What it Means to be Canadian

This is an old country. Moreover, one of the oldest, most stable of the democracies. It is not, as they - whoever they are - keep telling us, a new country. New is a manipulative adjective, which can be used by anyone who gets hold of power -- to make changes without reference to reality. All of our situations, all of our crises, have already had several precedents. Canada is a complicated place. Almost too …

…beset by the pressures of global conformity, is constantly obscured. In part, this is because global conformity is little more than the old, passive colonial conformity dressed up in the latest empire fashion. But the project remains: the idea of an atypical community to meet the needs of a peculiar reality of Canada. Avoiding the delusions of false simplicity. Living with the difficult pleasures of complexity. That is what being a Canadian means to me.