I am Canadian

We Canadians live in a blind spot about our identity. We have very strong feelings about who we aren't but only weak ones about who we are. We're passionate about what we don't want to become but oddly passive about what we should be.

John Cruickshank (in McLean's Magazine)

I am Canadian.

Today is Canada Day! A day for fireworks and celebration. A day to give thanks for my Canadian identity -- whatever it is.

When I was in my teens we lived in a small town in southern Germany. It was a Canadian Forces base and we were invited guests on sovereign soil. Soil that belonged to a land of Teutonic origins. Guttural. Harsh. Steeped in a proud history of conquerors and vanquished. The language reflected the German spirit. Fierce. Defensive. Stoic. Proud.

In total I spent fifteen years of my life living on foreign soils. Neither of my parents were Canadian born. Displaced. Dispersed, my family history pulls the threads of nationhood into a multi-hued mosaic reflective of Trudeau's dream of a tapestry of colour made up of nationalities from across the globe.

Like my peers, whenever I travelled and someone stated, "You are American," I would vehemently respond, "No! I am Canadian." Inevitably, my inquisitor would shrug their shoulders and mutter under their breath, "Same thing." And I would launch into a discourse of why being Canadian was different.

It was always a vague and fuzzy dialogue. "We sing God Save the Queen because the British Monarch is our Head of State. Our flag is red and white and has a maple leaf on it not little stars and stripes. We have a Prime Minister and a parliament and we're not as big. At least not in people. We're nicer. Yup. Definitely nicer. We don't...." And then I would begin to list the things we don't do and who we aren't as Canadians.

"We're not pushy like the Americans. We don't believe we rule the world. We don't try to force our culture on yours like the yanks and we do things differently than them. We don't always just follow."

"Like when?" they would ask.

"Ummm. You know. We harboured draft dodgers who didn't want to fight in Viet Nam."

"Oh, so you betrayed your neighbour's trust?"

"Oh no. It wasn't like that. We just didn't want to make a fuss about the Viet Nam war. We, um, didn't really take a side. It just wasn't our battle."

"So, you sat on the fence."

"I didn't. I disagree with war. Any war. It was our government. They didn't want to take sides."

"Well, you're taking sides here. Being in Germany. You're only here because Germany lost the war. You took a side then."

"Yes, well that was different. That war was necessary."

"So, war's okay as long as you're on the winning side?"

"I didn't say that! I meant we were invited here. It's part of our responsibility to NATO."

"Who invited you?"

"Um. I don't know?.... You?"

And so it went. My Canadian identity was founded upon a hodgepodge of metaphors and altruism, unfounded beliefs I had never assessed, principles I couldn't stand up for and values I didn't know how to express.

I am Canadian.

Liberated. Free.

I have the right to vote and the freedom to express my opinion without fearing for my life.

I drive on the right side of the road. I have a car. I have a home. I have a job that I love. I have the right to oppose my government. I have the right to speak out.

I don't carry a gun. I carry a passport that promises me safe passage anywhere in the world I choose to go.

Because, as a Canadian I have choice.

Being Canadian is not about not being American. Being Canadian is about claiming my right to live in a country where tolerance and justice share equal voice with compassion and the right to a fair defence.

We don't have the death penalty in Canada. I'm proud of that.

And, as we seem to lose more and more of what makes us different than being American, I fear the loss of safety on our streets. I fear the loss of freedom in our schools.

As we become more 'politically correct', I fear the loss of Santa Claus and O Canada in our schools. I am Canadian and I am proud to celebrate Christmas and Easter. I am proud my neighbour is free to celebrate Hanukkah or Ramadan.

I am Canadian means I live in a land where the tapestry of nations woven together in our vast and varied lands creates a rich and vibrant world of colour. Stitched together across a land where every voice is equal.

I am Canadian and I stand proud before the Maple Leaf, shoulder to shoulder with my brethren, no matter our skin colour, no matter our belief as we sing loud and clear, "O Canada, my home and native land."

And then I realize in my oh so Canadian conscience that the very words of our national anthem deny the truth of one-third of our population who do not claim Canada as their 'native land'.

Oh dear. Best we change the words so everyone feels they belong in this amazing land called Canada.

I am Canadian.