Canadian History

Category: Newspaper article

This story was published in 'The Ottawa Citizen' on Sunday, March 18, 2007

I agree with columnist Andrew Cohen that Lester B. Pearson's former home in Sandy Hill should be preserved as a historic monument.

Sadly, sometimes I think Canada aspires to be a provincial backwater whose only distinction between it, and a scrabbling Third World nation is that it has paved roads, sprawling malls, big banks and hockey.

I picture Canada as a youth whose Mom and Dad (France and Britain) are away on an extended Caribbean vacation, staying in their separate rooms aboard a luxury liner, while junior is at home baring the cupboard. History? Monuments of our own? Who needs those? Mom and Pop will be back soon and set everything straight.

One needs to look south to see how a people rises above the fray and distinguishes itself from its parents.

Americans are very good at promoting themselves and their history. One of my favourite journeys is walking along the Freedom Trail in Boston, listening to re-enactments at the Old Granary Burial Ground where famous patriots such as Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams are buried.

The guides, dressed in period costumes, are not shy about mentioning Revere's drunken bout and consequent capture by the British. So Revere was flawed. He nonetheless created the communication system that organized the colonial militia and was instrumental in defeating the British.

So Americans disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians when they went aboard the tea ships in Boston to dump the cargo into the harbour in protest against the British Tea Act -- not exactly honourable, but one could understand their fear of capture.

Americans are able to see past their fractured and conflicted past and come out a proud people. Is it too much to ask that we should honour our great Canadians?

Rampant illiteracy

Category: Newspaper article

I sent this article to 'The Ottawa Citizen' on Wednesday, March 14, 2007

I recently read some shocking statistics on how few people read newspapers let alone books.

A May 2005 survey conducted by ABC Canada has shown that 42 percent of Canadians, aged 16 to 65, scored at literacy Levels 1 and 2. This is deemed below the minimum of what is suitable for coping with the demands of everyday life and work.

Level 1 literacy skill means a person is unable to read, for example, information on a medicine bottle. Level 2 means the person can only deal with simple printed material, and has difficulty facing new demands or tasks at work or in the community.

These statistics don’t even take into account the low proportion of Canadians who can’t do simple arithmetic.

Given that the results of a similar study released in 1994 which showed near identical results, there is no reason to believe this problem is going away.

With low-skilled labour, such as production or assembly line jobs, gradually being farmed out to foreign countries such as Mexico, China and India, and as unemployment soars, low literacy rates will become a huge burden on the public purse in the years to come. This alone should give incentives to Governments at all levels to tackle this very serious issue.

Murder and Procrastination

Category: Newspaper article

This story was published in 'The Ottawa Citizen' on Wednesday, March 21, 2007

I enjoyed Robert Sibley's essay on vulgarity. For many readers Mr. Sibley has become a barometer of reflection on society's health.

Author Thomas de Quincey, who lived in the 18th century, wrote: "If once a man indulges himself in murder, very soon he comes to think little of robbing; and from robbing he comes next to drinking and Sabbath-breaking, and from that to incivility and procrastination."

One has to wonder what died along man's long ascent to take us where we are.