I am a Canadian.

In a recent history lecture (not pertaining to Canadian history) a professor bluntly stated in reply to a student that not all primary government document sources are boring, but that, Maybe in Canada they’re really boring. I was shocked – here’s an academic who has dedicated their entire life to the field of understanding and interpreting the past and they had to nerve to make such a naive statement. It’s no secret that the majority of Canadians find their own history and current events boring – who could blame them? I mean, when you have a neighbour with such a rich, controversial and revolutionary history as the United States – Canada’s history becomes a mere shadow. It’s no wonder that we as Canadians don’t have a single national identity because half of us don’t even know where were from; it’s like that old cliché saying, “You don’t really know where you’re going, until you know where you’re been.”

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When Zo and I got to talking about this blog I thought here’s our chance. Here’s our chance to do our part for our country. Granted, not everyone studies history and mind you not Canadian history at that, but I think it’s important that people understand that Canada is important and so is our history. As a nation we’re much more than the Canadian beer commercials on T.V. during the intermission of the hockey game. We might not be an old nation – in fact we’re young, but this country has seen both the ups and downs that any major global player has. We were there for both the World Wars – with Canadians losing their lives in both conflicts, we were there for the depression of 1930, we stole the international stage in 1956 when a man by the name of Lester B. Pearson diffused a crisis in the Middle East that almost spawned a global conflict (Pearson would win the Noble Peace Prize in 1957 for his actions in the crisis). We would go to Afghanistan to fight the war on terror and whether you agree with it or not we’re still there and Canadian soldiers are still fighting and losing their lives. My bottom line is that we have a place in this world as Canadians. We always have. Our history is as a rich as any other nation and hopefully through this blog I’ll be able to tackle some of the topics I enjoy the most.

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I love Canada and I love Canada’s history. There’s much to be said about the apathy in this country and about this nations own identity and historical representation. We aren’t just peacekeepers, compromisers, anti-Americans or beer drinkers. It’s much more complex than a few labels – well that’s how I feel anyway and I look forward to sharing with you my thoughts and feelings on both the benevolent and flawed virtues of this elaborate nation some of us call home.

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“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.”John Diefenbaker (From the Canadian Bill of Rights, July 1, 1960.)

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- Ty.