266 Members of Parliament thought otherwise on November 27, 2006 when they passed a motion introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that defines the Quebecois as "a nation within a united Canada." The definition can differ depending on who you ask but generally, Quebecois doesn’t mean all those people who live in Quebec. It means French speaking Quebec residents and then usually only those who were born there. An Acadian who moved from Nova Scotia to Quebec doesn’t count.
Those 266 MP’s included a majority of Conservative and Liberal MPs, along with the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democrats. (Here’s some 101 people trivia for you, #50 – Garth Turner and #69 Ken Dryden were among those who voted against the motion).
What does the motion mean?
Politically it’s said to be brilliant and seemed to appease a great number of French speaking Quebeckers but does the end justify the means?
Conservative MP Michael Chong who resigned from Cabinet in order to vote against the motion said it best, that the motion, "…is nothing else but the recognition of ethnic nationalism, and that is something I cannot support. It cannot be interpreted as the recognition of a territorial nationalism, or it does not refer to the geographic entity, but to a group of people."
In other words, where does the line get drawn? What’s stopping another region or another culture from demanding, and based on precedence, receiving the same thing?
Very little.
There are a lots of people in Canada who love to slam the United States for just about everything. However there’s one lesson we could learn from our neighbours to the south. They have great pride in their country. When they sing the Star Spangled Banner, they mean it. Their Pledge of Allegiance is clear that they are “One Nation under God”. We need to start taking some pride in being Canadians, not being “insert your title here” Canadians but simply Canadians. When we start dividing and creating little nations, figuring out what being a Canadian is all about becomes a whole lot harder.
9 comments:
I frequently have arguments with my family because I call myself "Canadian, just Canadian."
I have for a long time argued that Canada is a nation of people who don't want to be Canadian.
Thank you for this wonderful post. I agree with every word.
Members of Parliament also prefer to have the courts do their moral thinking for them.
A feisty, self-confident democracy would not hesitate to use the notwithstanding clause when morally lobotomized courts seek to impose their will -- which includes the quashing of a child's natural right to a mother and a father -- on the country.
I think you should probably take another look at our "neighbors to the south", for instance, take a look at Hawaii. A NATION that was taken by force by America and the majority of which despise the fact that they are American citizens. I do not know a lot about their history but I do know after visiting and speaking with many natives, that anti=American sentiment runs high on those Islands. America is hardly "One nation under god". And most Hawaiians' cring at the thought of singing the Star Spangled Banner.
Josh
It's interesting to me that in hindsight the famous nation motion seems to have had no negative affect at all. Seperatists are at an all time low in popular support and this simple step of admitting the Quebecois are a nation seems to have been fairly well received by most and at worst ignored by others.
I never really saw why it was a big deal, we've been calling Aboriginals "First Nations" for years and when you look at some of the definitions of the word it really does work better for a people group than a country.
Maybe in the long term this might come back to haunt Prime Minister Harper but so far it sure hasn't seemed to. A lot of journalists predicted the sky would fall and they have all lost a little bit of credibility at this point.
If you want to live like an American, go live in the U.S. If you can't satisfy the demands of U.S. immigration, be a man and accept defeat. Don't try to impose your cheap fake Yank predilections on the rest of us. Canada is not a nation, and never will be. The French Canadians clearly are a nation, and to recognize that is simple sanity. Call me old-fashioned, but I think being sane is more important than being Canadian. And that, if those goals conflict, then there's something wrong with Canadian.
The Canadian parliament has my vote for the person most screwing up Canada. None of the others mentioned here would have a leg to stand on if Parliament legislated properly.
Special status based on ethnicity... thanks, Mr. Harper.
over paid criminals ...tax tax tax and then they give themselves outragous pay increases ,gold plated pesions while we get the shaft ................just so you know one day the boot will be on the other foot and its you guys that will be getting your ass kicked.... i hope we never have a majority Gov`t again
We don't need to criticise the Americans just because they're Americans. Face it: our two nations are culturally very similar. Just because they are not exactly the same as us doesn't mean we can't embrace our similarity. Frankly, they have done quite well for themselves.
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