Tears in my eyes. That’s what happens when I think about our country. We live in the greatest place on earth. Canada, exemplified by our First Nation’s peoples, has welcomed newcomers from its very beginning.
Vikings were the first visitors to our eastern shores. Portuguese and Spanish explorers were next, followed by the French and English. Our First Nations, as the original Canadians, characteristically welcomed all of them. Latterly in the 1700s our French/English heritages were co-joined as a result of an epic battle on the Plains of Abraham, in Quebec. Afterwards our English/French settlements and First Nations residents brought into being a civil society and government respective of all cultures. Notwithstanding best efforts we did make serious mistakes with respect to our First Nations peoples, but we are now acknowledging those errors and moving forward. As a result we are, collectively, immensely richer for the efforts of all involved over the past decades and centuries.
In the years following Confederation our subsequent governments brought into focus our reliance on newcomers from all countries – originally from Europe but ever expanding to include all nations of the world. Our recent influx of immigrants from the Middle East is exemplary of our willingness to welcome the world, and to acknowledge that being a Canadian is as much a frame of mind and an attitude as it is of birthright.
We are a real mix of people from all over the globe, from our original First Nations peoples to the newest arrivals from wherever they have come. We need to stand tall, proud and grateful as we acknowledge our collective uniqueness as …together … we are Canadians.
Dave Merritt, St. Albert
