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?