Taking the Canadian Flag OFF Our Knapsacks

Canadians born in the Baby Boomer generation, and even Generation Xers, know that traveling around the globe was a lot easier for us than it was for our American brethren. This was the result of our good standing throughout the world and our reputation as a sane and progressive country on almost all issues, both international and domestic.

So many of us who traveled around other countries considered it wise to sew a Canadian flag on our knapsacks and show it proudly. Indeed, there were countless stories of Americans traveling with a Canadian flag on their backpacks so as not to incur the wrath of the locals who held anti-American sentiments.

Why were we so popular?

Well, for a variety of reasons. Of course, the courage and fighting spirit of our soldiers in both World Wars was a large reason for our popularity, especially in Europe. So was our reputation as a peace loving nation, which undoubtedly was enhanced by the role that Lester Pearson played in the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956. Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts and soon afterward became our Prime Minister. Shortly after this, our troops became known as “peace keepers”, a term that does not engender the warm reception in our current era that it did only a short time ago.

From what I have been told by several young Canadians who have traveled abroad in recent years, the reception is not as warm when locals hear that the backpacker in front of them is from Canada.

What happened?

Well, clearly something was amiss when the United Nations rejected Canada’s bid for a seat on the Security Council in 2010. The United Nations has been an organization that Canadians took seriously from its inception right after World War II. Most Canadians were proud to be connected to the UN in such a positive way. Since the 2010 rejection of the Canadian bid, it amazes me to read and hear from conservatives that the UN is a “joke” of an organization, that it supports corrupt regimes, that it is anti-Semitic, that it is too “leftist.”

Well, I for one preferred it when Canada was a proud member of the United Nations, and lament what has become of our country’s relationship to this global umbrella entity that past Canadian leaders and citizens valued so much.

I must ask why did the UN reject our bid. By corollary, I must also ponder just why it is that Canadians are not as warmly embraced when they travel abroad.

My speculations have led to a few conjectures.

First, Canadians by and large used to be concerned with the state of our environment and the state of the planet itself. It should come as no surprise, even to conservatives, that our federal government has not presented itself as a leader in preserving the environment. In Copenhagen, as well as at other international summits on climate change, Canada has come across as either a backward nation with its head in the sand, or as a representative of Big Oil interests. Indeed, conservative commentators on the blogosphere paint anyone concerned with the degradation of our environment as either naïve or a socialist wanting to shut down resource extraction or some other nonsense. Of course, this situation was exacerbated when Prime Minister Harper and other Conservative cabinet ministers began the discourse that environmentalists are “eco-terrorists” funded by radical foreign entities.

Oddly enough, the support that Big Oil has given conservative governments across the land gives credence to the argument that foreign radical entities have been supporting the contemporary conservative-corporate agenda for several years now. Canada does not have a member of the Big Oil companies. Harper’s Conservatives sold off the remaining publicly-owned shares of PetroCanada to SunCor a few years ago.

And in the last budget bill, the Conservative government weakened our commitment to force industry to abide by environmental assessments. Many assessments have now been tossed aside across the entire country.

So Canada is now seen as a having a very regressive position on environmental issues. This is clearly a change from even less than a decade ago.

What else could be fuelling Canada’s fall from grace on the international stage?

Israel. Since forming government, the federal Conservatives have come to be seen as the biggest international supporter for anything the Israeli government does. Anything! Many of us can recall the words of Prime Minister Harper hours after the Israeli government indiscriminately bombarded neighbourhoods in Beirut in response to Hezbollah capturing two Israeli soldiers. “This is a fair and measured response,” Harper said, even as the bombs continued to fall on innocent civilians.

Since that episode, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, has trumpeted nothing but unwavering support for Israeli actions against Palestinians, such as the construction of new settlements on Palestinian lands. There are many people, in Europe but even here in Canada, that do not appreciate Baird’s unconditional support for the Israeli government no matter what the circumstances. This is not an anti-Israeli position. It is a perspective on how best to reach a negotiated peace settlement in the area. A strong argument can be made that such a position is anti-racist and supportive of social justice initiatives.

Moving along.

Is Canada still seen as a peace keeping nation? Hardly. Witness our federal government’s declarations around Libya, Afghanistan, and Syria. This past winter, Mr. Harper even went so far as to say he is “frightened” by the regime in Iran. We can only speculate as to why he said this when he did. 

Doing nothing positive about the environment. Furthering the interests of Big Oil in an era of Climate Change. Supporting any Israeli action against the Palestinian people unconditionally. Presenting to the international community as a hawkish nation rather than as a peace loving nation. These are the actions taken by the Harper Conservatives since coming to power in 2006.

If I were still one of those young Canadians backpacking around the globe, I would take the Canadian flag off of my backpack, too.