150 years since the Act of Confederation came into force.
Although I have to say, I preferred when I was
young and there was a lot less flag-waving jingoism and extravagant,
noisy celebrating, and a lot more quiet excellence. It is 150 years
since four colonies became one Confederated Dominion, and our history
has not been anything like as pristine as I was taught, but I do believe
the basic idea of Confederation is a worthy one. But we have a long way
to go, still, before we can be truly a united country for all those who
live here.
So lets maybe celebrate the idea of what we should be, a
nation that protects and supports all its people, that draws on our
differences to produce a better result than is ever found in an
echo-chamber of agreeable voices. Let us rededicate ourselves to an
expanded awareness of multi-nationalism that is at the foundation of
this nation, once referring only to French and English, but which now
must refer to people from many different cultures, some here since the
first humans arrived, others lately arriving from distressed places
abroad. Let us celebrate our differences, always very careful of never
crossing that fine line between lauding our own cultural background and
denigrating another. We have failed to do this in the past, so we must
strive to succeed in the future.
I read history and the most
creative, the most stable societies, managed to have diversity without
divisiveness. They produced the finest art and developed the finest
ideas. That is the sort of society I wish to live in.
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