Why Canada?

I once heard “patriotism” defined as the belief that one’s own country is the best in the world simply because one was born there.

I think that’s a fitting description, for the most part, when you think about it.

Most people cheer for “the home team.” The school you go to is way better than any of the other schools in town, isn’t it?

Same with your country.

We, Canadians, believe ours is the best country in the world. In fact, studies have consistently ranked Canada as one of the best places in the world to live. The most recent Newsweek study ranks Canada in seventh place, behind (in ascending order) Norway, Luxembourg, Australia, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland.

Other lists rank Canada a bit higher or lower, depending on the criteria they have used for comparison.

But, to paraphrase a famous movie quote: “List? We don’t need no stinkin’ list!”

We know Canada is the best place to live. But, why is it so?

No doubt many people, if asked, would give similar answers:

• free universal healthcare
  
• quality of life
  
• clean air (except in some bigger cities)
  
• open spaces
  
• freedom
  

Ah yes, freedom! We enjoy so much freedom that we sometimes take it for granted. And, when certain restrictions are imposed – typically for our own good – we grumble and complain about Canada becoming a “police state.”

But most of us do not know what it is like to live in a real police state.

Most of us have never known what it is like for our own government to abduct and torture dissidents, or to open fire on crowds of protestors.

Most of us have never been stopped in the street at gunpoint and been ordered to produce documentation.

How many of us have been told where to live?

How many of us have had to worry about random bombings in our streets?

When was the last time there was open, armed conflict in our streets?

Can anyone recall the last time the UN, or NATO, or some other world organization imposed sanctions against Canada, or authorized the imposition of a “no-fly zone” here?

No, we have it pretty darn good here in Canada.

Some may complain that we are “the most highly taxed nation in the world” (We aren’t: that would be Denmark), or that our duly-elected prime minister is a “dictator” (really? What about Libya, Egypt, Iran, Cuba, North Korea…?), forgetting that there are many countries where even making such a statement is a punishable offense.

In reality, and not to diminish the hardships many Canadians actually face, most of what we complain about, here, is relatively minor stuff.

I said earlier that the definition of patriotism – belief that one’s country is the best simply because one was born here – was a particularly apt description.

There are other, similar definitions:

- a devoted love, support, and defense of one’s country; national loyalty.
- Love of and devotion to one's country.
- Devotion to the welfare of one's country.
- the passion which inspires one to serve one's country.

The first definition I offered has one small flaw: it negates the experience of those who have chosen to come to this country, and to become Canadian citizens.

Most of us had no choice. We were born here, and we are Canadians by accident of birth.

However, millions of people – including, never forget, our predecessors -- chose to leave their homeland, for whatever reason, and come to Canada.

Many of them have left countries where poverty, pollution, over-crowding, disease, or conflict were a way of life.

They appreciate, perhaps more keenly than we “natural-born” Canadians do ourselves, how truly and remarkably great this country of ours is.

Do they bring their customs and culture with them? Certainly!

Guess what? So did our ancestors.

That’s one of the things that makes Canada so great! We are a “mosaic,” not a “melting pot.”

We do not strive to become clones of some idealized notion of what a Canadian should be. We are free to be ourselves, to blend cultures and traditions, to celebrate our differences as we join together in sharing our love for this amazingly wonderful country.

Yes, we have problems. This is not Utopia.

There are countries that score higher on “the list.”

But this is CANADA.

Why Canada? Because it is the best country in the world!

The seldom heard second verse of our national anthem sums it up quite nicely, in my (less than) humble opinion:

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow.
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
The land of hope for all who toil!
The True North, strong and free!
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O, CANADA!

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Please, share with us what you love about our glorious country.