Vancouver Sun On being Canadian #3

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Subject: Vancouver Sun On being Canadian #3
  On being Canadian: 3) As much a state of mind as a legal entitlement

Barbara Yaffe
Vancouver Sun


Tuesday, September 06, 2005

It might be easier to down a bowl of poutine -- that godawful Quebec mishmash of French fries, cheese and gravy -- than define Canadian-ness. But I´ll give it a go.

Being Canadian is as much a state of mind as a legal entitlement to the highly desirable dark blue passport. In that sense, for every individual Canadian, it means something just a little different.

The criteria for becoming Canadian are not terribly onerous. And, unlike the Yanks, we demand a paltry amount of patriotism from those in the club.

Heck, a majority of us haven´t even bothered to learn the words to our national anthem, in either official language. Far too many of us don´t know our history and can barely name our prime minister.

There is an incredible lightness to being a Canadian, as veteran journalist and author Richard Gwyn once astutely observed.

Indeed, that very notion is one of the more unique and defining characteristics about being Canadian.

This is what allows us to be so accepting of "foreigners" who adopt Canada as their homeland. They come from Hong Kong or New Delhi, buy the house next door and quickly become our fellow Canadians.

One of my closest friends in Vancouver was born and raised in Beijing. The two of us go for Sunday brunches together as a couple of Canadian women, discussing the woes of middle age, searching for a half-decent omelette.

Her two children speak some Mandarin, but are as Canadian as I can imagine two young Canadian adults to be.

By contrast, Europeans seem less easy-going about their immigrant populations. They fear the newcomers won´t fully integrate, or will change forever what it has always meant to be British or French.

In Switzerland, incredibly, every single adult in a Swiss canton gets to vote on whether immigrant X can be accepted for citizenship.

Canadians haven´t yet collectively determined the minimum acceptable level of integration they wish to demand of those who come from afar to put roots down here.

Some are uneasy with East Indian women who continue wearing traditional saris at the local Safeway or men who wear the turban. Some, even at this late date, grumble about the defining concept of Canada reflecting two founding nations and resent bilingualism requirements where they exist.

At the extreme end of things, it´s pretty clear almost no Canadian is comfortable with whacko imams preaching jihad against Christians and Jews. That´s inimical to the whole idea of tolerance that unites the species Canadianus.

I don´t know too many here who are happy the Khadr family has settled in Ontario or that any radical Muslim would use this peaceful country as a staging ground for planning murder and mayhem. But these sorts of people are outcasts in every civilized country to which they go.

Generally, by the time a family has spawned a second generation in Canada, the kids are proud of the Maple Leaf, know Alanis Morrissette is one of our own and can name a lot of Canadian hockey players in the NHL.

My family arrived in Canada during the 1920s from eastern Europe and Russia. I was born and raised in Quebec, then went on to live in five other provinces. In each, I experienced a slightly different sense of what it meant to be Canadian.

But always there was a feeling that being Canadian was not complicated. To be Canadian was to know that a spirit of equality and pride prevailed, that it was preferable to be Canadian rather than American and that being Canadian was a lucky thing in an often tumultuous and troubled world.

Canada -- quite apart from its exquisite landscape -- really is a startlingly beautiful creation.

As Pierre Elliott Trudeau once remarked: "Canada has often been called a mosaic but I prefer the image of a tapestry, with its many threads and colours, its beautiful shapes, its intricate subtlety.

"If you go behind the tapestry, all you see is a mass of complicated knots . . . . Too many Canadians only look at the tapestry of Canada that way. But if they would see it as others do [front on], they would see what a beautiful, harmonious thing it really is."

byaffe@png.canwest.com


[06-09-2005,14:20]
[***.20.170.23]
sharon
(in reply to: Vancouver Sun On being Canadian #3)
Beautiful article, Sharon.
[06-09-2005,15:02]
[**.12.116.5]
wannabecanadian
(in reply to: Vancouver Sun On being Canadian #3)
Well, I really like pretty much everything about Canada. There is just one Canadian thing I am quite indifferent about - I always considered hockey and other sports as really boring thing and just a waste of time and effort. It´s probably my nerdy nature :) So, in this sence I will never be a _real_ Canadian :)

Anyway, I am coming from a contry where hockey is also popular, so that won´t make much difference :)


[06-09-2005,19:09]
[***.205.24.103]
Chemist
(in reply to: Vancouver Sun On being Canadian #3)
Hockey....BORING??? Who do you watch? What are you watching? WEll, you´ll learn...just kidding of course, but really? Boring?? :)

How about curling? It´s pretty cool once you start watching. Maybe that´ll redeem you... lol :)

[06-09-2005,20:57]
[**.12.116.5]
wannabecanadian
(in reply to: Vancouver Sun On being Canadian #3)
Our Russians are the best Hockey players in the world!.. Da! ..
But they became Canadian soon after they knew they were the gratest..
BTW.. No one watched hockey this year in Canada.. since for the first time in the NHL history it was cancelled..! sigh.. hope it will be resumed next season so I can catch the good plays..

[07-09-2005,10:24]
[***.98.141.114]
Mixa
(in reply to: Vancouver Sun On being Canadian #3)
Hockey is alive and well all over the world, my friend Mixa; the NHL is but a small player. But thankfully even that´s back on this year, and it will be interesting to see the response to the new rules and changes. Yep, Russia has some great players (including one Nikolai Zherdev--can you figure out which team is my fave? :)), but it´s too bad it´s sometimes difficult to get them out of the country. Well, Canada has more sports to offer than hockey anyway, for those who just can´t get into it. Here´s to a new season!
[07-09-2005,14:41]
[***.163.100.5]
wannabecanadian
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