I love Canada. Rewind 2 weeks, 2 months, 2 years, it doesn’t matter, so don’t think I just got whipped into the Olympic spirit and aren’t thinking clearly. I love Canada. And now, it seems at long last as if the rest of Canada has jumped aboard. Usually, the Olympics represents a show of international unity, a putting aside of grievances, and joining together. This Olympics, I think that happened on a national level. It’s as if finally, Canadians stopped whining and complaining and being unhappy long enough to realize what we’ve got here, and that it’s awesome, and beats the pants off every other nation. I’m not suggesting that we start up a campaign of hypernationalism. I’m suggesting that we become unabashedly proud of our nation.
In 1867, John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, faced a daunting task of uniting a nation that had nothing to unite on. Most other nations could build on a common language, background, or religion. Canada was divided at every turn. There was the French Catholics vs the English Anglicans, with some Metis, First Nations, and Irish thrown in for good measure. Macdonald created the National Policy, which in hindsight has taken a lot of heat, but it did what it needed to do: it united a new nation.
143 years later, not much has changed since then. We’re still a nation divided on regional, ethnic, language, religion, and almost anything else we can think of. We talk a lot about Western Alienation, Quebec always has their beef, and a host of many other grievances. We needed something to unite us, and this time, we did it ourselves. Even new Canadians can say they were there when Alexandre Bilideau won the first gold medal on Canadian soil, or that they saw Sidney Crosby’s golden goal. We’ve given ourselves nationalism and patriotism. We’ve given ourselves something to build on as “Canadian,” and as the cliche goes, nothing can take that away from us. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said it was always there, that we just needed to let it out.
At the gold medal hockey game, the men skated around with the Canadian flag as if it were the Stanley Cup; may we all be so proud.
So from my glowing heart, I hope yours is as well. And may we never lose the belief that Canada truly is fantastic. I hope this will still be there even when the world has left, when Canada Hockey Place has turned back in GM Place, and we restart our political disputes between each other. May our hearts always be glowing, and may we ever stand on guard.
