COLUMN: Viewpoint – Embracing the new passport design

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/06/2023 (692 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I just got a new passport. It’s not the one featuring our country’s colorful northern lights, rushing rivers, burnished maple leaves, and majestic caribou. Sadly, that version only debuts this fall. I wish my passport had those lively images of Canada’s natural beauty.

I was a huge fan of Gordon Lightfoot, the celebrated Ontario singer who just died. In 1968 he recorded what some say is the most beautiful Canadian folksong every written. The lyrics talk about our country’s woodlands, winds, flowers, cornfields, and blue skies. It’s called Pussy Willows- Cat Tails. Is it just a coincidence that prominent images of pussy willows and cat tails appear on two pages in the new passport? I love the connection even if it wasn’t done purposefully.

The passport coming this fall will replace images about the history of Canada with ones about nature and people canoeing, swimming, skiing, skating, horseback riding, gardening, snowshoeing, and cycling. I thinks it’s great the new passport will celebrate the joy and rewards of doing physical activity in Canada’s great outdoors. We are lucky to live in such a beautiful country and blessed to have the freedom to enjoy all it has to offer. It’s terrific our new passport celebrates that and good to know we will be sharing such positivity about our homeland with the people in the countries we travel to as Canadian citizens.

I know there has been lots of controversy about the images of Canada’s history being removed from the new passport even though security officials tell us it was necessary in order to improve the document’s security. So, when I picked up my passport this week which still features those historic images I looked at them slowly and thoughtfully. I have to admit I hadn’t really ever taken much time before to examine closely what was pictured in my passport even though I’d used it on countless occasions over the past decade to travel to a host of foreign destinations.

The first thing I noticed was the initial page had a feather, the Metis flag symbol, and an Inuksuk. I approved of this nod to our country’s Indigenous communities. Looking through the rest of the images however I realized not a single Indigenous person was featured. I did see Samuel Champlain, Sir John A MacDonald, Terry Fox, Joseph Bernier, Billy Bishop, and Donald Smith. There was one woman with a page of her own suffragette Nellie McClung. But on all the other pages there were images of boys playing football, men going off to fight in wars, boys playing hockey, men building the railroad, male RCMP officers and the Fathers of Confederation. Oh yes there were also images of the Stanley Cup and Grey Cup- trophies with exclusively male recipients. Anyone looking at our current passport carefully might get the idea white men were primarily responsible for making our country great. Perhaps it was time for a change in our passport images for more than security purposes.

In the early 1900s Canada gained an international reputation as a sought- after destination for travelers and immigrants alike. Some history experts say one reason for that was the popularity of paintings by Canadian artists like Tom Thompson, Emily Carr, Lawren Harris and A.Y. Jackson. Their stunning work featured Canada’s gorgeous scenery in all the seasons. It presented such a positive and engaging view of our country to the world.

Hopefully the new passport depicting Canada’s natural beauty and images of citizens enjoying its benefits, will be equally effective in spreading the word about all the great things we have to offer as a nation.