It's a shame the rest of this series is subscriber-only. I wanted to read the 3rd installment in particular.
Anyhoo,
I find it kind of amusing that Dr. Granatstein (whose work I am familiar with) would set out to correct "Canadian misapprehensions' while tossing
plenty of his own subjective opinions around. From your first link:
Yes, the Americans are a troublesome people. They are suffused with a grandiose sense of their "manifest destiny." They want to make the world's
peoples more like them, with a McDonald's in every town and Coke in every grocery store. They bluster and boast, and wave the flag.
Thanks for setting us straight, Jack.
I'm not even American and I found that kind of offensive. I'll correct his misapprehesion - Americans are like Canadians, they just live in the
US.
My opinion on the first piece:
Yes, our military is hideously under-funded, and has been for quite some time. Most Canadians realize that the only country we need to be worried
about is the US, and we just can't beat you in a spending war.
Now that the north is opening up, this needs to change. We need a well-equipped army to protect our nation's interests and territorial waters.
My opinion on the second piece:
I have no idea what David Frum is talking about. Heck, I can't believe I read an article by Frum in it's entirety.
I have so many issues
with this article, it's insane. I'll just stick with my top two.
#1 - Who ever said the US wasn't just? There are a few differences in the legal systems, but they are fairly similar.
#2 - We are less 'just' than the US because First Nations have special openings for fisheries? Huh?
I don't know about in the US but in Canada, as recently as 40 years ago, we were ripping First Nations children away from their families and
communities and sending them off to residential schools for 're-education'. The government policy was basically to erase all sense of heritage they
had and they were forbidden to even speak their native tongue. While in residential school, many (way too many) were sexually abused.
Why is it so wrong to try and compensate them for the horrors that we perpetrated against them? I can understand if this stuff all happened 100-150
years ago, but it didn't. These people are still alive and fighting to regain what we stole from them. Not their land, but their identity.
Sadly, our history with respect to the treatment of Aboriginal people is not something in which we can take pride. Attitudes of racial and cultural
superiority led to a suppression of Aboriginal culture and values. As a country, we are burdened by past actions that resulted in weakening the
identity of Aboriginal peoples, suppressing their languages and cultures, and outlawing spiritual practices. We must recognize the impact of these
actions on the once self-sustaining nations that were disaggregated, disrupted, limited or even destroyed by the dispossession of traditional
territory, by the relocation of Aboriginal people, and by some provisions of the Indian Act. We must acknowledge that the result of these actions was
the erosion of the political, economic and social systems of Aboriginal people and nations.
Against the backdrop of these historical legacies, it is a remarkable tribute to the strength and endurance of Aboriginal people that they have
maintained their historic diversity and identity. The Government of Canada today formally expresses to all Aboriginal people in Canada our profound
regret for past actions of the federal government which have contributed to these difficult pages in the history of our relationship togther.
One aspect of our relationship with Aboriginal people over this period that requires particular attention is the Residential School system. This
system separated many children from their families and communities and prevented them from speaking their own languages and from learning about their
heritage and cultures. In the worst cases, it left legacies of personal pain and distress that continue to reverberate in Aboriginal communities to
this day. Tragically, some children were the victims of physical and sexual abuse.
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
To me, this is one of the worst things that has occured in Canadian history. For David Frum to insinuate that we are not a fair or just society
because we tried to make up for what we did to the First Nations is laughable.
