COLUMN: Think Again – Liberals are promoting shame in Canada

If you want to see an excellent summary of Canadian history, check out the Department of Immigration’s Discover Canada study guide.

This 60-page booklet is used by prospective citizens to study for their Canadian citizenship test. Discover Canada provides readers with a whirlwind tour of key events in Canadian history.

Among other things, readers will learn about Samuel de Champlain’s settlement of Quebec, the large number of British Loyalists who immigrated to Canada in the wake of the American Revolution, the complex constitutional negotiations that led to Confederation of 1867, and Canada’s outsized contributions during both World Wars.

Simply put, reading this study guide makes you proud of being Canadian. Published in 2012 by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, Discover Canada is exactly the kind study guide we want prospective citizens reading and studying.

Too bad the current Liberal government wants to blow it all up.

Last week, Blacklock’s Reporter obtained documents that show that the Liberals have prepared a whole new citizenship study guide. It doesn’t look good.

Tentatively titled Being Canadian: A Guide to Citizenship, this new guide provides a whirlwind tour of everything bad about our country. If you like feeling shame about Canada, then you’ll love this new study guide.

For example, the new guide states, “Every year on Aug. 1 Canada recognizes Emancipation Day as a way to remember this shameful part of Canada’s past.”

Keep in mind that slavery was abolished through the British Empire in 1834; Canada was officially created in 1867. In addition, the Upper Canada Assembly restricted slavery as far back as 1793.

So yes, while it’s true that slavery did exist to a limited degree in the British colonies during the eighteenth century, it certainly was never a dominant part of the Canadian identity. This stands in sharp contrast with the United States, which had to fight a bloody civil war to finally resolve the issue.

The new study guide also informs readers that racism is part of Canadian society today and that systemic racism is embedded in our institutions. Now while it’s obviously true that our country is not perfect, it is wrong to describe our country as still being in the grip of racism.

Keep in mind that the Liberal Party was in power for most of the twentieth century and for more of the twenty-first century so far. What this means is that the Liberal study guide serves as an indictment of their own legacy. It’s interesting that the authors of this guide don’t see the irony.

I’m tired of left-wing politicians telling me and other Canadians that we need to be ashamed of our country. To the contrary, there is much to be proud of in Canada, and that is what prospective citizens need to hear.

One of the most important things we can do is send the message that Canada has value as a nation. Not only do we value freedom of religion and freedom of speech, but we also have been a welcoming nation to people from all around the world. This doesn’t mean that Canada has always lived up to these ideals, but the fact that we aspire to do so says a lot about us.

Hopefully, the Liberal government recognizes the error of its ways and abandons its misguided effort to replace the Discover Canada study guide. However, that might be too much to hope for.

What isn’t too much to hope far is that we replace the Liberals with a Conservative government in the next election. Canadians deserve a government that is proud of our country, not one that keeps trying to shame us for living in it.

Michael Zwaagstra is a teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.