Canada’s 150th birthday party is over. It didn’t feel to me like the 100th birthday. That’s a subjective reaction, I must admit.
In 1967, we genuinely seemed to be in a celebrative mood. Gatherings spontaneously broke into Bobby Gimbey’s anthem Ca-na-da… Expo 67 in Montreal had made the world aware of us. Neighbours held beard-growing parties.
Like the musical Dolly, we were crowin’, growin’, goin’ strong.
By contrast, Canada’s 150th – handicapped, perhaps, by its polysyllabic “Sesquicentennnial” title – felt manufactured. No catchy song kept us dancing in the streets. McDonald’s commercials had staff and customers singing Happy Birthday to each other. (I wonder if they paid royalties to the copyright holders each time?) Furniture chains offered bright red 150th Birthday sales, with all prices ending in 99. Parties had to be organized by civic authorities.
It felt like drinking champagne at the bedside of a dying patient.
Or am I just growing old and jaded?
A poll, commissioned by Historica Canada and conducted by Ipsos, found that Canadians couldn’t agree on what they valued about Canada. According to published results, 25 per cent of respondents cited abstract terms like “freedom” and “liberty.” Just 20 per cent called Canada “home”.
Interestingly, the closest thing to unanimity was support for the beaver as a national symbol, at 85 per cent. But almost as many expressed fondness for that pesky pooper, the Canada Goose.
What’s a Canadian, eh?
In these fractious times, Canada has a great deal to offer. Our prime minister doesn’t fire off tweets like a machine gun. Canadian medicare may have painfully long waiting times, but no one gets cut off medical services altogether. Our laws don’t discriminate against women, gays, or racial/ethnic groups -- our practices may, but our laws don’t.
We don’t have civil wars, mass famines, or refugee camps.
But clearly, we don’t have uniformity, either.
Sociologist Arthur Porter coined the term “mosaic” to describe Canada, around the time of our 100th birthday.
A mosaic consists of hundreds, thousands, of discrete pieces carefully fitted together. Each piece retains its own identity; each contributes to a larger pattern.
A mosaic differs from the “melting pot” image lauded – if rarely applied – in the U.S. A melting pot dissolves differences, melds identities together, blends disparate elements into a single alloy or compound.
A mosaic-tile floor is a lot harder to imagine, to create, and to maintain, than a sheet of linoleum.
Years ago, an international magazine editors’ association, in which I was the only Canadian, asked me to define being a Canadian. My answer was easy – we’re not Americans.
A flippant response, yes. But Canadians who travel beyond this continent have to contend, constantly, with being mistaken for Americans. Descriptions of our history, geography, and government produce only glazed eyes.
In Guatemala, a couple with German accents asked which American state my wife and I lived in.
“We’re not Americans!” my wife retorted. “We’re Canadian!”
“Ah,” said the woman with the German accent, nodding. “I understand. We’re Swiss!”
How we think of ourselves
I got thinking about Canadian identity in relation to Peter Mansbridge’s retirement. Mansbridge has been the anchor of The National news on CBC TV for 29 years. He is, I suppose, the last of the old-time hosts.
Once upon a time, all news anchors were deep-voiced males. Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Edward R. Murrow in the U.S.; Lloyd Robertson and Harvey Kirk on CTV; Lorne Greene, Earl Cameron, Knowlton Nash on CBC.
Now, Global and CTV both have female hosts. Mansbridge has been the lone holdout, until he said goodbye on Canada Day.
I can’t help thinking that Peter Mansbridge personified the qualities many of us like to think Canada has. Calm, urbane, unflappable. Even in live broadcasts of bombings, riots, and fanatics running amok; even when he had to deal with confusing instructions, conflicting sources, and technical breakdowns; Mansbridge kept his cool. He didn’t snap at people – at least, not in front of the cameras. He kept on topic. He didn’t bludgeon us with his own opinions. In his One On One interviews, he kept digging for more information, clearer understanding. When moderating panels, he had a self-deprecating sense of humour about his own role.
Isn’t that how we tend to think of Canada, too? Calm, rational, not given to flying off the handle? Diplomatic, even when confronted by opposition? Not pompous, not arrogant, not confrontational?
And genuinely likeable?
As we turn another corner in our nation’s history, I wonder to whom we might turn next as a model of how we think of ourselves.
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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups encouraged; links from other blogs welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To send comments, to subscribe, or to unsubscribe, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
Last week I wrote about the rising incidence of hate crimes directed against Muslims individually, and against Muslim organizations.
Robert Caughell responded, “Ignorance and fear are powerful motivators. Ignorance of anything or anyone different than you. Fear of anything or anyone new or different that affects the status quo and you. People feel the need to respond either by word or deed, sometimes without thinking things through. Complex problem(s) and no easy, simple, quick answers. But ignorance and fear can be changed. My small town held its first Pride rally recently, 300 people attended.”
Bob Rollwagen followed up on his letter last week: “Vandals are not sophisticated scholars making statements and I believe that terrorists are not either. It might be reasonable to suggest that both are lashing out from a position of ignorance and frustration that reflects their level of understanding and social background. By this I mean, the influence of a parent who did not have an open mind toward diversity of their society. When one of the world’s larger societies puts a person in a position to preach hate for any one race or religion in the world under the guise of ‘personal safety,’ and this is a society that kills children in their communities every day of the year with guns, it is not hard to understand the statistics you provide. None of it has to do with protecting the virtues of any church, or an understanding of the sophisticated scholars that lived by the creed that guided their personal view of a fair and equal society for all.”
Steve Roney disagreed: “You suggest that the main problem is an increase in hate crimes against Muslims. There has been an increase in hate crimes against Muslims, but this is not the main issue. What has been growing most dramatically is hate crimes by Muslims against non-Muslims. These crimes do not generally show up in the hate crimes statistics: but primarily because they are far more serious. The typical ‘hate crime’ involves something like insulting graffiti. The typical terrorist attack involves mass deaths.”
Someone named Raihan, whose name does not appear on my mailing lists, wrote, “Just wanted to say thanks for writing that piece that appeared 26th June.”
Clare Neufeld wanted permission to share the column with an online group. The subject, he said, is “A current Online topic of discussion, amongst a small group of Mennonites, [who] may well benefit from the reading of this article. They are an online group, known as ‘McTalk’, after the name Mennonite Church [Canada] Talk.”
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF…
Ralph Milton ’s latest project is called “Sing Hallelujah” -- the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
Ralph’s HymnSight webpage is still up, http://www.hymnsight.ca, with a vast gallery of photos you can use to enhance the appearance of the visual images you project for liturgical use (prayers, responses, hymn verses, etc.)
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
Alva Wood’s satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town -- not particularly religious, but fun; alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatso@gmail.com or twatson@sentex.net