Far too often Canadians focus upon our nation’s shortcomings and challenges, especially in these frustrated post-pandemic times, but looking back over the past 157 years since Confederation we can find much in which to take pride.
Canada, like the rest of the Western hemisphere, has emerged from a largely agrarian lifestyle where most of us worked and lived on the farm to a largely urban and erudite nation with world-leading technological accomplishments and the world’s most educated population.
We enjoy a national health program that ensures sudden catastrophic illness will not result in a trip to the poorhouse. While many may not have a family doctor to call their own, health services are available within walking distance for the vast majority of our population and a robust emergency services system stands ready to transport the sick and injured to the nearest health centre. This is a far cry from when a call for a doctor would involve many hours, if not days, of travel by either the patient or the doctor to attend.
Our nation is finally coming to grips with its colonial past and addressing the most odious of policies and actions that darken our earliest days as a nation—even up to the present day in some cases. While too many of the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee remain unfulfilled, several have and more are being implemented with each passing year. It remains a work in progress.
Land claim and treaty settlements have flowed and are flowing in a veritable avalanche into First Nations communities, finally addressing the failed promises of the past. The immense contributions to our nation’s wellbeing of Indigenous first peoples are now acknowledged at nearly every major gathering and event—and the courts are ensuring that our governments are finally putting money where their mouths are.
We enjoy a relative peace unmatched by any other industrial nation and those charged with enforcing and maintaining that peace are held in high regard by the vast majority of our citizens. Not perfect, to be certain, yet worthy of celebration and honour nonetheless.
We enjoy good roads, dependable energy, a robust food supply, a worldclass education system and plenty of employment opportunities for those seeking to improve their lives.
Are there exceptions and anecdotal instances where these fail or fall down in expectations? Certainly, there is always room for improvement and one of the things we should be most proud of is that we constantly work to make improvements.
Much has been said in recent months about our nation’s “productivity crisis” but most of that chirping is primarily partisan spin—focusing on the negative and ignoring counter evidence. The truth of our productivity is that, excepting the tar sands impact on our stats, Canadian’s productivity closely matches that of our closest neighbour to the south. It’s true—go Google it. Does it need to get better, of course it does, but it is nowhere near the dismal portrayal put forward by those paid pundits who have a vested interest in pointing to a falling sky.
On this coming Canada Day, tune out of the negativity that tarnishes our national mirror and tune into the incredible luck we all enjoy simply by being able to call ourselves “Canadian.” Our Constitution cites “peace, order and good government” as the prime motivating values as its foundation.
As Canadians, let us stand on guard together against those who would put us down and celebrate who we are and all that we strive to become. We are worth celebrating.
