Canada; Reclaiming Its Colonial History

Disney be Dammed - Canadians Have Their Own Distinctive History and Culture

The British empire has come in for a great deal of criticism of late but not for my mother. Mom was a great fan of the British Empire. This is hardly surprising for a woman born in Canada in 1921. Hers was not simple patriotism. Ruth was very knowledgeable. Remarkably, she had read the Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover before she went to university and continued to study history throughout her lifetime.

Born in Canada as a child of immigrants she adored the British Empire for any number of reasons:

• She was grateful to her English protestant public high school teachers for their belief in their mission and their professional dedication to their students

• She admired the way her teachers carried themselves and the way they spoke. Hailing from Eastern European Jewish immigrants, she mostly loved their civility.

• She believed that the British had brought education and progress to the countries they colonized, including our own.

• She was ever forgiving and felt that the wild directions of teeth in the British mouth suggested character and individualism rather than evidence of the lack of access to dentists.

Some might accuse her of having a colonial mentality. However, since the great reset following the tragedy of George Floyd’s death, it has been impossible to argue that in return for being exploiting their colonial subjects, the British brought education and modern models of public administration to the colonies. In addition to being a market for British Liberty cottons and other industrial products, the colonies educated generations of able administrators, lawyers, judges, doctors, soldiers, teachers and businessmen. But you would never know this from the popular culture we consume from American media. It’s possible that Canadians have forgotten that we have a different history and culture than our belligerent neighbours to the south.

In what way do we differ? Well for one thing, the Americans revolted against British rule whereas the other English-speaking countries negotiated their independence. Negotiation is the twin cousin of conversation; a medium Canadians have always preferred over the “arm yourselves to the teeth” attitude of our southern neighbours.

Courtesy of Walt Disney, we all know a lot of American history. When the Americans weren’t beating the crap out of each other during their civil war, they were importing and subjugating slaves, provoking the Mexican American war and annihilating their indigenous populations. Canada didn’t treat our own indigenous population well but it’s worth remembering that the Canadian black population came to Canada of their own accord. Some will disagree, but for the most part the black population in Canada represent for the most part, resilient, enterprising and especially for those coming from commonwealth countries well-educated individuals.

You might never know it from listening to the CBC, but we do not share original sin of slavery regardless of how much American media we consume. Not to say that Canadians are free of a history of racism. Justin Trudeau has spent ten years apologizing to groups such as the Chinese for their 20th century exploitation and the Japanese for WW2 internment camps. The Catholic Church is still making amends for equal opportunity sexual predation. However, the argument about institutionalized Canadian anti- black racism is has been imported wholesale from the US without much reflection.

The English are justifiably accused of being snobs. England itself was a hierarchical society with hundreds of gradations to the pecking order. It is said that a native-born Englishman could geographically locate the birthplace of a fellow citizen within 20 miles by the variation in the local dialects. These local accents were far more subtle than that depicted in My Fair Lady.

Many British, Irish and Scottish people in fact, emigrated to the colonies to improve their mobility in the rigid social structure or the fate of the second born son resulting from the laws of primogeniture. No doubt it was frustrating for local populations to see these foreigners given greater opportunity than native born citizens. But with time, the local population produced English educated lawyers and leaders like Ghandi and Nelson Mandela who brought their countries to independence.

English culture is not without its critics but when compared to the other nations of the time, society was a model of openness and tolerance. People were not condemned to death for their religion and homosexuality while illegal was broadly tolerated. Education and scientific thought were celebrated.

Canada in turn became a refuge to a host of desperate people. After the English and French, came the Irish, the Germans, the Poles and the Ukrainians, the Chinese the Jews, The Italians, the Portuguese, the Hungarians, The Ugandans, The Vietnamese, the Serbians, the Syrians etc. Not everyone was welcomed with open arms and apologies have been tendered to many groups including the Chinese who first helped build the railways and then were deported back but eventually many more ethnicities stayed than were deflected. It is said that at one point, Montreal had 100 different ethnic communities.

As to warriors, Canadians together with our commonwealth partners minus a few contrary Quebecois, volunteered to help defeat the Germans in the World War 1 and 2, while the Americans dithered. Canadians essentially invented the concept of UN peacekeeping forces.

Now that America is at war with itself over progressivism and the reaction that it has ignited, it may be time for Canadians to re-examine some of the precepts they have adopted in the rush to seem more liberal, less judgmental and ever more tolerant. There are eventually limits to self-expression. Carrying things to their logical conclusion eventually becomes illogical. Don’t ask me to provide the examples of that have fed so much fuel to the American and Canadian right.

Donald Trump’s belligerence is an opportunity for us to reclaim our own distinctive culture, an amalgam of French and English traditions with a rich infusion of so many ethnicities. Our common denominator is civility and tolerance and a degree of self-restraint. The rejection of extremism from the extreme right as well as self-righteous intolerance from the progressives on the left is a heritage to be celebrated.