Canadians are not much for self aggrandizement. That quiet calm reserve that defines our national character to much of the world only seems to slip when the honour of our favourite hockey team is challenged (insert Toronto Maple Leafs dig here). For those who are not die hard hockey aficionados (say it ain’t so), our national hubris generally only rises every couple of alternating years with the Summer/Winter Olympics.
Perhaps this unusual trait comes from living next to the most powerful (and once dynamic) countries in the world. For all of our nation’s 150 years of existence we have largely defined ourselves as the “not Americans,” eschewing the jingoistic bombast that came to epitomize the boisterous and much caricaturized Ugly American; we have made a virtue out of self effacement and idealized our demure public character. You can see the current prime minister’s political opponents trying to capitalize on that national character quirk in their Facebook advertising on any given weekday (although apparently without much traction in the current selfie nation environment according to polls, at least beyond the grumpy old white man brigade).
Now that is not to say there is anything terribly wrong with our national character, but it does have some rather unfortunate side effects. One of the most unfortunate of those is our lamentable collective amnesia about the many giants who have walked among us during our 150 years as a nation, even those whose accomplishments are still within living memory.
A perfect example of such a giant is the late Canadian diplomat and prime minister Lester Bowles Pearson. Mike, to many of those Islanders who knew and loved him, re-electing him again and again over the course of 20 years.
During his lifetime Mr. Pearson was indisputably the most recognized Canadian in the world. Not because he was the prime minister who (with the NDP as allies during his minority governments) brought in universal health care, the Canadian flag, the Canada Pension Plan and who, as foreign minister before becoming prime minister, charted the honest broker course that defined Canada’s presence on the world stage for generations. He was generally recognized as “the man who saved the world” during one of the most intense periods of nuclear confrontation to ever face the world. By diffusing the Suez Crisis, a confrontation that saw the world’s nuclear powers standing nose to nose, each with their finger poised over the buttons that would hurtle us all into nuclear Armageddon; actions for which a grateful world awarded him Canada’s first (and only) Nobel Peace Prize.
That’s pretty gigantic by anyone’s standards and, considering current world events, the world could desperately use his like again.
Despite striding among humanity as a giant on the world stage, Mike Pearson’s low-key gregarious personality defined the very epitome of the Quiet Canadian. We might even go so far as to say our global persona has been cast in his image. He was quite the hockey player in his day too, fitting as his diplomatic stick handling was his forte as a diplomat.
Despite his world shaking accomplishments (or steadying as the case may be) and the indelible impressions Mike Pearson passage left upon the Canadian landscape we know and love today, too many Canadians have no idea who he was and what he means, let alone meant, to Canada.
Journalist Andrew Cohen, a university lecturer, noted the historical amnesia apparent in his students during his recent Kagawong History Series lecture. An amnesia he has determined to rectify.
Locally, the Billings museum board and Old Mill Heritage Centre curator Rick Nelson have taken heroic steps to celebrate the life and times of Mike Pearson by creating an exhibit that incorporates personal items cajoled from the National Archives to create a mini-replica of Mike Pearson’s home office and have brought lecturers from across the nation to recall his legacy for us. On Thursday, August 10, Mike Pearson’s granddaughter will come to Kagawong’s Park Centre as part of History Day to bring her personal recollections of Mike Pearson the man.
On this, the 150th anniversary of the founding of our nation, a visit to the Pearson Exhibit in Kagawong might prove the antidote to the constant barrage of reminders of our nation’s shortcomings and failures. As a nation we have much to celebrate and be proud of, and in the legacy of Mike Pearson we might just discover the pathway to overcoming those challenges we still face as a nation. He proved that nothing is impossible if we are determined to find the way.
