfish but at the very least they must defend the political institutions that give us responsible government and individual freedom. And they usually do (except maybe the politicians)! Picking anyone of those careers involves years of work, training and embracing a code of ethics. Even if they come with an attractive paycheck, the calling must always come first, and when it doesn’t it’s not a trivial matter to be waved away with “well, everyone is selfish” but a cause for investigation, censure and punishment.

Multi-culturalism is a remarkable achievement, a great benefit, and absolutely essential for Canada…

Multi-culturalism is presented as one of Canada’s greatest social achievements – and it is! From its inception, Canada included people from different ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds and the fate of the country hinged on finding a way to develop solidarity and unity between groups of vastly different backgrounds. Incrementally, beginning with the imperfect and unequal accommodation of French Canadians into a British colony, Canada increased the inclusiveness of its society, first bringing in white ethnics from other European backgrounds, then non-white immigrants from around the world. To create a sincere, unifying national feeling among Canadians from such diverse backgrounds is a unique accomplishment that eludes countries like the US and Australia. The benefits that Canada and Canadians gain are immeasurable – Canada has gained economically, culturally and socially. The food is better, there’s more choice and diversity in the arts, companies have larger talent pool to draw on and an easier time connecting to international markets. Leaders and official media celebrate these gains, urging Canadians to celebrate multiculturalism – and they are right!

…but it can also be a pain in the ass.

This is a big enough issue for the CBC to weigh in

But, while (I reiterate) multiculturalism is an overwhelming positive force for Canada, what media and political officials never admit is that it can be a real pain in the ass. I know, because every time I meet someone – whether it’s a customer service rep or a new acquaintance – I see how they have to struggle with my Polish surname. It can feel alienating to walk into a neighborhood café and hear every conversation carried out in a language you don’t understand, or to deal with a friend’s religious dietary restrictions, or (especially if you’re older) to have to avoid saying “Merry Christmas” to strangers just in case they don’t celebrate the holiday. One of my closest, dearest, oldest friends married a wonderful woman that has also become very dear to me – I was not allowed at the wedding ceremony because it was a religious event of a faith to which I do not belong. That stung, though they did host a wonderful reception that was open to everybody. Another friend became strongly Christian as an adult, and suddenly board game night at his house involved Bible trivia. Multiculturalism means putting up with this kind of shit on a continual basis and it can only work as long as Canadians continue to extend patience, understanding and tolerance to everyone, even when there are particular beliefs or lifestyles or practices they don’t understand or approve of.

Living in a free society can be just as much of a pain in the ass

It isn't either/or...

...you have to tolerate both.

Individual freedom for ourselves is an unmitigated good – in Canada, you can pretty much live however you want, as long as you can afford your lifestyle and you aren’t abusing anyone else, and those around you have to put up with it. Individual freedom for everyone else can be a real drag – you have to put up with their choices, which might be annoying or even offensive to you. It takes more than liberal laws to make a country free – people also have to put up with (constantly) other people’s choices that they don’t like with grace and maturity. This means not only Christians dealing with gay pride parades and blasphemous entertainment (The Life of Brian then, Good Omens now), but also LGBT activists and atheists putting up with the disapproval and moralism of conservative Christians, without trying to invoke official power – be it the government, the courts, or (ugh) Twitter – to punish the other side. So long as disapproval and distaste don’t practically constrict individual freedom or threaten force, they are just expressions of the freedom of the other side. Squeezing out the space for different groups to disagree and dissent peacefully without reprisal won’t change any minds – it will just lead to an escalated conflict with worse and worse sanctions, one which your group (whatever it may be) has no guarantee of winning, and everyone’s individual freedom ends up undermined. As long as the other guy is willing to put up with your shit, the tolerant, inclusive, decent, dare-I-say Canadian thing to do is to put up with theirs.

It’s not wrong to be proud of Canada…

I think Canada is a pretty great place, all the more so since I live abroad. When I return here, I feel at home, at ease, if not optimistic than a little less despairing about the future. There are many Canadians who feel a great sense of pride for their country and its history – and they are right! The creation and construction of this country and its unique society are accomplishments worth celebrating.   

…but Canada is not an innocent country

There's a reason they aren't smiling...

There are also many Canadians who believe that Canada as a state has perpetrated great injustices, including genocide, and continues to do serious harm to individuals and communities it is supposed to represent and protect – and they are right! I can prove it with a single, simple question – is Canada a country? History is a bitch – countries are created through war (in Canada’s case the colonial wars between the French and English as well as the much more destructive, undeclared war against indigenous Canadians). They expand through treachery and violence. They grow rich through exploitation, both of workers and the environment. They tear up unspoiled wilderness to create cities, farms, mines and factories, dumping pollution and trash into the land, air and water. They become strong through repression and the patronage of powerful private institutions (corporations, religious hierarchies, coalitions of rich people). Countries behave honorably only when their people intervene against those trends to force change. Otherwise, governments take the path of least resistance, which usually involves a bulldozer and police in riot gear.

Indigenous Canadians are right to be angry

The strength and wealth of Canada has gone together with ruthless policies towards the indigenous Canadians who were once the sovereign masters of this land. For Canada to become what it is, they were disposed, displaced, disenfranchised and discarded. While enlightened governments were institutionalizing multiculturalism and making lives better for other Canadians, indigenous Canadians experienced forced assimilation, neo-colonial paternalism and (often malign) neglect. They are the last group to be fully included in Canadian society and the awareness of the damage that Canada has inflicted on their communities has made it weird. Most of the historical crimes against them occurred far enough in the past that no one is alive that could be held responsible, and the scale of what happened dwarfs any realistic restitution. The murder and disappearance of thousands of indigenous women and girls was labeled a genocide in an official report, a loaded term but how else to describe the destruction of a community on such a scale without justice or accountability? I don’t know what can be done about the past, but for Canada to keep becoming a more honorable and more decent country, non-indigenous Canadians must acknowledge that past and pressure the government to work equitably and fairly with indigenous leaders to ensure that indigenous Canadians have the same security, opportunity and freedom as everyone else.

Democracy only works when we acknowledge fact, even when it complicates our beliefs

A fact is something that’s real whether you believe in it or not – a belief is only real when you embrace it. There are questions – is drinking wrong? Does God exist? What happens when we die? – that cannot be answered with facts, only beliefs. Most questions – what causes climate change? How do we pay for Pharmacare? Are energy sector jobs worth the environmental and economic cost? – come down to facts that can’t be believed away. You can influence the future of Canada with your vote, but unless you take the time to learn some facts you’ll just be shooting in the dark.

Some people know more facts than you do

I don’t know how a car works – magic? Something something pistons? A different kind of magic? – but I know that there are people who do and I go to them with my car questions. Other people can answer other types of questions – where did all the cod go? What’s going to happen when the Earth heats up? What’s going on in the Middle East? – because they’ve spent a lot of time and energy mastering the related facts. It can take a lifetime to master a difficult subject and it can involve a great deal of sacrifice. A research scientist is someone who is smart enough that they could have become a lawyer or succeeded in business, but they gave up that income and those opportunities to pursue complicated knowledge through years and years of study. If they have reached a conclusion – especially if thousands of them agree on a conclusion, with the data and analysis to back it up – you should listen to them and not a meme on facebook from someone peddling a quack cure or an industry-supported policy change.

This may all seem like a lot of work – putting up with cultural practices you don’t understand, tolerating other people’s terrible life choices, checking your beliefs against actual facts and having the humility to learn from people who may know more than you. Maybe it is, but that’s what it takes to be a responsible grown-up, and the pay off is incredible – we get to keep Canada as the remarkable country that it already is and make it even better for the future.