July 1st. A great day in history — not just for us Canadians, but for everyone.
Because Canada is a nation that was born through peaceful means, not war. In contrast to our neighbours to the south, Canada did not gain its freedom and independence through violence and war. We gained our freedom by the long and undoubtedly frustrating method of negotiation.
That leaves an indelible mark on the character of the country and its citizens. It’s not unreasonable to say that’s one of the reasons Canada has been held in high esteem internationally.1
Which is not to say aggressive tactics haven’t been used by some Canadians. I’m thinking of the times armed force was used against our indigenous peoples, when unthinkable aggression was used against children in the residential schools, and against “enemy aliens” who were really Canadian citizens during both World Wars I and II. But that’s not what our founders wanted. They wanted peace, and you don’t get real peace by using force. Just ask any victim of a bully how they feel. I can assure you they won’t answer, “Peaceful,” or “Calm,” or “Happy.”
Canada was founded on the principles of Peace, Order, and Good Government. That’s been in our Constitution since the beginning. While we need to keep all three at the forefront of all political and civic actions, it’s Peace that needs to be front and centre.
Peace not only in the sense of no fighting — civil war or otherwise — but more importantly in the sense of conditions conducive to having a healthy, creative, productive, wealth-producing society. You simply can’t have that if people are fighting or if the government uses coercive actions against its own citizens.
The key to having a peaceful society is discussion and negotiation, especially when there’s a problem or a challenge. Discussion and negotiation require freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. You can’t really discuss anything if you can’t say what you want to say. And negotiation is useless unless you can actually express what it is you want.
Our fundamental freedoms are necessary and essential. They allow individuals as well as society to thrive: freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of association.
Over the past few decades, we’ve taken our fundamental freedoms for granted. And now we have governments — politicians and bureaucrats — using unnecessarily aggressive tactics to force policies on the people. It goes against everything that is quintessentially Canadian: we are a peaceful people who prefer to use our words rather than weapons to achieve our goals.
Canadians at heart are good, sensible, peace-loving people who stand up to bullies when needed and put things to right. As our national anthem says, “Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee.”
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- I’m concerned that that high regard has been eroded in recent years and is continuing to be eroded — because of the aggressive tactics our governments, federal and provincial, are using against its own citizens and residents.
