protégera nos foyers et nos droigts

140 years ago much of British North America became Canada, a sovereign nation. Within two decades Canada stretched from sea (Atlantic) to sea (Pacific) and sea (Arctic).

Canada is the second largest country in the world, one of its strongest and stablest economies and as a population largely urban, a pioneer in the social experiment that is multiculturalism. We are dually lingual (English and French), a loose confederation of provinces (10) and territories (3), and sometimes barriers to trade within Canada are more difficult than with the US or Mexico. And while I agree with many who see the "Queen of Canada" being the Queen of England stoopid and backwards - because countries should be able to produce their own legitimate head of state - I also agree that there are more important things in public policy to address. Entirely too many Canadians live in poverty, especially Aboriginal persons in Canada*. In fact our government(s) genocidal endeavours towards Native peoples may have officially stopped a few decades ago, we still haven't come to terms with it--and haven't done anything even remotely substantive to make things right.

Yet Canada is a country that day by day shows how tolerance, acceptance and celebration of diversity creates social cohesion and adds richness to the lives of others. We are astoundingly well-mannered (at time to our detriment) and are big on working through things by talking (sometimes ad nauseam). But aside from hockey and civil pessism, what unites us most is perhaps the consensus of care: we expect one another to look out for one another. Canada is a we society, with me coming up right behind.

Canada saved me. Canada (re) made me. Je suis canadien et j'en suis fier.


O Canada, terre de nos aieux
Ton front est ceint, tes fleurons glorieux

Car ton bras sait porter l'épée, il sait porter la crois
Ton histoire est une épopée des plus brilliants exploits

Et ton valeur de foi trempée
Protegera nos foyers et nos droits!
Protegera nos foyers et nos droits!

True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.


*not all Aboriginal persons in Canada consider themselves Canadian. Nor are they interested. Can't say that I blame them.

Sicko

Am watching Sicko, Michael Moore's docu on US health care. And it's very, very hard to watch. But what made me cry wasn't the horrible stories of people whose loved ones died from lack (or even refusal) of care. No, it's the ex-pats in the UK and France all talking with amazement about the quality of care they receive. All because their tax dollars are spent on a system that endeavours to provide high level care to everyone equally.

Their incredulity--not directed towards those systems as much as towards the American one--broke my heart. Why is taking care of one another even an issue?

And yet I'm confident that the messenger has diluted, if not wholly dispersed, the overarching important message: we societies are more prosperous than me ones.

Dublin day 2

I continue to try to wedge my body into this current time zone by taking a sleeping pill when I'm wide-the-fuck-awake when I'm not sleepy at bedtime. Which works, but i was very groggy this morning, so I gave myself an extra hour. Knowing that much of Dublin will be shuttered on The Lord's Day was an integral part of this rationalization reasoning. But I was eating my yummy Irish breakfast around 10am and out the door shortly thereafter.

( If I hear Dirty Old Town in one more souvenir shop I'll kneecap someone... )