Proudly Canadian

It’s Friday night and it’s been a terrible week in Canada. We lost two servicemen on our own soil to senseless acts of violence. I’m not going to call it terrorism because, frankly, it’s too soon to know what the murderers’ motivations were. But calling them senseless acts of violence seems like understating the obvious.

I am sitting here watching coverage of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo’s body being transported back to Hamilton along the Highway of Heroes. There are tears in my eyes. I, like many others, have spent time in the last 2 days thinking about what it means to be Canadian. It is not a simple question and it definitely does not have a simple answer.

It is generally accepted that Canadians are polite, perhaps too polite sometimes, friendly and peaceful. It was a Canadian, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, who first conceived the idea of United Nations Peacekeepers. We are a peaceful people. Which is why a week like this one gives us pause. Events like those that occurred this week are about as far from normal as it gets in Canada. And I believe it will stay that way.

We are reserved. People from other nations see our reserved and quiet, almost passive, nature and sometimes mistake it for apathy or a lack of national pride. Nothing could be further from the truth. Very rarely will you see Canadians engaging in in-your-face patriotism – unless Canada is playing the USA in Olympic hockey. We’re just not wired that way. We don’t jump up and down, waving our arms and screaming as loudly as possible that our nation is the greatest in the world. Even though it is.

There has been much written and said this week about how we have conducted ourselves through this crisis, from the Canadian news agencies’ coverage, to our politicians, to the general public. CBC and CTV both covered it with a level of dignity and sophistication that is becoming increasingly hard to find these days. There were no sensational headlines, no hyperbole and when there was no information to share, they said there was no information to share. They didn’t waste time pointlessly speculating on what things might be or offer their own opinions on who was doing what or what was going to happen next. They just reported what they knew, factually and calmly, and when they didn’t know something, they said so. There have been many comments on social media, mostly from Americans, that they would like CBC anchor, Peter Mansbridge, to go to the US and give lessons on news delivery to the likes of CNN and Fox. Peter Mansbridge, in case you’re wondering, is as Canadian as they come and although we do appreciate the compliment, we’re keeping him.

Justin Trudeau, the leader of the federal Liberal Party gave one of the most poignant speeches I have ever heard. Here is the link. Judge for yourself. 

http://www.upworthy.com/when-someone-attacks-canada-they-dont-respond-with-irrational-fear-they-do-this-instead?c=ufb1

I particularly liked the way he spoke to Canadian Muslims and reassured them that we, as a nation, do not hold peaceful, innocent people accountable for the acts of monsters, regardless of their religion.

We are born and bred to conduct ourselves with quiet dignity. Kevin Vickers, the sergeant at arms of Parliament and the man who shot the gunman saving potentially dozens of lives, is being hailed as a hero. When he entered the House of Commons on Thursday morning, he received a 5-minute standing ovation and a handshake from the Prime Minister. That’s about as crazy as it gets in Canada (Olympic hockey notwithstanding). And it embarrassed him. We are not prone to large public displays of emotion nor are we comfortable when we are the focus of them.

But actions speak louder than words which brings me back to the motorcade carrying Corporal Cirillo’s body from Ottawa to his home in Hamilton. The Highway of Heroes is 10, sometimes 12, lanes wide. All traffic was cleared on the westbound side heading toward Hamilton so that the corporal would have a smooth, uninterrupted ride to his final resting place. But traffic remained free to travel on the other side going in the opposite direction. But it all stopped anyway. Five lanes of traffic and they all just stopped where they were, got out of their cars and trucks and stood in silence as the motorcade passed by. Police cars and fire trucks lined the bridges that the motorcade passed under. They all stopped to make time for something that was vastly more important than whatever else they were doing at that moment. They paid their respects to a fallen hero.

Even the family of Patrice Vincent, the soldier killed in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu on Monday, reached out to the family of Nathan Cirillo. And the Cirillo’s reached back to the Vincents. That’s what we do. We take care of one another.

Yes, we are quiet. Yes, we are reserved. Yes, we are polite to a fault. But still waters run deep and, make no mistake, we are fiercely proud of who we are and the nation we call home. We will not allow acts of violence or terror to define or change who we are. To know what it means to be Canadian, just watch how this nation responds and moves forward from this. Watch what we do and, even more importantly, watch what we don’t do. My Canadian blood runs incredibly thick but never more so than it does today. This has been a week of national sadness but, at the same time, I have never been more proud to call myself a Canadian.

To borrow a phrase from Molson’s, I AM CANADIAN