4 - The Lamont Leader (Lamont, Alberta), Wednesday, July 2, 2020
Opinion Canadian flag’s meaning Two newspapers in Atlantic Canada printed Canadian flags as a centre spread so that subscribers could pull them out and put them on their windows for Canada Day. Nice eh? Well, you’d think so. But nothing these days can be a simple lovely gesture without someone picking it apart and finding fault with it. So the newspapers found it important enough to place trigger-warnings on their front pages so that the image of the Canadian flag didn’t offend someone. “… we understand that the flag doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone…” Really? Canada’s flag was changed in 1965 to the maple leaf for the purpose of inclusion and unity. That’s what the flag represents, and yes it should mean the same to everyone. But is this what we have become? Are we now a society of victims sniffing around for literally anything that remotely offends us? Must our businesses all placate to this crazed mob of victimhood? I am proud to be Canadian. I am proud of our ancestors who fought for this country. I am proud of our history of peacekeeping, and our young military personnel who fought for our freedoms and won. I am proud that our land is populated by both natives and immigrants from other nations who came here to raise their families with the hope of a better life. Their hard work paved the way for our civilization and continues to do so. I am proud of our flag. To me it means we live in a land of freedom, human rights, and justice for all. No, Canada is not perfect. Neither are the people who live here. Not you, not me, and neither were our ancestors. Our flag is like our national anthem. I have seen better flags and have heard better anthems. But our maple leaf flag and O’ Canada are ours uniquely. They represent us all as a community of 35 million people of every thinkable ancestry who live mostly in peace and harmony. In 1965, after nearly a hundred years of using the Canadian Red Ensign as our flag, Prime Minister Pearson fought like mad to bring the new maple leaf design to Canadians. The year prior, wearing his two WWI medals of honour, PM Pearson gave an impassioned speech in Winnipeg to legion members who fought in two World Wars under the Red Ensign. Pearson talked about pride, patriotism and service to country but also pleaded that Canada needs a flag that is relevant to all Canadians, not just those of British descent. So to me, this remains the meaning of the maple leaf. Unity, not division. No trigger-warning necessary for this Canadian. Kerry Anderson
COMMENTARY If we’ve cancelled our history, let’s cancel Canada Day! BY JOHN MATHER Happy Canada Day! While our celebrations are muted due to the Covid-19 crisis this year, I’ll take this time to do a quick review of this nation’s plentiful and significant history during its past 153 years. __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________
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__________________________ __________________________ __________________________ __________________________ Whaaat? There’s nothing there. Our history has been killed off by the politically correct, the cancel culture, whatever types of lives matter organizations and any other little splinter groups that whine and protests for changes. And our weak kneed governments buckle and go along. We don’t need the likes of Sir John A. MacDonald, Frank Oliver, Dan Knott, Emily Murphy, Henry Dundas et al! Happy Canada Day! Why are we celebrating anyway? Remember … we don’t like our history! If we adopt the new standards we shouldn’t ever have Canada Day again.
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