In the year 1967, Canada celebrated its 100th birthday. At the time, little dampened the spirit of citizens who turned out to commemorate a century of Confederation.
Native-born Canadians took pride in remembering their country’s history and traditions. New Canadians openly acknowledged the merits of the democratic nation they had chosen to join.
More recently, among our best-schooled intelligentsia, expressing feelings of national pride has become much less fashionable. There is scant tolerance for those who look back favourably on epic tales of explorers, pioneers, sailors, soldiers, settlers, priests, farmers, workers, entrepreneurs, and political leaders who contributed to the founding of the Dominion of Canada on July 1, 1867.
Anti-Nationalism and the Left
Following the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 20th century, “global integration” became an increasingly popular objective among international “policy experts.” Neo-Marxist Western intellectuals equated nationalism with fascism. Davos nabobs proposed a superior morality guided by a “Great Reset” of the world order.The left contended that global problems like climate change, inequity, migration, racism, and poverty called for “borderless” solutions. As a result, a “one-world government” paradigm came to occupy the centre of academic thought. Universities in North America and Europe routinely advertise for positions in “global governance,” a term that few would have recognized even a decade ago.
By and large, Canadian elites became predisposed to renounce the idea of nationhood. In 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau articulated this when he told the New York Times Magazine that Canada could be “the first post-national state.” “There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada,” said our prime minister.
Citizen Movements in the North Atlantic Triangle
More recently, Canada’s long-standing partners in the North Atlantic Triangle have begun to resist the ascendency of anti-nationalist globalism.Common men and women in the UK and America have rediscovered the traditional spirit of nationhood. Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and the rise of the “MAGA” movement in the USA heralded a return to a more patriotic stage in the history of our founding peoples.
Hundreds of vehicles formed convoys, rolled though the provinces, and converged for a rally in Ottawa on Jan. 29. The convoys were joined by legions of citizens who disregarded the ideologically prescribed “diversity” imperatives that have been pushing Canadians apart.
The truckers and their supporters were mostly working- and middle-class Canadians. They raised the flag, sang “O Canada,” and gave citizens a renewed sense of solidarity.
The Virtue of Nationalism
From Brexit and MAGA to the Canadian Freedom Convoy, recent events are forcing a crucial debate between proponents of global governance and supporters of independence and self-determination.Canadian nationalism once flourished under leaders like Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Wilfred Laurier. In other lands, nationalist leaders like Mahatma Ghandi won wide acclaim for steering their people toward sovereignty and freedom.
Make a Commitment to National Renewal
Our obsessive focus on “diversity” over “unity” has produced tragic levels of resentment, distrust, division, and anxiety. Post-nationalists, who support the vision of “diverse” tribal territories overseen by the genius of Beijing’s communist military empire, are destroying confidence in Canadian nationhood.Last year, woke outrage over Canada’s “colonial history” and the possible location of unidentified human remains in graveyards of former indigenous residential schools inspired a “Cancel Canada Day” campaign. Statues were toppled and Canadian flags flew at half mast for months.
Canadians need to begin restoring common national bonds from the bottom up. Love of country is not some bizarre political pathology that grips people to no good end. Nationalists believe that the world is governed best when free and independent countries are permitted to cultivate their own traditions and pursue their own interests without interference from hostile ideological empires.
- Learn more about Canada’s history, especially from books and authors that predate the radical 1960s. My high school text was “Building the Canadian Nation” by George W Brown. Conrad Black’s more recent “Rise to Greatness: The History of Canada from the Vikings to the Present” is outstanding.
- Find out what your children or grandchildren are being taught about Canada in school, and if you don’t like it, do something about it.
- Connect with people that regime journalists tell you to dislike. You never know what you might learn.
- Be resolute in sticking by your family, your friends, and your country.
- Work hard and be careful with your money. You could set an example for our government.
- Support a political party that supports the Canadian people.
- If you can’t find the job you want immediately, take work we’ve been told Canadians won’t do. It could lead to something better.
- Don’t believe everything you hear from government experts or the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
- Don’t live your life in fear of the next pandemic. Get on with it.
- Take a moment to pray for and honour the intrepid men and women of the 2022 Freedom Convoy.
Happy Canada Day!