I miss my country. No, I haven't left it. Still living here. But I miss what it used to stand for, and what its people stood for. I look at the Canada today, especially the western provinces, and I am greatly saddened. Where once stood a beacon of hope that shone out to the world, now stands a proverbial wall of distrust. Being Canadian used to be something one could be proud of, being Canadian used to tell others that they could trust you. Now I look around and I see people cheering for us to become more xenophobic. I see people fighting to keep refugees out of the country. I see people agreeing with Trump and Cruz. And I see people saying that we should become more like the States.
All of this makes me sad. All of this makes me angry and furious. All of this makes me weep for my country. Canada was built upon the ideals of peace and trust. For decades, the entire world looked upon us as the peacekeepers, the rational ones. Immigrants would flood to Canada because they knew that they would be accepted and loved. Now we have people defacing mosques and temples. We have people delivering hate speech thinking that they are "preserving our Canadian identity". My grandfather, my uncles, my father, and other relations that served in the Canadian military did not put their lives on the line so that the people of Canada could be racist assholes.
So many Canadians are starting to hate socialism as well--it's like they don't know what it is and forget that Canada is a socialist country. I honestly hope these people decrying socialism are using privatized healthcare, and aren't hypocritically using the public (socialized) health system our country is known for. And Saskatchewan, the birthplace of universal health care, is the worst for it! Saskatchewan, once the socialist stronghold of Canada and one of the most welcoming provinces in the country, now has the most conservative government in the country. I know people who literally celebrated the recent Sask Party win by telling socialists to suck it. Saskatchewan, the province that used to welcome everyone with a smile, now wants to kick the refugees out. Hell, the province has grown so xenophobic that some of the people are even mistrusting of white Canadians from other provinces. Which is something I, from British Columbia, have experienced first hand. For the first few years living here I was bullied and ostracized by the majority of my classmates simply because I was from a different province. I was routinely teased because of that. If the people here can get that riled up over other white people from the same country, imagine how they can be with people of different skin colours from other countries! Because of recent comments made to me I feel I should add a disclaimer: I know not everyone from Saskatchewan feels this way, it's just a very vocal subgroup that does. That's how it is with everything though. Most people aren't racist or sexist, but too many people ignore the ones that are. When we ignore these people, they begin to feel legitimized, and that they have some kind of power. They begin to think that they are right. Worse, many begin to think they are righteous and on some kind of god-given quest to save mankind (so long as they're white! And literally only straight cis men!). A righteous bigot is a hard thing to stop. Any fanatic is hard to stop.
A lot of people see their towns with rose tinted glasses. They hear the horror stories from other towns, but never think anything like that would happen in their town! So they do nothing. And the hate and the fear grow. And it festers in the cracks. And then some tragedy strikes that horrifies the town because no one saw it coming! Because no one cared enough to actually look. Because everyone thought that stuff like that only happened in other towns. People are beginning to look at Canada that way. They can't see the rot festering in the cracks and are so assured that things aren't going to happen here because it only happens in other countries.
That, and it's hard to see the cracks when you're in them.
I believe in this country. I believe in its people. I believe that we have the capacity to be the country that the rest of the world remembers. We are not the States. What they are and how they act SHOULD NOT define us! We are Canadian, the TRUE North, strong and free. We are the people who send peacekeepers into war torn countries, not soldiers. We're the country that helps other countries rebuild schools, not armies. We are the country that inspires hope, not inflicts fear. We used to be a country that known for being polite and nice; the country that did the right thing! And this didn't make the world see us as weak! They saw us as strong! Europe remembers what we did for them. How many of soldiers died defending their homes. Europe remembers Canada as what we're supposed to be. Why can't Canadians remember what Canada is supposed to be?
Why can't Canadians remember that Canada is supposed to be one of the most inviting places on the planet? Why can't Canadians remember that we aren't the States? Why can't Canada remember that we are better than all this hate and xenophobia? Where is my Canada? Where is my grandfather's Canada? Where is the Canada that I was proud to call home? And why are all the real Canadians remaining silent?
All of this makes me sad. All of this makes me angry and furious. All of this makes me weep for my country. Canada was built upon the ideals of peace and trust. For decades, the entire world looked upon us as the peacekeepers, the rational ones. Immigrants would flood to Canada because they knew that they would be accepted and loved. Now we have people defacing mosques and temples. We have people delivering hate speech thinking that they are "preserving our Canadian identity". My grandfather, my uncles, my father, and other relations that served in the Canadian military did not put their lives on the line so that the people of Canada could be racist assholes.
So many Canadians are starting to hate socialism as well--it's like they don't know what it is and forget that Canada is a socialist country. I honestly hope these people decrying socialism are using privatized healthcare, and aren't hypocritically using the public (socialized) health system our country is known for. And Saskatchewan, the birthplace of universal health care, is the worst for it! Saskatchewan, once the socialist stronghold of Canada and one of the most welcoming provinces in the country, now has the most conservative government in the country. I know people who literally celebrated the recent Sask Party win by telling socialists to suck it. Saskatchewan, the province that used to welcome everyone with a smile, now wants to kick the refugees out. Hell, the province has grown so xenophobic that some of the people are even mistrusting of white Canadians from other provinces. Which is something I, from British Columbia, have experienced first hand. For the first few years living here I was bullied and ostracized by the majority of my classmates simply because I was from a different province. I was routinely teased because of that. If the people here can get that riled up over other white people from the same country, imagine how they can be with people of different skin colours from other countries! Because of recent comments made to me I feel I should add a disclaimer: I know not everyone from Saskatchewan feels this way, it's just a very vocal subgroup that does. That's how it is with everything though. Most people aren't racist or sexist, but too many people ignore the ones that are. When we ignore these people, they begin to feel legitimized, and that they have some kind of power. They begin to think that they are right. Worse, many begin to think they are righteous and on some kind of god-given quest to save mankind (so long as they're white! And literally only straight cis men!). A righteous bigot is a hard thing to stop. Any fanatic is hard to stop.
A lot of people see their towns with rose tinted glasses. They hear the horror stories from other towns, but never think anything like that would happen in their town! So they do nothing. And the hate and the fear grow. And it festers in the cracks. And then some tragedy strikes that horrifies the town because no one saw it coming! Because no one cared enough to actually look. Because everyone thought that stuff like that only happened in other towns. People are beginning to look at Canada that way. They can't see the rot festering in the cracks and are so assured that things aren't going to happen here because it only happens in other countries.
That, and it's hard to see the cracks when you're in them.
I believe in this country. I believe in its people. I believe that we have the capacity to be the country that the rest of the world remembers. We are not the States. What they are and how they act SHOULD NOT define us! We are Canadian, the TRUE North, strong and free. We are the people who send peacekeepers into war torn countries, not soldiers. We're the country that helps other countries rebuild schools, not armies. We are the country that inspires hope, not inflicts fear. We used to be a country that known for being polite and nice; the country that did the right thing! And this didn't make the world see us as weak! They saw us as strong! Europe remembers what we did for them. How many of soldiers died defending their homes. Europe remembers Canada as what we're supposed to be. Why can't Canadians remember what Canada is supposed to be?
Why can't Canadians remember that Canada is supposed to be one of the most inviting places on the planet? Why can't Canadians remember that we aren't the States? Why can't Canada remember that we are better than all this hate and xenophobia? Where is my Canada? Where is my grandfather's Canada? Where is the Canada that I was proud to call home? And why are all the real Canadians remaining silent?
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